Transfer With Poor HS GPA?

Toriart · 07-20-2012, 01:15 PM

Hello everyone,

I am debating on whether to transfer to Upenn for my sophomore or junior year.

The last semester of HS I performed poorly, and it greatly affected my GPA. Also, my test scores are not very strong.

I am retaking the ACT.

However I have an incredibly strong essay, and letters of recommendation.

I'm in currently in the "pre-med path", and I am certain I can pull a 4.0.

So here's my hypothetical stats by the time I apply (preferably for sophomore year)

College GPA: 4.0
College course load: sciences and maths
EC: Activities that have deep meaning to me.
Essays: Ridiculously strong (subjective)
ACT: 32 currently

I am interested in Penn's biomedical engineering program.

Btw. I'm also interested in Yale, Duke, and Standford.

Toriart · 07-20-2012, 03:11 PM

What to do....

Sent from my SGH-T989 using CC

TYBGswag · 07-20-2012, 04:00 PM

As somebody who transferred to penn this year, let me tell you 2 things:

Your high school stats really don't matter at all for transferring

A 4.0 is not nearly as easy to pull off as you think, especially if you're taking all the intro science courses. Curves for those classes are rough at every school.

TYBGswag · 07-20-2012, 04:09 PM

Also, my best advice would be to not even think about transferring until your first semester is over. Embrace the school you're at and take full advantage of everything you can there. Then, if you still do want to apply to transfer, your essays will be the most important thing, assuming your grades are good (3.7 or higher). If you can paint a good picture of why penn is the place you want to be and what it offers that your current school doesn't, you'll have a good chance of being accepted.