ED application/chances!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

If anyone could share feedback on what you think my chances are and what I could possibly do to improve my application, I would really, seriously appreciate the help. I want to go to Barnard SO badly, and I will give you my firstborn child for any trick of the trade knowledge on how to arrange my application. Thank you!!!
Here’s a little bit of my information:
(I’m in 12th grade next year, so there’s not a whole lot I can change about the actual content, unfortunately.)
Objective:
SAT: 2 sittings, 1530/1600

Weighted GPA: 4.78/4
Unweighted GPA: 3.68 (<-- this is my MAJOR problem area and I’m 80% sure it’s going to kill my application in the first round of review)
Rank: 2/412 (this is not technically reported, but they tell the top 5 kids and give us a seal so they would know)
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World History (5), AP Human Geography (5), AP Language and Composition (5), AP Spanish Language (5), AP Spanish Literature (5), AP Biology (4), AP European History (5), AP Studio Art (5), AP 2D Art (5), AP US History (3, but it was because of extenuating circumstances and I am NOT reporting the score), and then senior year I’m taking AP Literature, AP Environmental Science, AP Government, AP Statistics, and AP Art History
Major Awards: Honorable mention in Zonta International Young Women in Public Affairs, National Merit Scholar, Scholastic American Vision, Outstanding Youth Activist award, Distinguished Scholar (top 1% of class)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (My application’s biggest strength, hopefully!!! :slight_smile: For reference I’m trying for a political science “spike” so hopefully it’s reflected here!)
9TH GRADE (I was kind of just dabbling/trying to find my interests):

  • started a community garden (I live in a poor inner city neighborhood/food desert, so this was less lame than it sounds, I promise)
  • national art honor society
  • volunteer worker on Hillary Clinton’s campaign
  • national social studies honor society
  • gay/straight alliance
  • theater
  • science olympiad (honorable mention at states)
    10TH GRADE:
  • started an official March for Our Lives chapter at my school
  • president of gay/straight alliance
  • national art honor society historian
  • Lincoln-Douglas debate team assistant captain
  • lead representative on student panel at the schoolboard
  • local women’s march lead coordinator
  • national social studies honor society president
  • started a local initiative to help Latino immigrants adjust to life in the US and resist harassment and exploitation (we got 23 people jobs and helped lots of kids with English)
    11TH GRADE:
  • March for Our Lives state director
  • Internship with our state delegate!
  • Started a Youth Voter Initiative, recently received a $3.5k grant for the project, arranged free transportation for high school and college voters directly to and from polling places in the upcoming election, committee to convince several local businesses to give employees the day off on election day, etc
  • National Honor Society
  • National Art Honor Society vice president
  • continual work with my immigrant initiative
  • officiated my own nonprofit startup via 501(c)3 (we got lots of donations)
  • Created an accessibility publication (constitution, law, voting, your rights, politics at an 8th grade reading level)
    12TH GRADE PLANS:
  • I’m doing a fellowship with my state’s house representatives
  • Continue work with March For Our Lives
  • Continue with my voter initiative
  • Continue work on my nonprofit
  • Continue work on my immigrant imitative
  • Starting a project with our local food bank to help feed teen moms and their preschool aged children
  • I’m not sure what the future will hold but I heard that quality is superior to quantity so I am not going to try to do anything else just yet
    Job/Work Experience:
    Waitress, dishwasher, cashier (part time, just 15, 20-ish hours a week to help my parents with miscellaneous expenses like gas, groceries, light bills, etc since we don’t have a lot of money)
    Volunteer/Community service: This is another yikes area for me. Most of my volunteer service was through my own projects, like the community garden, teaching kids ASL, immigrant project, etc. I don’t have any honest to god volunteer hours with existing organizations other than Boys & Girls club, which was about 10 hours max. If anyone has pointers on how to handle this…
    Summer Activities:
  • Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership (as a rising senior)
  • 2 week governor’s school program on social sciences (as a rising sophomore)
  • taking a class at UC Stanford
  • Netflix? Lol

Other:
State: VA
School Type: Public, but our city pays for me to go out of district because of talent search stuff so I’m not sure if that matters
Ethnicity: multiracial, white/urm
Gender: female (obviously)
Income Bracket: Lower middle
Extenuating Circumstances: severe mental illness, grew up very poor after being screwed over by the recession (was briefly homeless), cancer
Hooks: URM, geo (I’m from a really bad zipcode), rare deadly illness (kidney cancer which is very uncommon in adolescents), prominent figure
Thanks!

2

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taking a class at UC Stanford
There is no such school.

[/QUOTE]

3

I think you look good for Barnard. Got the grades, test scores, rigorous courses, decent ECs and am assuming as active as you are in your community, you will likely get excellent LORs and you’ll hopefully write a good essay. I don’t think your GpA will be an issue, given your class rank. I’m did not even look at URM status to come to this conclusion, but that also carries weight. I did not give any corner to being a prominent figure. I don’t think your kidney issues comprise a hook, though it does show tenacity and excellence under stress.

The main problems with your focus on Barnard are as follows:

  1. Financial. What Barnard may assess as your need may not match what your parents feel it is and it could be unaffordable for you. Have you discussed what your family is will and able to pay? Have you run a NPC on Barnard? Is there a family business in the picture? Are your parents divorced? Are there any stepparents? Barnard has no merit money so what you qualify for in aid is what you get.

2). Though IMO you look good for Barnard, with its acceptance numbers, it’s not a school to take for granted. I hesitate to call it a match because they do look at admissions holistically, and what they feel is fit, is all important. So you had better look for some less selective schools as well, some sure things, that you also know you can afford.

  1. Mental illness can be a red flag. Colleges already have to deal with this a lot. Adolescence, young adult hood is fraught with mental, emotional, behavioral issues that usually become under control with maturity and experience, but no one wants to take on situations that are up front highly likely to have episodes. I would not bring it up unless it is an integral part of your life even now, and/or inevitable that it comes up in LORs and school records
4

@calmom OOPS. Yeah, you’re right. Yikes. Honest mistake-- I know next to nothing about the California university system/am not considering Stanford because I absolutely don’t think I’d get in–I’m only doing their online summer session because I got to do it for free through my enrichment program. Thank you…I wish I could edit posts :frowning: embarrassing

5

@cptofthehouse Thank you for your feedback!! I’m definitely looking at other, less selective schools as well. I love Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, and UVA (a bit less of a reach than Barnard, because I’m a pretty good candidate and from an underrepresented area of VA and they don’t take that lightly), and I would be happy at any of those places as well :slight_smile:
I’ve been told over and over not to include mental illness if it does not need to be included, but it does need to be included. My proudest and most successful moments have come from overcoming my mental illness, and dealing with it all has been the biggest challenge I’ve faced by far (cancer included). (Not to mention it needs to be in my counselor LOR, because absences from multiple hospitalizations affected my grades one year.) I don’t think I can accurately tell my story without Bipolar–so what do you think would be the best way to go about including it while also making sure it’s evident that I’ve been stable for years and I’m successful despite it?
Thanks again!

6

I missed that you are NMS. You should start doing research on what scholarships and benefits that offers you. There are schools that offer full ride for NMS. Also, if you are from a low income family , Questbridge might be an option. Applying that way offers tremendous benefits