Reapplying to my dream school? (BARNARD)

Applying to College
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I decided to take a gap year after graduating from high school in may 2020 and committing to a school for financial reasons that I’ve gradually realized is a very, very bad fit for me (tiny student body, restrictive core program, not many internships/outside opportunities, affluent and about 80% white).

Last fall I applied early decision to Barnard and poured my heart and soul into the application, did an in person interview despite living out of state, and was interviewed by them for a selective low income-high achieving access program… but then I was deferred. Because of a health issue that developed about the same time in January I didn’t even send in a letter of continued interest and they rejected me, which I expected.

I’ve decided to reapply to colleges this year after deferring enrollment to the one I committed too and I really want to apply to Barnard again. My sat is on track to be 1500-1530 (200 points higher than last year’s) and I show up as a completely different person on paper. My activities now are a zine I started, an intensive political journalism internship at a startup, art (which I sell at an online shop), volunteering with voter mobilization in rural areas, and art comissions which I donate the proceeds from to BLM. For comparison last year my activities were sports, speech and debate, and a job. I also have some hooks as a Black girl, first gen American, and a 30,000 family income.

So while I have that going for me I also still have a mediocre high school academic record (I was chronically ill throughout high school and was in and out of hospitals) and the fact that they have rejected me before because I completley blew off the deferral.

Barnard is still my dream school, and I’m willing to pour my heart into the application again and cough up $75, but am I deluding myself? Is it worth it?

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Please dont think that you were rejected because of something you did when you were deferred from ED. There is no continued interest. You were not rejected because you blew off the deferral, you went into the general admissions pool, there are a lot of candidates vying for a few slots.

Where you may have a challenge is if you commit to a school and take a gap year, you are not suppose to apply to other schools. Will your counselor support this application knowing that s/he is also putting their professional reputation out there?

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Hi! I have no idea what you ended up doing as you may have ED’d elsewhere, but as a current Barnard student, these sound like absolutely wonderful extracurriculars, and your expected SAT is WAY higher than what I had when I was admitted, lol. Barnard is a very pro-social activism school, and if you write about your political journalism internship I’m sure your application would stand out. I was a music nerd and wrote about music- my grades weren’t the best either. I would also totally explain your medical issues- it’s been a crazy year and everything I’ve heard out of both admissions and Columbia in general is that they’re going to try and be as accommodating as possible. If it’s your dream, I totally hope you end up coming here. I’ve had an absolutely wonderful experience- even though zoom university is cursed, I even like my Barnard zoom classes better than my Columbia ones, lol.

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