Barnard is the number one school I want to go to. Here are my stats.
[ b]Objective:**
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): didnt take
[ *] ACT: 29 superscored (took another late one, probably didn’t do much better)
[ *] SAT II:
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 93.5/100 (my school doesnt use a 4.0 scale)
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): my school doesn’t rank
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Language & Composition (4), AP U.S History (4)
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, Economics, AP Environmental Science, Statistics, AP Spanish, Political Science (elective)
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Won a school award for exceptional student; 4 people win each year.
[ /list][ b]Subjective:**
[ *] Extracurriculars:
-Green Team Club for 2 years(e
nvironmental sustainability)
-Social Action Club for 2 years (humanitarian club)
-Feminist Club for 3 years
-Internship at NYU history program
-Part of a youth political council group; young people working with borough president of Manhattan
-BALI: Feminist course and debate training over summer; everyday for 2 weeks, 9-5.
[ *] Job/Work Experience:
-Junior year: babysat Tuesdays and Thursdays for the entire year, 5 to 7 pm. Very difficult job with 3 children and a lot od responsibility.
-Senior year: Babysat everyday from 5:30 to 7 pm, from September to November; tutor a kid twice a week for an hour; babysit another kid present, but occasionally.
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: Not much, to be honest. Working on it.
[ *] Summer Activities:
-BALI feminist course, even though I already said it.
-For two Summers, visited my home country (Morocco) for about a month and a half; to see family and sick grandma.
-Worked Junior summer, continued to babysit.
-Arabic classes
[ *] Essays:
-Not done with my essay. I’m writing about being Muslim and how I used to be ashamed of my identity/how I’ve learned to tolerate ambiguity. My college counselor says it’s great so far, writing is my strong point. Talks about stuff that’s not seen in my common app.
[ *] Teacher Recommendation:
-I have amazing teachers and I assume they’re going to be great. One teacher sent me an excerpt, he knows me very well.
[ *] Counselor Rec:
-My counselor loves me, I think it’ll be good.
[ *] Additional Rec: None
[ *] Interview: I had an interview; it went alright.
[ *] Supplementary Material:
Haven’t done supplements (I know, I procrastinate!). Will do soon. For first supplement about why I want to go, I’m going to talk about my specific major that I plan on going into and why I love whats offered for it Barnard (political science with human rights focus). I also got accepted into and attended the Barnard Bound program (it’s an overnight trip, you write 2 supplements for it and get nominated by counselor, for under advantaged students), probably going to talk about my experience with that.
2nd supplement: Inspirational woman
-have no idea who I will write about yet. Would it be cliche to say my mom?
3rd supplement: Majoring in unafraid
-going to talk about an email I sent my very sexist middle school about how their strict dress code was detrimental to girls’ body image and promoted objectification. You’d have to go to my middle school to understand how terrible it was. They were very strict, and publicly humiliated 12 year old girls for having a bra strap out. One teacher said my classmate looked like a “40 year old stripper” for wearing a tank top, it was very normalized.
[ /list][ b]Other**
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant): US
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: North African. Don’t know what that falls under?
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): Around 20,000.
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First gen. Don’t think I count as a URM. Come from a harsh background compared to other classmates?
Interest in school:
Like I said before, got into Barnard Bound program. I hope that matters!
-Had an interview
-Toured the school
-Went to a Barnard informational session at my own school with a Barnard representative.
-Sat in on a class
-Email my regional Barnard representative to ask questions
Other circumstances:
This isn’t meant to be a list of excuses, but I think that my situation has made it harder for me to get a perfect ACT score and great grades. I come from a poor low-income family, slightly less than 20,000 a year for 5 people. I had to work throughout junior and senior year not to make extra money for clothes, trips, etc- but because I actually had to. I come from a mostly rich school in which most people don’t get this and haven’t worked a day in their life.
-I am first gen. My mom didn’t graduate high school, dad did. I have to do everything on my own because my parents don’t understand college apps/the American education system in general.
-Found it hard often to work in high school because I have a shared laptop between my family, only one. My brother and I can’t do homework at the same time. It also crashed a lot; couldn’t really afford to get a new one.
I don’t know if any of this matters, but I know Barnard is very holistic. Will my low ACT score prevent me from getting in, same with my GPA? I’d appreciate any help or advice, and thank you so much!!
