Can I do better? Plans for next year...

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am a second-year student (well, 47 credits) at CUNY Baruch College. It’s a city school that only costs me about 4K with tuition and books. I was recently accepted to Northwestern to transfer. Since they offered no aid (intl transfer student) and there have been recent developments to my family’s $ situation, I don’t think I can attend this year. A lot can change next year though, and even if they don’t I will just have to take out a lot of loans to attend any other school I ultimately go (besides Baruch). Any way, I was looking at what schools I should apply to next year and realized that I’m actually very lucky to be accepted to Northwestern and it would be difficult for me to go to any where ‘better’. Brief stats:</p>

<p>HS (from what I remember)
9th grade: 2.06
10th: 2.50
11th: 3.14
12: 90 something (different school)</p>

<p>I had a lot of music EC’s and was involved with MUN/Debate a lot. </p>

<p>Baruch:
1st semester: 3.5
2nd: 3.8</p>

<p>EC’s: Treasurer of Turkish Student Association and Musicians Union. Member of MUN and Eco&Finance Society. I have a part-time job kinda.</p>

<p>My academic record has almost always improved, even midyear grades in HS which are shown on my transcript.</p>

<p>I retook the SAT’s in the first months of college and got a 2220 (800 CR, 720 M, 700 W). My old score was 1320 (600 V, 720 M).</p>

<p>The schools I applied to transfer:
UPenn: Rejected
UChicago: Waitlisted - Rejected
NYU: Accepted (on the condition that I start my 1st semester at NYU in London)
Northwestern: Accepted</p>

<p>I will major in economic and possibly math. The colleges I am thinking of applying next year are
Northwestern: Hopefully not being able to afford the school this year would be enough for them to look beyond me not accepting their offer.
UChicago: Always has been my first choice.
Stanford
Columbia: The only real attraction is it being in NYC.
NYU Stern</p>

<p>I don’t think I have a real shot at Stanford or Columbia. I don’t want to get into a NU vs UChi argument, so let’s just assume that they are equal (!). I would say NYU Stern would come after the rest. Since I am thinking of getting an MBA, I’m not sure if I should study business in my undergrad so I’m not sure about Stern, but honestly I will not pay 30K+ for CAS so that’s why I might apply to Stern. </p>

<p>Now just looking at the schools that are in the same level as Northwestern or better, I don’t see how I can ever be even a tad confident at getting in them. What do you guys think? I’m worried Northwestern might not accept me next year and I just got in as a fluke this time around. </p>

<p>So basically, do you think Northwestern is as good as it gets for me, and if I should seize this oppurtunity/their mistake even if it means putting my family in a tough situation?</p>

<p>What can I say, it’s 4:25 am and I have to send my deposit in by Thursday…:(</p>

2

<p>ask them about deferred enrollment so you wouldn’t have to enter until next fall… i know its possible to work it out, especially if you have good reasons ie needing to work to save money. you can always apply to other places for the spring and see how that goes, then decide</p>

3

<p>how do you study to go from 600v to 800v?</p>

4

<p>Re Newbyreborn: If you hadn’t prepared for the SAT at all the first time around, it’s definitely possible.</p>

<p>Re alykat04’s suggestion: I don’t know about Northwestern, but UChicago will defer transfer admission so long as you don’t attend another college in the meantime. So you could take a year off to work, for example. Northwestern might have a similar policy.</p>

<p>As long as you keep up your grades and continue to be involved in activities, you should have a shot at schools that are similar to Northwestern in caliber. Also, if UChicago is still your first choice, you could reapply. They would probably take your persistance into account when evaluating your new application.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the replies. I talked with a couple of different people in Northwestern in the financial aid department and with the person who deals with international students. He said the only thing they can do is work out loans. We also talked about deferring my admission, which they said is possible. It may not have been too big of a deal if I were coming out of HS, but now that I am in college and am successful, I feel like it would be harder to simply stop my education for a year and work. I would be securing myself in a very good university, but also somewhat eliminating any chance of going to another college, which is why I’m trying to decide if Northwestern is my limit and if I should secure my spot there. </p>

<p>My main criteria for colleges is that they have a good economics department, they are good overall, and they are in or close to a big city. After going over the college selection and application process for two years I feel like I have a good idea of most colleges, but one can never be sure. Which schools would you guys consider to be in the same tier with Northwestern? I always looked as it as coming just after most Ivy’s, Stanford, and CIT/MIT. </p>

<p>Also, I had studied for the SAT’s before. I took the test 4 times… For verbal I got 570, 540 (I think) and 600. A year later I retook the new ones and got 800 for CR. I took practice tests with my friends who go to Stanford and Columbia and they simply showed me their reasoning behind each answer. I doubt they told me anything new, but perhaps having a friend guide you through it is better than reading prep books. Now that I think of it, I was living in Turkey during the first 3 tests and took the fourth about a year after I moved back to the US…Lastly, I didn’t bother with the Math section at all since I would almost always get 800 on practice tests before each real one and gave up on improving my score. I doubt there was one simple thing that contributed to the 800.</p>