I applied to Barnard ED and will apply to NYU 2nd ED round if I don’t get in! Please let me know if my stats are reasonable for either (mainly Barnard im dreaming of it)! Also no one else in my school is applying to Barnard as well!
EC’s:
Taught underclassmen how to use C++, recruited 10+ women
Robotics electrical/programming captain for 3+ years with First robotics
Taught arabic at local mosque/academy
Raised 1k+ for low-income elementary students towards Christmas gifts,
Engineering Club Member
Hosted Food drives during covid with mosque for homeless, local news interview
Only 1 of 2 schools in county to have robotics team, also received another local news interview
Worked all 4 years of HS
Won multiple awards on school level for excellence in Computer science
Independently researched Robotics controllers to enhance robot encoders for competition, documented/simplified for future use
Raised at least 6k+ dollars for robotics team all 3 years
NHS Pres Jr and Senior years
Beta Club jr vice pres junior year
Junior Class president
apart of all NHS societies: like science etc.
Over 100 Hours of Community Service
Created fundraising with NHS/Beta club
Head department lead at work at the age of 16
Interact Club, Chosen to be 1 of 3 school ambassadors for youth leadership event
Academic:
Top 6%, UW 3.8/W 4.9 GPA
Class rank 20/340
Have taken max Dual enrollment school offers w Community College (9 Total)
Taken all comp sci classes school offers plus an extra online comp sci class NOT offered in school in place of an AP Euro class (Explained on application because I also worked full time for parents’ bills that Year - post covid!)
Applying Test Optional!
Taken 4 out of 5 Possible AP Classes school offers (Its Low I know!!)
Good letters of Rec from councilor, work manager, and teachers, including advisor who overlooked independent robotics research
Also First Gen, USA Citizen, <$40k!
Again I am really hoping this is enough for Barnard! My school isn’t good with stem/academics ( or any ecs compared to others). I do know their applications are holistic and are looking at the context of my School! But please also let me know what other colleges I could get into as well! Thank you!
I think that you do have a shot at Barnard. Your record is very good, and Barnard is need-blind, so the fact that you probably need full fin aid won’t be held against you. I wish that there were some test scores to confirm your achievement - if not ACT/SAT, then at least some AP exam scores, but no way to fix that now, if you didn’t take the exams. If you did, and you got at least 4’s on the exams, I think that you should add that information to your applications. If it’s not too late, take a look at your essays for any further applications that you submit. Pay particular attention to how often you use the exclamation mark. I agree, the whole college application process is very exciting, and your record has a lot to be excited about. But if your application essays over used the exclamation mark the way that your post here does, that might be off-putting to the reader.
If you don’t get into Barnard or NYU, you’re the type of student (high achieving female STEM student from a low-income household) who is probably going to get your best results by applying to need-blind schools that meet full financial need.
No worries! I definitely didn’t use any exclamation marks in my supplementals or personal statements. I also got a 4’s and 3’s on all my AP’s so I didn’t submit any test scores. I also didn’t do well on the SAT(1200) or ACT(29), explaining why I am applying test optional. Hope this explains it.
Yeah, that’s understandable. I agree that those scores would have detracted from your application. For high school class of '21, this would have been fine, since lots of people didn’t get a chance to take a test. We’re now three years out from the pandemic, and I get the feeling that highly selective schools are wanting to see test scores, and that those who don’t submit them are in a weaker position than those with similar applications, plus high test scores.
But I still think that you have got a shot, because you’re a woman in STEM, with great achievement, plus you’re first gen low income.
No worries that your high school only offers 5 AP classes - important is that you took advantage of those offerings where they made sense.
By any chance, were the Dual Enrollment classes taught at the Community College - or were your HS teachers submitting their classes for credit at the CC? If these instructors were independent from your school, then their grades, and the CC transcript, might be particular important in lieu of absent standardized test results and AP scores.
I think your persistence, successes and mentoring in coding, robotics and engineering will make you an interesting candidate, as Barnard has been emphasizing their STEM programs.
Your activism through fundraising and leadership as class president, in the Beta Club and the NHS is another positive facet - in particular since it’s been further validated by an independent organization, like Interact.
They might particularly value that you are able to inspire others to take part in a field where women are often underrepresented.
Of course, no one knows how many other applicants this year also have similarly strong ECs, and STEM-related interests. If that’s the case, then it might make a difference if the college is unable to “validate” a high school’s grading (and GPA) against independent tests.
Whatever the ED outcomes, you have an impressive application that should open doors for you at excellent colleges. Can you give us some ideas about geographic areas that are in/out, type of locations (urban, suburban, rural) that you prefer/reject, and other deciding criteria. There are other private colleges with comprehensive financial aid and strong STEM programs that have more reasonable acceptance rates.
Pinging @AustenNut for ideas?
For the dual enrollment classes, they were independent from my school (with the local community college) and I submitted my college transcript as well. My college GPA is a 3.9. Also, I took 1 extra dual enrollment class that only 3 other students have. I’m hoping this will make up for the not submitted AP scores!
I prefer colleges with an Urban campus. I am also looking at the 100% need-blind schools as finances are also a big part of my choice. Mainly private colleges are my aim because they’re usually very generous with the aid. I should also mention I have applied to some early action schools like Georgia Tech, University of Miami, and Fordham University!
To be accurate: you need schools that meet full need and are ideally also need blind in admissions. There are plenty of need blind colleges that won’t meet full need, or even provide you any aid at all. So make sure you pick schools that meet need.
You have some interesting ECs and you certainly have a chance at your ED schools, though as for all applicants, the odds are not in your favor. Has your family run the Net Price Calculator to see if the school will provide sufficient aid for you? NYU used to be known as being less generous with its calculations, but I have heard a couple of accounts of that changing recently.
Is this $40k/year or $40k total?
Which state are you a resident of?
As others have mentioned or alluded to upthread, not all schools will meet need and not all schools define need the same way. Some schools are more generous than others, and there are schools that don’t “meet need” that are actually more financially generous than schools that say they do. (You can check this post out for more info.) Has your family run the Net Price Calculators for your EA schools, too?
Im a resident of South Carolina, and this is $40k total. NYU will also meet need for families who make under $100k this fall. I have run the Net Price Calculators with my EA schools and they are reasonable with aid.
Congrats on your achievements. You are a viable candidate at all of your schools. However IMO it is impossible to accurately chance a student for any highly competitive college as there are often more qualified candidates than spots available.
In addition to what you have done I’d be sure to run the net price calculators to be sure schools you are applying to appear affordable. I would also add in a couple of in-state public options to your application list.
Any school that has an acceptance rate below 20%, particularly those that are below 10%, are extremely difficult to gain admittance to and they turn away far more well-qualified applicants than they accept. The vast majority of their applicants are very strong candidates, but a supermajority of those students will receive a waitlist/rejection. That’s why I categorize them as Low Probability (less than 20% odds) for all students.
Unless your chances of acceptance at a school are greater than 50%, the odds will not be in your favor, as odds are you will not receive an admittance.
ETA: I’d make sure to apply to U. of South Carolina - Columbia as well as College of Charleston if you’re looking for a more urban campus. If state grants/scholarships won’t be sufficient to bring these within budget for your family, also make sure to apply to a school from which you can commute.
I think Barnard would be great for you! I hope you get in. For chances, it’s tough for everyone given its admission rate, and may not be helped by lack of test scores, but the dual enrolment courses and fgli should give you a boost. (FIRST robotics is super for the learning experience, just more common among girls than it used to be so harder to stand out.)
Have you considered Olin College of Engineering? It is suburban rather than urban, but close enough to Boston so you’re not isolated, has good financial aid, and excellent engineering outcomes. Slightly less competitive to get into than Barnard so worth a look.
Congratulations, your achievements are really impressive and I think you stand a decent chance for Barnard, as much as is possible for such an unpredictable decision!
But… odds aren’t good for anyone due to the insane acceptance rate, so you need to make sure you have everything else lined up.
I would be very wary of applying ED2 to NYU as a non-NYC low income student -they may meet need but remain need aware.
Where else have you applied?
What about Bryn Mawr, which has the same relation to Haverford as Barnard to Columbia (they’re Philly-suburban so hop on SEPTA and 10mn later you’re in Philadelphia)?
Apply to USC Columbia Honors and CoC Honors as back ups if you haven’t already.
What do you like about Barnard (so we can help you find similar colleges).
I have also applied to the Honors college of USC Columbia just as a back up! I did get admitted as they suddenly released EA admissions today for in-state residents. But I also plan to apply to Olin for their engineering program. I do like Barnard for their strong computer science course work and 4+1 Program. The main factor I am looking for in schools are good/established computer science majors and course work. However, I will definitely take a took at Bryn Mawr!
Thank you for the advice! I did make sure to apply to my local and in-state schools, and thankfully the total grants/scholarships I have received so far come out to be enough finically. I did forget to put in my original post that I applied to my in-state schools for safeties.