mboyle1988

Will colleges look more at high school transcript or college transcript?

My senior year grades are going to suck because I slacked off second semester. If I pulled a 3.7/3.8GPA frosh year and got really good recs from professors, plus got involved in some research, would that be considered more than the fact that I got B's senior year (I got A's the rest of high school) ?

I'm going to Duke next year, btw. I was just thinking about applying to Harvard and Stanford as a transfer. My Dad's a Harvard alum.

ianjt

We're going to have to know more facts than you did poorly during second semester.

Although, generally speaking, if you transfer DURING your freshman year, your high school grades and SAT scores are going to be important. If you transfer into a choice schools as a sophomore (including spring transfer) or junior, your scores and high school record won't be nearly as important as college grades.

Harvard has extremely competitive transfer students. The rate of acceptance is only 8%.

Also, pulling off a GPA like that at Duke would be a task in itself. Why not stay there, it's a FANTASTIC school?

menloparkmom

Yes, if you apply to transfer after 1 year in college, they do require your HS transcript. Most Elite colleges will not allow mid-year transfers. In addition, your chances for transfer acceptance are less than 1/2 the freshman acceptance rate, which means less than 5% at Stanford, and Harvard has announced that they are cutting in half their transfer acceptance rate to 2.5%. If either college has too many accepted students saying "yes" this year, that will also cut into the # of students they accept as transfers.