ED or RD to Barnard?

calmom
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 20:18:48 +0000

The OP said she didn’t want comments about financial aid, but given the situation she posted in another thread, I think it would be a huge mistake for her to apply to Barnard ED. (divorced parents… Barnard insists on full documentation from NCP’s.)

All colleges, including Barnard, are looking for somewhat different demographic qualities during the ED round as compared to RD. Barnard is need-blind in theory, but in practice ED is a way to lock in full-payers and other students who have the qualities they want to lock in— whereas RD is a way to round out the class. So you can’t really assess “chances” by looking simply at admission stats. They know what their priorities are at each stage of the admission process, and they will select based on those priorities.

A student like the OP will do a lot better to keep her options open and cast a wide net. And Barnard admissions focus more on grades and holistic factors than test scores, so while I don’t consider the GPA “low” it is rather iffy for admissions to Barnard.