Haverford vs. Barnard vs Smith

calmom
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 22:26:06 +0000

@EyeVeee – you’ve missed my point. Haverford is not harder to get into than Barnard if its average test scores are higher, that just means it uses different criteria for admission. My D. with the low test scores wasn’t at the bottom of her college class - she was at the top. Standardized test scores are an easy way for college ad coms to weed through applicants, and have the benefit of improving US News rankings - but they aren’t really a way to discern intellectual or scholastic ability. They are superficial, multiple choice exams that can be studied for, and test prep courses teach a lot of hacks and short-cuts. Barnard happens to place greater value on other criteria.

Barnard also has need-blind admissions,whereas Haverford is now need-aware. Barnard also has a strong commitment to it’s HEOP/BOP programs which by definition is bringing in students with lower SAT/ACT scores. Barnard has a more ethnically diverse student body and a greater percentage qualifying for Pell grants. The most consistent correlation of SAT scores are the correlations of scores to family wealth and to ethnicity, so looking at score ranges for schools may provide a lot more information about the socio-economic and ethnic diversity than caliber of students.

You can’t say that a school that admitted 20% of its applicants this year is “more difficult” to gain admission that a school that admitted 15% of its applicants by looking at test score ranges. Tests scores are the easiest type of selection criteria for student to manipulate. They can attend test prep courses, retake the exams, etc. Obviously the school that accepts a fewer percentage of applicants is tougher to get into, especially when comparing private LACs – it’s simple math. Barnard currently turns away more applicants than Haverford.

That is not to say one school is better than the other. They are different.

I agree with @juillet – the OP’s daughter sounds like a good fit for Smith – as much as I would want to sing the praises of Barnard, it sounds like the OP’s daughter might find that environment intimidating. Bottom line, Barnard students are also Columbia U students – and this is not a prestige issue, but campus environment / academic experience issue. My DD was not looking for or fond of the idea of attending a small LAC; she wanted a mid-size to larger university. Barnard was acceptable to her because of its association with Columbia - not because of prestige (DD didn’t apply to Columbia) – but because of size and resources. So for my DD, that was a plus – but it sounds like OP’s daughter may very well prefer the more traditional LAC environment, given the reference to “intimate campus experience.”