Official Barnard Early Decision 2017 Results

annakarina
Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:37:53 +0000

To follow up on artobsessed, for all potential and current INTERNATIONAL applicants who read this thread:

It’s important to realize that Barnard is NOT NEEDS BLIND for international students, and therefore a lot of tremendously qualified applicants who need a full-ride (or a substantial amount of financial aid to attend) are often not accepted.

A student at my school applied to Barnard College two years ago through the Early Decision program. She was an International Physics Olympiad gold medalist, she had attended university courses in mathematics, chemistry, physics, and philosophy since her junior year of high school (and had achieved As on all courses taken), she had conducted and published scientific research in an undergraduate journal, and was a concert pianist who had toured with European orchestras. She was, however, in need of a full ride and was (quite shockingly) rejected.

To future and current international students who receive a letter of rejection from Barnard, and who felt that they were competitive applicants, please recognize that it may not have been due to any deficiency in your application. Barnard College does not have an endowment that allows them to exercise needs blind admissions for international students (indeed, only a TINY number of schools do).

The student I referred to above ended up gaining admission to Yale, Princeton, and Cambridge (amongst other schools). The first two are needs blind for international students, and will meet the demonstrated need of all admitted students. Cambridge does not take the financial situation of a student into consideration when making an admissions decision. A rejection from Barnard College does not necessarily indicate that the outcome at other schools (whether they be as or more competitive) will be the same.

PLEASE DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED. Be realistic when making an application to Barnard College, and make sure you research which schools are either needs blind for international students (i.e. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, ECLA Bard), or who have a history of being generous with financial aid for international students (i.e. University of Rochester)