Hello!
As the title states, I was rejected from Barnard ED.
I was a competitive and qualified applicant per my counselor, a Barnard alum, and a current student. Since I submitted my ED app I have had stellar mid-year grades, an essay of mine was accepted into a peer-reviewed academic journal, and my ACT superscore went up to the 97th percentile nationally.
I was wondering if Barnard accepts appeal letters, since I can’t find any info on it, and if they do, if it’s worth doing.
Thank you!
No. Time to move on.
Let your GC know immediately and see whether they’d be okay checking all the pieces in your application in case something’s wrong somewhere.
I’m sure you’re sad and angry and confused right now. Rejection is horrible. Give yourself time to grieve. Then, next week, time to refocus.
Have you received decisions from your 2 safeties or likelies? Are they affordable?
Have you applied to your state flagship and its honors program?
Are your RD applications ready, save for the supplementary essays?
Are half of them for universities admitting 40+% applicants?
I honestly don’t care if you are a moderator or not, that’s such a rude response to someone whose just gone through the college process. Yes, rejection is terrible and we all have to move on but for high schoolers this can be the FIRST TIME they ever face it — show a little sympathy? They were only asking a question. A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed, no need to add the last bit and be aggressive about it!
GC is aware and supportive. She has a connection at Barnard in their admissions office and is planning to help me through this process. I’m planning to meet next week with her to brainstorm.
None of my safeties have rolling decisions, so I haven’t heard back from them yet. One of my safeties is my state flagship and I applied to their honors program. I’ve applied to about half of my RDs already and am wrapping up the supplements for the rest in the next week or so. And yes, I have an appropriate number of reaches, matches, and safeties.
Thank you for the help!
I don’t think @skieurope is rude. If that’s the correct answer (I don’t know it first-hand), wouldn’t it be much better to move on than to waste energy and precious time on the appeal, as opposed to, perhaps, prepare a quick application to another school that would happily take OP?
Not that skieurope needs a defender. 
So many people, myself included, got rejected from the school we really, really wanted to go to. And those same people (myself included) will tell you that the school we wound up at was the PERFECT one for us, and we were very happy there. The moderator was right, it’s time to focus on moving forward to finish applications to your regular decision schools. The one thing I would ask your school counselor to do is for her to take a look at all your letters, and your essay, your entire application, and give you feedback on whether you’d like to make any modifications before sending it out to the RD schools.
Thank you for your comment.
The problem for me is that I don’t see myself at other schools. Barnard is a very niche school, there isn’t really any other college out there that I truly see myself enjoying. I want a small LAC, but not in a rural or even suburban environment since I come from a very remote town.
I truly saw myself thriving at Barnard. I have other colleges on my list and am well on my way to finishing my RD apps, but they just don’t feel right for me. Barnard meets every single thing I desire in a college. All the rest of the ones on my list fall short in some capacity.
That’s a short version of why I want to appeal. I think it has a slim chance of actually working, but I would like to at least try.
It was not rude. It was forthright and honest. You are in for a world of hurt if you continue to conflate the two.
The OP is almost an adult. She can handle the hard truth. There is no appeal process. Barnard will not entertain an appeal. The decision will not change.
It sucks, but she needs to accept that. I am sure she is qualified and that there are many colleges where she can thrive. But she needs to move on from Barnard.
You can’t appeal. That’s not a thing.
But you can ask your GC to reach out to see what happened. If for some reason there was a bona fide problem (like grades not received and you weren’t advised), you can probably address that.
At Barnard or colleges in general? You can appeal a college decision at many different schools, it just isn’t a very well-known thing. Some T20s do explicitly forbid them, but I have seen very little information regarding the process on Barnard. I don’t think my college counselor would let me try if it wasn’t something that was even a very slim possibility.
I do appreciate your advice and understand where you are coming from, but I am going to try and appeal anyway. I don’t see myself at anywhere except Barnard. I have applied and am applying to other schools, but I don’t see why it isn’t worth a shot. I don’t have high hopes for success, don’t get me wrong, but trying can’t hurt.
I have almost the next month off for winter break anyways, so the day or so spent working on an appeal letter isn’t going to be cutting away from time spent on my academics or RD apps.
I know there is no clear guidance on appeals for Barnard per my extensive Googling, so I am curious as to why you would say that Barnard definitively won’t accept an appeal. I know their rejection letter used to say that their decisions were final, but that was not the case for what I received this year.
From their website…
Early Decision applicants may not appeal their decision or re-apply for Regular Decision. However, they are welcome to apply as a transfer student in the future.
We all will be confronted with rejection in our lives in whatever we choose to pursue or in just day to day well being.
Penguin?
I agree, @skieurope was not rude. This year is brutal for admissions at top colleges and thousands of students are dealing with rejections and deferrals. I know it’s hard, especially right now with the world feeling so unstable. My daughter was rejected at her ED1 school as well despite her high stats. She shed a few tears and later that afternoon started working on her Plan B. You’ve worked hard and you’re a highly qualified applicant who has many options available if you’re willing to look with an open mind. I wish you the best in your search.
Per the website, there is no appeal
It’s a denial: if it was close it would have been deferred.
One more time: it’s not just the boxes you tick- you are a highly qualified student but that is not the only metric. That ‘fit’ part is real.
It’s a 2-way street: you see yourself as a perfect fit for Barnard, but they did not. It is not necessarily a negative statement about you at all: just that in their (experienced) assessment as a whole, you are not a perfect fit. for them.
Most rejected applicants at elite schools can say this. And lose the notion that you can use “connections” to get what you want. That is the definition of privilege.
It is a tough year. My daughter was just rejected at her top school. She did apply early action to two public colleges and has two acceptances in hand. I highly recommend future applicants reading this thread do this–apply to a few publics in the early round in addition to your ED or SCEA. It feels so much better knowing she has an honors college to attend if all her other regular applications don’t work out this year. OP I would get going on your other applications.
What did you like about Barnard? Single gender? Urban? Size? Courses for your major?
Every school has overlap with others that will have similar vibes.
There are thousands of schools in the US. There is definitely more than one perfect school for you.
Time to move forward and get excited about the other schools on your list, or finding new ones to add.