Chance Me: Barnard College class of 2023

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

Chances of getting into Barnard class of 2023???
I’m currently a second-semester junior, and I would absolutely love to go to Barnard

GPA- weighted 4.30, unweighted 3.65
I can probably get it up to a 3.7 uw by the end of the year
I’ve taken a lot of demanding classes and I could’ve had a 4.0 uw by taking easy classes but I think it’s important to challenge myself. I really don’t like when people compare GPA’s for this reason, you really can’t compare unless you’ve taken the exact same classes

SAT: Taking it for the first time this month. I’ve taken the PSAT and mock SATs and my math score is not where I need it to be :confused: it’s not horrible but there’s definitely room for improvement
ACT: plan to take later this year
Subject SAT: are they worth taking? I know Barnard will consider them, but they aren’t required anymore

State: Maryland
Race: White
Income bracket: >$100,000
School type: Public
Intended major: political science, maybe minor in sociology

Courses:
Before High School: Spanish 1 (7th grade), Algebra 1 and Spanish 2 (8th grade)

9th Grade: Honors Spanish 3, Honors Biology, Honors US history, Honors Geometry, Honors English, Ceramics (Fine arts graduation requirement), Yoga (PE graduation requirement)

10th Grade: AP US Gov (5 on exam), Honors Chemistry, Honors Physics, Honors English, Honors Algebra 2, TechEd (graduation requirement), Honors Health (semester course is a graduation requirement)
I dropped out of Honors Spanish 4 and had a hole in my schedule for a semester, so I worked in the counseling offices at my school. The dropped class will show up on my transcript, and I’m nervous this will really hurt me

11th Grade: AP Environmental Science, AP Lang, AP Comparative Government, AP World History, Honors sociology (this is a CLEP course), Pre Calculus, Law I/II

12th Grade: I’m taking a college course in international relations for a semester as a part of my high school’s dual enrollment program with a community college, AP Human Geography, AP Art History, AP Literature, Calculus with application (honors credit), Latin 1
I’m taking both of these the semester after my community college course, so I guess they don’t really matter, but here they are anyway:
Honors Forensics
Honors Seminar in Peace Studies

Extra Curriculars:
Officer of Girl Up! Club (a UN campaign to raise money and awareness for girls in developing nations)
Sociology Club
Key Club
I’m a Girl Scout with her bronze and silver awards
Varsity field hockey
Varsity Crew (rowing team, I went to Nationals last year! But I quit earlier this year)
Swim team

Work Experience: I’m working on a state delegate’s campaign, I’m going to be an election judge this June, and this summer I have an internship with a political research company in DC

Volunteer Experience: I have over 260 hours of community service

Awards:
National Honor Society, Honor Roll Student, Straight A’s award, Student-Athlete awards for straight A’s and honor roll
I’ll be in my school’s art honors society and rho kappa honors society (history honors society) for my senior year—not sure when induction is, not sure if I’ll be able to put it on my application if I apply ED
I will get an award for taking part in the Dual Enrollment program and an award for having over 260 community service hours at graduation, but that’s way after decisions come out

Summer programs: I got into Barnard’s PCP! I’ll be staying there this summer, and I’m hoping this will strengthen my application
I’m also visiting later this month and sitting in on one of their political behavior classes

I know Barnard really stresses character and personal qualities, so I realize test scores and GPA’s aren’t the best way to be measured. It’s probably a reach, but I’ve been dreaming of going to Barnard since freshman year, I just want someone’s opinion on whether that dream is realistic. Thanks!

2

As a current second semester senior, I just want to let you know that going on CC and looking at Chance Me’s is going to drive you insane. Just keep in mind that it’s almost impossible to determine who will and will not get into a school because there are so many factors that influence the decision, and it’s impossible to control many of them.

Anyway, I think that the best thing for you to do is to keep up your grades for the remainder of your junior year and beginning of your senior year to ensure a strong GPA. Your summer program will help, make sure to include that in your supplement. Also, your ECs are good, but you could use some more leadership positions, so make sure to run for officer roles at the end of this year and the beginning of next year. If you can, raise your volunteer hours too (although this does constitute a large portion of the process). Also, while Barnard does stress character having great test scores and a great GPA are really important. Although they may not adequately measure a person’s intelligence, they are important to all colleges to get a sense of of your academic abilities. So, make sure you take the ACTs or SATs as many times as you think necessary (and subject tests won’t hurt either).

3

As an ED admit to Barnard, who doesn’t have any true knowledge of how the admissions office works, I think you have almost as much of a shot as anyone.

While Barnard really doesn’t overly look at SAT score, it’s good to get your score up so it isn’t a detractor but another reason why you should be admitted. And don’t get too worried if your most recent score isn’t the best, I found my December 2016 test far easier than when I took it again in March, and I think it’s a really good idea to try out the ACT too, one of my friends objectively did far worse on her (repeated) SAT tests when compared with her 2 ACT scores.

And I don’t think you need SAT Subject test scores for Barnard, I’d really look into taking 2 of them for other schools, just in case! There’s a test date in late august which I found was very convenient for me as I could study over break rather than any dates near/after AP tests when I was SUPER burned out and it gets too stressful to take them Senior year, imo.

I concur w/ brutishhyena in that looking at other 'Compare me’s are a bad idea, not only because we don’t truly know how the admissions process work but also because it’s so easy to misrepresent yourself/leave something out/over or under estimate yourself in a list of statistics and ECs.

I do think that it matters far more what you did for your volunteer hours than how many you have. With 2 different programs that are very important to me I amassed about 200+ hours, but the hours didn’t really matter except that it showed my dedication to these community programs. So make sure you get volunteer hours you can talk about with passion instead of just racking up hours doing homework at the reception desk at your local hospital.

Also, I got into Barnard with only 1 real leadership position, but I did have a lot of random awards / other honors which might have made up for that, so while you should maybe try to run for officer in Key Club, don’t be heartbroken if there’s someone else who’s a shoo-in and you don’t end up getting it.

Other than that, with your involvement in political areas and Girl Scouts, I think you have a real chance if you also have solid test scores and a good GPA!