Bad high school record, high standardized tests scores, high need - transfer?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I’m currently at a university I attend purely for economic reasons. Over the span of the semester, I’ve come to the conclusion that the school I attend is neither an academic nor social fit. That said, I’m trying to get out of here as early as possible, specifically Fall 2014. However, my high school record isn’t exactly amazing (3.6 weighted, somewhere beneath a 3 unweighted), as I barely passed two classes my senior year. My SAT score (2030) places me in the highest percentiles for African-American males which shows that I certainly have promise, in conjunction with nothing but 3s, 4s, and 5s on AP tests (I’m an AP Scholar with honor, coincidentally getting a 4 on the AP test for the class I barely passed).</p>

<p>I don’t have any extenuating circumstances for my high school record, but I’m pulling a 3.4/3.6 my first semester in college. Now that I’m adjusted to school, I’m convinced I can pull a 3.6/3.8 next semester, but admission decisions are required to be made before the end of Spring semester at my university. At this point, I intend to apply for Fall 2014 transfer to URichmond and Rochester (I’m also applying to Lafayette and Georgetown (I currently go to a DC school), and maybe even Notre Dame, but I expect nos from all three). </p>

<p>I suppose my question is, does an improved college GPA, standardized test scores already in the range, and compelling soft factors (demographic, essays) overcome a generally weak but recent high school GPA, especially for a student that is high need and applying to schools that meet full need? I know that as late as 2011-2012 Richmond was need-blind for transfers, though they were considering reevaluating the policy, and a query for Rochester’s financial aid policy seems to indicate that they are need blind as well.</p>

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<p>In your case, it doesn’t matter one bit whether or not the place is need-blind for admissions purposes. What matters is whether or not there is a chance that the place will be affordable should you gain admission. You need to contact each of them, and find out about their financial aid policy for transfer students.</p>

3

<p>@happymom – Richmond maintains that it meets the full demonstrated need for every accepted student. given that my EFC for this year allowed me to get ~90% of the maximum Pell Grant amount, and based on NPCs, its reasonable that I will have to fork over under 3k a year, which I can work with. Additionally, all of the schools I’m inquiring into transferring to (top 40 LACs) meet full need.</p>