ED Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

Hello! I am extremely passionate about Barnard and have it as my number one top college, which is why I plan on applying early decision for the class of 2024. I’d really appreciate honest and constructive feedback on my chances and what I might be able to do to improve them in the time I have left :slight_smile:

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1430 (730 RW, 700 math) and a 1330 on my first one (taking again)
ACT (breakdown): 34 (35 Reading, 34 English, 33 Math and Science, 11 writing)
SAT II subject tests: Ecological Biology 780, US History 730, Literature 720
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 unweighted, 4.557 weighted (out of 5)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5 out of 308
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo (4), English Lang (5), US History (5), European History (5), Environmental Science (5), English Lit (4), Biology (4), Calculus AB (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Art History, AP World History, AP US Gov, AP Psych, Journalism Honors, might be able to take Spanish 3 but might end up stuck with a free period. I’ve ran out of higher level classes to take

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
9th Grade
-Track/Cross Country
10th Grade
-Track/Cross Country (stopped after this due to a knee injury)

  • Started a food bank at my school which I operate and manage
  • Harvard Model Congress
  • Organized a March For Our Lives walkout (not including)
    11th Grade
  • Freshman mentor
  • Harvard Model Congress (Captain, won an award)
  • Varsity women’s lacrosse
  • Founded an Environmental Club (which I’m the president of)
  • Food bank
    12th Grade/Summer
  • Started a chapter of March For Our Lives at my school (chapter lead)
  • Food bank
  • Freshman mentor
  • HMC again (still captain)
  • Internship with local judge
  • NC Governor’s School for English
  • I’ll also be doing debate and the school newspaper. I will also be the VP of our school’s new diversity club

Job/Work Experience: None (due to extenuating circumstance of having a single mother meaning I care for my siblings and the household while she works). I’m currently doing an internship with our district judge and I’m hoping to set up an internship with my state senator, though.

Volunteer/Community service: All of my community service has been or will be through things I’ve created. A lot of it I attribute to my food bank and projects I’ll be conducting with my environmental club.

Honors/Awards:

  • Outstanding Achievement Award (basically the highest grade/most knowledgeable) in AP Human Geography, AP US History, Precal Honors, AP Euro, AP Bio, Anatomy Honors, Career Management
  • Nominated for/accepted to NC Governor’s School. Also got an award at school for it.
  • AP Scholar with distinction
  • Daughters of the American Revolution Excellence in American History Award
  • Honor Roll/Academic Pin and Letter for top 10% in my class all 3 years
  • Graduation Marshal
  • Honorable Mention at Harvard Model Congress 2019 in Senate Environment and Public Works
  • Member of two basically “smart kid academies” where I attend seminars and get to look cool
  • Varsity athletics letter
  • Questbridge College Prep Scholar (would be applying through the college match to ivies but decided not to so I could apply ED to Barnard, that’s how passionate I am about it lol)

Summer Activities:
Did an online class my first two summers of high school. This summer I attended NC Governor’s School East for English and I’m doing an internship with the judge as previously mentioned

Other:
I’ll be applying for financial aid and come from the lowest income bracket (<$30,000). I’ve put political science, environmental science/biology/policy, and Spanish as my intended areas of study though I’m looking to double major in the first two. I’m from a fringe rural public school in southeastern NC and we’re just slightly at or above the state average for test scores. I’m white but very low income as I said.

Hooks: Geographic location, high achieving low income, come from a single teen mother, don’t have a lot of resources available to me so I created my own stuff. Not the best life which I will likely include to show how it has made me stronger.

Strengths: Good grades and rigorous course load (as I said, I ran out of classes), very very passionate about this school which I hope will show, decent test scores, strong despite bad circumstances
Weaknesses: I feel like my extracurriculars aren’t the strongest, especially my major lack of community service and work experience. I also worry a lot about my SAT score and don’t want to sound like a sob story in my essays (also I don’t know which woman to write about!)

Any and all feedback is very appreciated :slight_smile: Very few people at my school go out of state and even fewer apply to T20 schools (I was one of two people to even take subject tests this year) so I have a limited pool of people to discuss this with. Thanks!

2

Hey! Barnard ed 2024 hopeful here too :slight_smile: Your ec’s and stats look pretty good so I wouldn’t worry too much- but then again this is coming from a senior in the same boat as you so maybe not the best advice haha. Good luck to us both come December!

3

I think you are looking pretty good for acceptance. Having said that, Barnard is nobody’s sure. thing. They look very carefully for matches. I think it’s a great ED Pick for you.

Just a few things here: did you run the NPC from the website and talk to your mother about cost and what’s affordable ? Do you have a Non Custodial Parent or a family business in the picture? Does your mother own a house, property ? Barnard does guarantee to meet full need but they define that need and do so with CSS PROFILE. They do not give merit money so if it doesn’t look good from their NPC in terms of affordability, or you have some complicating asset situation, you may not get the financial aid that one would expect. at your mother’s income range.

If you know of any school highly likely to take you that you know is affordable through guaranteed merit, day s local school, state school, it might be a good idea to apply to it rooming as middle or EA if possible. Get it into your pocket. It’s always possible to get deferred and it’s a long 4-5 months till RD letters come out without an acceptance in hand. Also, certain state programs and majors fill up fast, so you might want to get your app in there before you hear back from Barnard.

Even needing financial aid, I think applying to Barnard is a good idea. If they can’t come up with the aid package you need, you can withdraw from the ED contract. Schools usually work hard to made ED aid work because they want that 100% yield from ED. That’s why you should run the NPCs for Barnard, so you have some back up on what to expect in aid. This also will serve as an early alert if there is some impediment in getting the money you need and you would have time to work with it for RD. Also, you’d have that safety school as back up.

Good luck! Keep us posted how it goes! Do run those numbers

4

Thank you! I appreciate the advice :slight_smile:

5

Thank you! I hope we both get in! What drew you to apply to Barnard ED?

6

I plan on applying EA to UNC Chapel Hill and NC State (my top state schools, go NC!) as well. At UNC I’ll be applying for the Morehead-Cain scholarship and I’ll be applying to some scholarships at NC State as well but I plan to go to UNC if out of state private schools fail me. I’ve ran the NPC for Barnard and I come up in the $2000-$8000 per year expected price range which to me seems feasible to partially or fully cover with work, scholarships, and loans. I also plan to apply to several other top private schools in the event that I am deferred or rejected. I’m definitely hoping to go out of state, though!

7

I was drawn to the great polisci program and I adore the feeling of a smaller, all female community with the resources of a huge research university. (also: nyc, duh :slight_smile: )

8

Hi everyone! This is a repost of my answer on another forum. If you really love Barnard and think that Barnard’s a good fit for you, ED is the way to go! Call me biased but I don’t think you can’t get a better education anywhere else than at Barnard College, not even at the other Ivies. That being said, Barnard has a very specific fit.

“Hello! In my experience, the student scholars at Barnard College have a certain fit for the school. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2023 was 11.3% and is decreasing significantly each year. It’s becoming very competitive to get into, especially through RD.

First, Barnard students are PASSIONATE about what they want to do or study. They’re self-driven, intelligent, hardworking, and inquisitive. Stress culture definitely has a presence at this school, but students are rather competitive with themselves, than each other. Additionally, Barnard girls tend to be fashionable and dress very well. :smile: Second, the community at Barnard is very welcoming and supportive. You’re constantly surrounded by female professors who are not only experts in their field, but are truly dedicated to teaching and want to see their students succeed. The class sizes, including some
introductory science lectures, are fairly small and allow for students to get to know their professors personally. Third, Barnard’s education is devoted to empowering women and creating the next generation of female leaders, whether that’s in politics, medicine, acting, design, law, or dance. Many of the classes, including the First-Year Writing Course, Women and Culture, Bell introduce you to the way that women have been defined in literature and in society. For me, personally, these classes have helped form my own sense of identity and pride as a woman.

Barnard College is an amazing institution, and in my opinion, is a better deal than being a student at Columbia College (CC) (barnard’s co-Ed counterpart.) You receive the intense support and care of being a Barnard student, get to be in smaller classes with dedicated teachers, and learn the pride of being a Barnard woman and leader. Additionally, you don’t have to fulfill the cumbersome Core requirements of Columbia College, but explore many nontraditional and interesting courses through Barnard’s flexible Foundations requirements. (It’s a matter of personal preference.) You get to experience the best of ALL worlds: the privilege of a small, all-women’s liberal arts college, the resources of Columbia University and you’re entitlement to be a student of “Barnard College of Columbia University”, and the endless fun, diverse culture, and world-class institutions of New York City.

Keep up good grades and develop strong extracurriculars in the activities that you are truly passionate about. Barnard has a very holistic admissions process, and has admitted students with lower stats but passion and a lot of promise in their extracurricular or academic career, and has also rejected many students with 34-36 ACT scores, 1400-1600 SAT scores, and high GPAs.”

9

yesss Barnard ED 2024! I think you look good. Good luck for us!!