What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

<p>Asian (female)
I reside in Michigan, and attend a magnet school (the first in the nation to have an economicology program with IB)</p>

<p>Possible Majors: political science, public policy, international relations, psychology, history
Possible Minors: history, sociology, economics</p>

<p>Standardized test scores:
ACT: 29 (will retake)
SAT: 1800 (first time, will DEFINITELY retake)
SAT II: US History, World History, Math I–results pending (I’m taking more SAT II’s this fall–Math II, Lit, and perhaps chemistry)
AP’s Junior year: AP US History, AP Lit, AP Macro Econ, AP US Gov–results pending, but I’m guessing all 4’s or 5’s
AP’s (will take) Senior year: AP World History, AP Micro Econ, AP Psych, AP Comp Gov, AP Calc AB, AP Physics B, AP Lang, AP French</p>

<p>Trilingual:
-Chinese (Cantonese…I know, it’s not going to get me anywhere when the AP Chinese and SAT II Chinese tests are done in Mandarin. I can comprehend Mandarin, but it takes awhile to relay it.)
-Chinese dialect
-comprehension of Vietnamese ( a bit)
-English</p>

<p>GPA:
Unweighted: 3.88 (I got a few B’s this year, which knocked me out of the Valedictorian contention and Salutatorian…I’m guessing that I’ll graduate with a 3.92)
Weighted: 4.92</p>

<p>EC’s:
Legislative Debate/Parliamentary Debate: 4 years (co-captain)
-consecutively broke to finals/semi-finals at state every year
-compete on national circuit
Student Congress: 2 years
-chairwoman of committee/press corps
Model UN: 1 year (new for our school)
Lincoln-Douglas: 1 year (new league for state of Michigan, will start in fall)
Policy Debate: 1 year (wasn’t my thing)
Forensics: 4 years
-co-captain senior year
-fresh.-poetry; soph/jr/sr-extemp/impromptu
-consistently did well at invites/placed
-state semi-finalists (extemp)
E-Club/Environmental Club: 2 years (only member from junior class)
Student Council: 1 year
-treasurer
-prom/spirit week committee–“green prom” (links with E-Club)
NJHS: 3 years
NHS: 3 years
-vice-president (senior year)
-hoping to reform NHS next year, seeing as officers were a bit of a “let down” this year, OR will start up Key Club (of course, as President)
Interned at a law firm for 2 trimesters (possibility of interning at another firm in the fall)
-worked mostly on med. mal cases, tested the waters with corporate and environmental
-got a better understanding of the community, and how the firm, along with other organizations/pro-bono lawyers fit into the picture.
-outside experiences: YWCA and LAC
-While interning at the firm, I was offered to other internships (1) being the second firm (2) LAC–Legal Assistance Center w/ Heartside Ministries.
Volunteered:
-over 100 hours
-not included in 100 hours, but campaigned for many political candidates over the years (not limited to Obama)</p>

<p>Chance me. Please?
I know my test scores aren’t up to par, but I’m studying my butt off over the summer to retake both the ACT, SAT, and more SAT II’s in the fall.</p>

2

<p>Chances if you don’t apply: 0
Chances if you do apply: unknown, better than -0-.</p>

<p>More than 1 out of 4 students who apply to Barnard get accepted. Despite all the hysteria about college admissions – those are pretty good odds.</p>

<p>You clearly have a lot to offer. Your ACT is within the midrange for Barnard acceptees – so I would advise that you forget the SAT and stick with the ACT for any retakes. (My daughter’s best ACT score was 28, SAT over 1900 - she submitted ACT only – she is class of 2010, which historically was the most selective - lowest percentage of admitted students - in Barnard’s history – so I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over test scores, yours is “good enough” even though its not great; my d’s unweighted GPA was similar to yours as well.).</p>

<p>You clearly have a lot to offer as an active member of your community, and I think you should focus on your strengths in your essays & line up good recommendations. </p>

<p>And stop asking people to “chance” you. In my view, that’s a loser’s perspective – why would you care about the opinion of a bunch of strangers who really know nothing at all about why some people get accepted and others don’t?</p>

3

<p>Awesome extracurriculars! It’s very impressive that you’ve already interned at a law firm.</p>

<p>What is your rank at your HS (this is more important than your GPA)? AS it is, it looks like you have very strong grades and extracurriculars, and if you pair these with strong essays and recs, you definitely have a good chance. if you bump your ACT up 1-3 points you will be more competitive and it will be a target . </p>

<p>You’ve obviously worked hard, have an impressive CV, and I’m sure many schools would be thrilled to have you. Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>aube88–I attend a very competitive high school, and as far as ranks go, I put down top 10% (just to be safe), but I think I’m really top 5%. 5 out of 88 students. I’ll be sure to bump up my ACT score! Thank you for chancing me!</p>

5

<p>I think you have very good chances! keep up the good work.</p>

6

<p>OMG yay!!! another parliamentary debater!!! I always thought RI was so weird for having it. Anyways, I think that you have pretty good chances, and keep in mind that Barnard looks beyond test scores.</p>