Urfaust

Hi there, I'm wondering what my chances are for admission to either Duke or Cornell. I'm at a community college and would like to transfer because I'm very interested in History and feel like they've got a strong curriculum for both history and anthropology. Cornell seems especially suitable as they also offer a major in Swedish which is refreshing from the German and French that are almost exclusively offered everywhere else.

Statistics-

- GPA: 4.0 (13 credits the first semester, 17 the second.)
- ACT composite score: 29 (nearly perfect English and Reading, mediocre in Math.)
- President of two clubs: Anthropology and Creative Writing (with which I've done extensive work on the campus newspaper that is admittedly bland.)
- I've been on the student senate since my first semester, and this semester I've also started serving under an executive position within the senate.
- I've completed my campus's Leadership skills program, which includes requirements ranging from attending cultural exposition performances, to 40 hours of volunteer work.
- I've also got excellent recommendations from every single professor I've taken classes from, who all place me in the top 5% of students they've instructed in any given semester - including an athropology professor who asserts that I'm the most diligent student that he's taught in several years. (and recs are important for me to note, because I'm not sure how important recommendations are for transferring at either university.)

Otherwise, I'm 18 years old, I never went to high school because of circumstances out of my control - parents traveled out of the country for a living and I couldn't stay enrolled anywhere. I was admitted to CC last year after acquiring a GED.

I've also taken a summer language course in Sweden this year for 6 credits and also scored an A.

Thank you for the help. I'm not sure how worthwhile this information is as I haven't dealt much with admissions or transfers. And I certainly appreciate harsh realities

stewartudall

I see you being a formidable candidate at both schools. Write some strong essays, especially mentioning your desire to major in Swedish, and there is no reason you can not find yourself at either school in the fall. It seems like you've got a nice little twist to your story - admissions committees love that.

Wish you luck!

greennblue

It's worth it to take a look at the transfer admissions rates for these universities, available at collegeboard, though I suspect they're not up to date.

For Cornell:
Transfer Students

* Total number of transfer students who applied: 2,616
* Total number of transfer students who were admitted: 768

For Duke:
Transfer Students

* Total number of transfer students who applied: 590
* Total number of transfer students who were admitted: 40

These figures suggest that your chances are far higher at Cornell. They do have a reputation for taking community college students, and you are certainly competitive in this pool.

hermanns

The problem is Cornell's numbers are skewed a lot because of guaranteed transfers into other schools other than CAS, not to mention even without guaranteed transfers include still accept at a far higher rate. CAS, I believe, has a transfer acceptance rate of about 10%. Still probably better odds than Duke, though.