<p>I’m majoring in philosophy (school ranked 18th-20th USNWR), considering a minor in history or econ.
I’m applying to Penn, Yale, Cornell and UChicago for Fall 09 transfer.</p>
<p>HS GPA: 3.72 (got a 3.9 and 4.0 in junior and senior year, respectively)
SATs: 680M, 740CR, 800W
College GPA: 4.0
Strength of College Schedule: Three reading-intensive classes (two 200-level) plus a seminar. 16 credits
ECs: a lot to list, but in summary - a few leadership positions in political groups (secretary, vice-chair) and started a philosophy club
Recs: Very, very good and personal.
Essays: Very good.</p>
<p>What do you think my chances are? For Cornell I’d be applying to CAS and for Penn I’d apply to SAS.</p>
<p>as i’m sure you know, yale is next to impossible to transfer into. you really need to be a world beater and i do not see that “mindblowing” factor anywhere in your app (which certainly is not a condemnation of you)…however, you should have a very good shot at cornell cas and a shot at penn as well…really make sure that your essays are very very good, you can bet all the other competitive applicants are</p>
<p>I’m going to have to say no to Yale, because your ECs don’t look that exciting. </p>
<p>Penn is going to be hard. UChicago is probably the best fit out of the four (given your focus in philosophy) so if you can work on your applications to sell yourself with your strengths, then it might go well.</p>
<p>I’m sure you understand how hard they all are to get into, especially Yale, but you obviously have good credentials. I wonder why you haven’t considered NYU - it has one of the best philosophy programs in the country, often ranked #1, better than all the Ivies. Brown is also really strong in philosphy, and you have a much better chance there than Yale…just a suggestion of course. Hey, you can’t do better than a 4.0, so it’s down to your essays, reccomendations, and luck.</p>
<p>NYU’s philosophy dept. is very strong in really modern philosophy, but not particularly strong in other fields. I prefer continental, ancient, and medieval philosophy to the really modern stuff.
I love Cornell’s department a lot because it has great medieval scholars. Penn has a major in philosophy, politics, and the economy that would be great for me. UChicago’s department has an emphasis on the whole of history of philosophy. I have good reasons within the context of my major to switch to these programs. I am reconsidering applying for Yale.</p>
<p>More info on ECs:
ECs - Chair of Campus activities for Students for McCain, Secretary of College Republicans, and Founder/President of the Philosophy Club (already a very successful club with school funding). Students for Israel member, Investing team member, Hillel member, Chabad member, Newspaper Contributor (Editorials), Pre-Law Society member.</p>
<p>good reasons, if you can articulate them well enough in your essays, you have a good shot at all but Yale. I would still apply to Yale if I were you though…I mean to be honest, no one really has a good chance of transferring there, admissions is a total crapshoot, they turn down overwhelmingly qualified applicants all the time! but like I said, you have a 4.0, you can’t do any better…why not apply?</p>
<p>The funny thing about CC is that people give misleading answers just to make a person (or themselves) feel better. I would rather listen to accurate advice so that people here won’t have to waste time on things that aren’t optimal instead of having realistic expectations.</p>
<p>OP: Nothing really stands out from your list of ECs. I personally wouldn’t even list all of them - they detract focus from your intended pursuit in Philosophy, and being a “member” in a whole bunch of clubs really isn’t that impressive anyways.</p>
<p>Dufflebagjesus is definitely one of the more credible members of this forum, and besides, his advice was pretty sound (and mild) in this case. I second his advice: Apply to all of those schools regardless of what anyone says, but I doubt Yale will happen.</p>
<p>aerialblue - as far as listing all my ECs, I feel as if since I’m a freshman, and it’s rare to find freshmen with a lot of leadership positions, it’s acceptable to list the clubs in which I’m simply a member. If I’m a senior applying for grad school or something, I may not want to for the very reason you mentioned. But as far as transfer apps, I think it shows the schools that I get involved on campus in various ways (not strictly politically or religiously), which I think would be appreciated.</p>
<p>^But it also shows that you’re a gunner who’s not really concerned with quality over quantity. But it’s completely up to you - you have to weigh the pros and cons in this one and decide what to do.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I respectfully as I possibly know how told the OP that with yale’s 2% transfer acceptance rate or whatever it is, that only the “world beaters” get in…so he’s not one of those people curing cancer in his spare time that get into yale, but neither are the vast majority of people on here, myself included…i went out of my way to tell him he was a qualified applicant and he’ll be very competitive at almost any other college sans HYPS.</p>
<p>Since my ultimate goal is to get into a top law school, I was thinking about what might be best for me with that in mind. Maybe staying where I am (T20) and graduating toward the very top of the class would be a lot better than being something like 75th or 80th percentile or something at one of these schools. Anyone have any opinions on the matter?</p>
<p>also, any other comments on my chances would be appreciated</p>
<p>If you are sure that you are going to law school I’d recommend staying where you are and using the time you would be spending doing transfer apps/ec’s to beef your resume up on studying for the LSAT. </p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation to you, I know that law school is in the future for me but I want to get as much out of my undergrad experience as possible. One of the major reasons I applied to transfer is because its easy to do within the UC system (College GPA/2~3 Essays only), I spoke to a college counselor who recommended I apply to Columbia/Penn/JHU/U Chicago etc but honestly I don’t think its worth the effort. If you do get into these schools you are going to have to engage in cutthroat competition with students to achieve a comparable GPA and there is a very real risk that your grades will decline. T-14 law schools care about LSAT first, GPA second. The prestige of undergraduate institution comes as a distant third. If you are pulling a 4.0 already then I’d think long and hard about why you really want to transfer before proceeding with the process.</p>
<p>Kafka89, if your ultimate goal is to get into law school, then I suggest you stay at your T20 (which is not a bad place to be in - in fact, still very good), achieve a very high GPA, and do well on your LSATs (you’ll probably have more time to prepare to boot). Believe me when I say that at my school, Dartmouth, it’s not that hard to get above a 3.5, but it’s hard as hell to go above a 3.8. I know people here have been making all these “woo 3.8-4.0” threads, but just so you know how difficult it is, a lot of our transfers have been making below 3.5’s (they haven’t fully adjusted yet).</p>
<p>Also: Canescans, this “undergraduate experience” thing is totally overrated. And I say this coming from an undergraduate Ivy, trying to transfer to somewhere else.</p>
<p>Thanks for that comment, arcade, it added a lot. You’re the man</p>
<p>aerialblue - are you looking to transfer to a school that would afford you more time to study for something like the LSATs (i.e. a bit more relaxed academically, less rigorous) for that very reason? Or is it something else about Dartmouth?</p>
<p>I’m thinking of applying for scholarships from my school and considering staying here at this point. I’m still going to fill out applications, though.</p>
<p>Oh, I’m not actually interested in Law School. I want to transfer to a place with more rigorous academics than here - something like Columbia would be more up my alley.</p>