Chance me for Barnard Class of ‘26!

[Olivia_Stauder1]

Demographics
Citizenship: US Citizen
State/Location of residency: Trenton, New Jersey
Type of high school: Public
Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Half White, Half Taíno
First gen and a Queer woman!

Intended Major(s):
Music, Philosophy, (not a major) Pre-Med Track

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.87
Weighted HS GPA: 3.27 (should be higher, but I transferred schools this year and not all my credits transferred I explained this in my Additional Information section!)
Class Rank: 25/253
SAT Score: I’m applying test-optional, but I got a 1390 superscore!

Coursework
No AP classes were offered at my school, but every single class that I took was Honors! Like I said though, not every credit transferred when I changed school, so only a few counted as Honors on my transcript.

Awards
-Questbridge National College Match Finalist
-Congress of Future Medical Leaders Award of Excellence
-High Honor Roll
-[my school] Academic Award

Extracurriculars
-Founded a non-profit that provides low-income kids with free music lessons
-Conducted research at a dental school about color science
-Held an Internship at a dental practice
-Competitive Ballerina (since age 2)
-Organized my town’s first Pride
-Founded and presided my school’s Music Club

Essays + LoRs
Personally I think my essays were really strong! I’m a passionate and raw writer and I think I conveyed that really well. As far as my LoRs, I have two really strong ones (one from an alumni herself) and I’m not sure how good the other one is because I waived my right to read it. The teacher hasn’t known me for too long, mainly because I’m a new student, but I had to get a letter from my current school.

Cost Constraints / Budget
I have an EFC of 0 and I’m hoping I get 100% of my need met!

Btw: I’m applying Regular Decision because of financial concerns, but Barnard is my dream school and I really stressed that in my application!

[tsbna44]

I take it your UW and W GPAs are switched.

i was going to say highly unlikely but then you threw out Questbridge and there are QB experts on here than might state otherwise since you’re a finalist.

Good luck to you.

[Olivia_Stauder1]

Omg, my weighted GPA is 4.27. Not 3.27. That’s my bad! Thank you for pointing that out!

[tsbna44]

That’s different and the QB part is different.

I would add - to me, since Columbia and Barnard are intertwined, why not apply to both?

[Olivia_Stauder1]

Do you think I have a shot at Columbia? I’m considering both, I’d much rather go to Barnard because of their focus on female empowerment but I also love the location.

[tsbna44]

The schools, i believe, are one and the same - do you want to be in the city or you might look at Bryn Mawr and others. You are solid for Bryn awr and I believe you can cross register with Swarthmore and Haverford - totally different environment than Barnard/Columbia tho.

I didn’t think you had a shot at either but if you are QB finalist, others will need to gamble.

Of course, you added a point to your GPA and maybe that changes the narrative - but these schools admit a small % so even for the best it’s tough.

[DigitalDad]

Hi Olivia, I would suggest you also apply to Columbia College. At “worst” you get accepted at both, and then can look at the Core vs. Distribution requirements and other factors and choose one over the other.

Both colleges have different ways to look at applications. So, if by chance the applicant pool at Barnard was not in your favor that year, you might stand out at CC – and vice-versa.

Even if you end up having to attend Columbia College, you will still be able to pick classes from the combined Columbia Univ course catalogue that happen to be held at Barnard, taught by Barnard faculty (which is also Columbia U tenured). No matter where your classes happen to be held, which libraries you use, which dining facilities you frequent, there’ll be students from all the colleges.