<p>i was thinking about transferring from my school (cornell arts and sciences) to a smaller school like uchicago, amherst, or stanford. that was, until i found out my gpa. </p>
<p>my first semester gpa at cornell is a 3.656, and i guess i am just wondering, for all the people who have already transferred or know anything about it, if this gpa is going to be a big stumbling block to transferring. anyone mind sharing their experiences with low gpas?</p>
<p>That GPA will probably keep you out of Stanford. The severity of a somewhat lower GPA can be slightly remedied depending on what school you are at now. I see “New Jersey” on your location. If you happened to be crazy enough to want to transfer out of Princeton, then a 3.656 would be fine and good enough to apply to those schools. However, if you’re at a CC or lower-tier university, you shouldn’t count much on an acceptance.</p>
<p>Wait, but he’s at Cornell. So if he wanted to transfer to UChi (don’t ruin my chances) or Amherst he’d be totally competitive. For other small schools why not Dartmouth and Brown?</p>
<p>If he’s at Cornell, I think it’s worth applying to UChicago. I don’t think he’ll get into Amherst, but he can try. And I wouldn’t apply to Stanford - something like a 4% acceptance rate? </p>
<p>Coming from Cornell, practically anywhere is worth a shot, even with that GPA.</p>
<p>Okay, a 3.656 is not awful. At all. It isn’t a 3.8+, but if he has good ECs and recs, I feel that many schools will see that he is coming from Cornell and be impressed. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Amen to that.</p>
<p>Yes, a 3.6 is respectable, especially from Cornell, which is known as the “hardest ivy to get out of.” Still, I don’t think that will be enough to make Stanford possible, and Amherst will be tough as well. I think he is fine for UChi.</p>
<p>I wish my gpa was awful :P</p>
<p>tempest, a 3.65 from cornell isn’t “awful” at all. You’ve probably worked for that GPA and the schools you apply to will understand that. The worst would be not to try at all with the notion that your GPA is “too low” or anything else to that effect.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind my asking, is school size the major factor prompting you to transfer out from cornell?</p>
<p>js23: school size and location are my main reasons- i am still undecided as to major so i have no pressing academic reasons to transfer, which also hurts my chances. </p>
<p>thanks for everyone’s replies, anything else?</p>
<p>I have a 3.67 as well coming from a state school and want to transfer to an ivy… I’m in even worse shape then you. But, hey, theres always next term and next year to bring that gpa up before applying.</p>
<p>Don’t be discouraged because you have a 3.67 GPA. What does that translate to, straight A-? Coming from a well respected university, that shouldn’t be a drawback at all.</p>
<p>err…a 3.6 isnt even close to an “awful” gpa. either you targeted to get a 4.0 gpa from the start, or you have never seen what an “awful” gpa is at all. a 3.6 at cornell is already an enviable grade. i have a friend who was relieved when she got a 3.2 and shes a straight A student in high school.</p>