The traditional undergraduate colleges of Columbia University have announced their ED results.
Barnard College received 1,671 Early Decision applications , 11% more than the Class of 2026. The ED class will make up about 60% of the incoming class of 2027 - based on last year’s class size that would be equivalent to an admit rate of 25% for ED - and 2.7% for RDif the total applications remain the same as last year. Of the admitted students, 47% identify as students of color, with 24% from racially underrepresented identities, and 12% are the first in their family to attend a four-year college. Of the students who reported rank, 94% were in the top 10% of their graduating class.
Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences received a total of 5,738 applications, a 9% decrease in applicant number from the previous year. Additional information was not yet released.
2.7% admit rate for RD?! I knew my daughter’s chances were low, but this is ridiculous. (For the record, she didn’t apply ED to Barnard in large part because we wanted to wait to compare financial offers).
I can’t take credit ! But you’re many years too late with your plea…
This shortcut (because the alternative is a mouthful) has been used informally in Columbia University’s student-run blogs and papers for at least ten years or so - but obviously not in any official communication, press releases.
Yes - there are a good number of colleges that fill a large percentage of their freshman class from ED. At Harvard, per example, the ED proportion is even higher.
Most people are only aware of the “overall” rejection rate, few do the math of how it breaks down between ED vs. RD (if the raw data is published at all).
This 2.7% caused a bit of panic here (funny that it made it momentarily seem as if the ~8% of last year in the RD round wasn’t so bad). But when I ran the numbers, I got more in the range of 7-8% in the RD round again this year (assuming as you said that the total applications and total class size remain the same). I’m wondering if the 2.7% you quoted accounts for the fact that the number of admitted students in the RD round will need to be greater than the number of slots still available in the class in order to account for the fact that Barnard won’t yield all RD admits? I ran the numbers assuming a similar RD yield percentage as last year (~45%). Either way, it’s a tough RD admit.
Incoming class size (2026): 710
Admitted ED for 2027 (60% of class): 426
Est. available for RD (40% of class): 284
Total Applicationss (2026): 12,009
ED Applications 2027: 1,671
Prospective RD application 2027: 10,338
284 / 10,338 * 100 = 2.75% of class through RD (but more than that admitted, as not everyone will enroll).
It might even be underestimating - because the 2027 ED applications went up 11%. If that is an indication that the total admissions will increase proportionally (which they did last year, it had been a 16% increase), then the RD acceptance rate could drop down to 2.4% (or 5.5%, if you assume they make offers to 55% more students than spots - which is likely too optimistic, because it ignores the fact that some of the yield will be managed via waitlist!).
That sounds like a valid point - I’ve updated my reply to show what happens if they extend offers to (approx.) 55% more applicants than they have spots for.
However, I don’t think it necessarily works that way. I suspect that colleges won’t cut it that close - and part of the yield will likely be managed with a wait list! So the eventual RD acceptance (vs. waitlist) rate could be somewhere between the 2.4% and the 5.5%…
I agree. We know all colleges are hard to get into but to say Barnard’s rate 2.7%- is essentially saying it’s harder to get into than Williams, Yale or Harvard. This can be misleading and can lead to panic among stressed out applicants. Schools (other than ivies who have a yield of 80%) accept more to ensure they fill the class.
No - the potential of a very wide spread between RD acceptance rates and ED acceptance rates applies to any colleges offering ED! It’s not that Barnard specifically is any harder to get into in comparison. I suspect you get similar lower RD figures if you run numbers for other ED colleges (comparing apples to apples).
The message here is NOT that Barnard has an unusually low RD acceptance rate vs. other colleges, but that the published “total” acceptance rates of colleges with ED do mask the important fact that RD rates are likely much lower than what the “total” suggest, and very likely a FRACTION of the ED rates.
The lesson is to have awareness how huge the benefit (an order of multitude) can be to those who are able to apply to (any!) colleges in the ED round.
Yes - good point, I went backwards to those messages that I could still edit, to incorporate that feedback. It looks like for the class of 2026, about 45% of the RD admissions ultimately enrolled - so the college had originally offered admission to about twice as many RD applicants, changing the ED benefit to 5:1.
Thanks. To hear 2.9% DD wondered was it even worth applying. She visited Barnard, took the tour and had a second tour of Barnard from our nephew at Columbia who raves about the dining halls at Barnard. She loved the vibe there and of course she’s a big fan of Greta Gerwig.
Again - my apologies for the added stress. Without the valuable feedback here I would have not learned how to improve on what I had written!
At the end, whether the acceptance is 9%, or 5% - any of the highly selective schools are a definite reach to anyone, no matter how good the stats. At that level, there will be ten times more applications of equally deserving, high-achieving young women than there are available spots for the incoming class.
On the bright side, Barnard has shown over the years (even before the pandemic-induced test-optional policy), that they are willing to identify good matches “holistically”, by other factors than just ACT/SAT scores, GPA or class rank. There have been many, seemingly certain, top-stat applications in past years that were not accepted, while other young women with apparently other captivating facets in their applications were offered admission. Barnard doesn’t seem to be focused on showing impressive “class profile” averages.
Coincidentally two nights ago my daughter and I happened to talk about the trends in this year’s ED cycle at CC vs. BC over dinner, and her immediate reaction was that among her (female) CC friends, more than one voiced they wished they had applied to BC instead. (I know: anecdotal!)
My nephew says he eats at the Barnard dining halls very often even though he’s a Columbia student, maybe your son could try it. My nephew says he feels like the food is healthier.
! But you’re many years too late with your plea…