@grinellgirl , I sent you a PM. Hopefully you can respond to it. If not, PM me when you get 15 posts.
@pcmom1, thank you again for the information. We have our answer (no). For future applicants, to give you some perspective, D’s stats: GPA 4.0 UW, 4.5 W, class rank~2-3/~300, SAT 1540, IB diploma candidate–all senior year classes either IB or dual credit. Impressive extracurricular science resume back to elementary school, although she hasn’t published any research or invented anything (i.e. she’s a really great student, but not superhuman). The notification process for Barnes this year was extremely stressful for us; apparently notifications went out to some applicants, but we did not know this. We were trying to be polite and not harass her admissions counselor; I sent an inquiry to him when she was admitted RD, and he didn’t respond for a week. When he did reply, he said decisions would be out “within a week,” so we waited a week; D emailed him again a week later, and he said “within a few weeks;” after she got that response I checked here and discovered that notifications had already been sent several weeks ago. I started making phone calls, and while everyone was very polite, no one that I spoke with knew the status of the Barnes decisions. I was ignored by the person in charge of releasing decisions (se PCmom1 post above for her name); she finally responded yesterday after I asked 3 different people in admissions to please ask her to let us know what was going on. While I was disappointed, because I thought that D was a good candidate, D was actually relieved to finally have an answer and to be able to finally close this incredibly stressful chapter. I intend to write a letter to admissions to tell them they need to figure this out!!! Having something like this happen at the bitter end of the admissions cycle is just not acceptable. These kids have SO much stress, and by the first week of April many have been caught up in the anxiety of admissions for more than six months. I am very grateful for Colllege Confidential (although admittedly over the past 6 months it has sometimes added to our stress); if it wasn’t for @pcmom1 we would still be waiting for an answer.
Silver linings: D was over the moon yesterday to be able to commit to a public research university honors college that offered her a full tuition scholarship. It checks all her boxes-- out of state, climate she loves, cool city, honors environment, new dorm, perfect fit for her major with endless opportunities to keep up with her EC passion (dance). Hopefully this will open up an opportunity for a waitlisted kid at CC who can afford to go there.
Best wishes to all!
Your D has very impressive stats! Sorry to hear about your frustration with Barnes notifications, but good to hear that she has made her decision! That school is lucky to have her! I do wish there was more published about the Barnes Scholarship–both with the administrative process (like notification timeframe), and “benchmarks” for the recipients. I just have no idea if my kid (who will apply for 2020) is even in the ball park with this scholarship. Any additional detail you are able to provide regarding you D’s science specific accomplishments would be appreciated (perhaps via PM–unfortunately, I cannot PM you because I do not have enough posts…). I am sorry to hear about your frustrations, but happy to hear that you are in the backstretch and that your D has settled on a school. Best of luck!
@grinellgirl, thank you. I’m probably not the best one to ask re: specific accomplishments they are looking for, since D was rejected for the scholarship :neutral: I don’t want to get into too much detail in order to protect D’s privacy (she really doesn’t like me posting details here!). I have no idea why she was not selected. In reviewing the scholarship information, I was reminded that although the Barnes Scholarships are principally merit scholarships, the committee does consider financial need. Unfortunately for my daughter, we are in that zone where we have “too much money” to get need-based aid, but not enough to afford Colorado College without significant aid; that may have contributed to her rejection. So I guess I’d bear that in mind. Do the EFC calculators, and if they tell you that you would qualify for need-based aid at CC, your kid might have a better shot at a Barnes scholarship. They did offer D some merit aid, which I understand is rare for CC–we were appreciative of that, but it wasn’t even in the ballpark of making it affordable.
If you have a high-stats kid (and assuming you’re interested in my opinion 
), you really have little to lose in applying for a Barnes scholarship. The application is just an essay. Just be sure that you set realistic expectations (I heard that advice but didn’t really take it to heart as I should have; I thought my kid was one of the amazing ones, and surely the people in charge of handing out money would agree with me). We want to encourage our kids to shoot for the stars, but the reality is that merit scholarships at selective schools are extremely difficult to earn, and I do think they mostly go to superhuman kids. D has had some incredible offers, but also some rejections that really stung. The worst were the ones at highly selective schools where they offered her merit scholarships, but not THE merit scholarship (full tuition), and the offers fell short of being affordable.
One thing that I would suggest to anyone with a high stats kid is to explore public research universities with honors programs. My D’s final choice was a safety, but honestly it has turned out to be the best fit for many reasons. Many honors programs offer a LAC experience, and many offer automatic merit aid based on GPA and SAT/ACT (and some of that merit aid is significant! i.e. full tuition). They also offer workarounds to some of the problems associated with attending a large university (e.g. not being able to get into classes that you need, classes with 100+students). D will have priority registration, and will have the option to take core classes as honors classes with ~20 students vs. the gen ed classes with 100+.
I am proud of my kid for getting into a few very selective schools, but I wish we had done a better job of framing public honors colleges as an equally attractive option. She’s happy now, but in the midst of this process there were times I know she felt that if she wasn’t able to go to one of those selective schools, all of her hard work was wasted. I think she’s gained some perspective now.
Wishing you a smoother ride than we had!
Thank you for your candor. We are in a similar position (the proverbial donut hole), so will not be given need based consideration. CC is just unique enough that if an offer of admission is extended, we will probably look at ways to pay for it. We are also looking at honors programs at 3 large state universities–yes, I agree that these schools can be overlooked, which is too bad since aid packages are often generous, and the resources extensive. I am glad to hear that you have reached a decision and that you can leave behind the stress and anxiety associated with this process!
@grinellgirl I was in the same position this year. I was ecstatic when I got into CC…until I looked at the financial aid—or lack, thereof. They gave me an insignificant account coupled with a small merit scholarship. Going there was something I wanted to do so badly. But I decided not to in the end; it’s just too expensive in the end, and I couldn’t afford it. I’m sure I’ll be happy at the other school I’ll go to, and I think it’s important to remember that, in the end, school is just school and you get what you make of it!