@QueerandHere ok im gonna pm you!
Anyone else applying as a rising sophomore?
@LapisLazumarril my reason for transferring out of Cornell is mainly due to personal circumstances, not so much the school. However, because my experience there has been negative, I wouldnāt recommend the school. There is a huge stress culture there, itās isolated, bad weather (e.g. 8 inches of snow, no sunlight, etc), and itās not the best place for social experiences (unless u join a frat/sorority).
Thatās just my take tho. You might like it if you attend.
Hi okay some things about me. I had about a 3.85 GPA (1st and second sem, it was 3.83 when I applied I believe.) I applied as a PolySci and History double major. I was an active competitor in my schoolās debate team, and held executive positions in student cultural groups and was in an a capella group. Something Iāve noticed w/ other transfers is that they all were fairly involved on their old campuses, either in terms of leadership positions or some other opportunities (like research, fellowships, study abroad, published or presented research). I got my letters of rec from small classes (15 people and under). I picked classes that I was doing well in and actively participating in, and from professors that I thought I had a good relationship with. I feel like I would recommend getting rec letters from classes you are an active participant in or small classes where you have an opportunity to more intimately connect with your professors, and itās important to let your professors know that you intend to transfer and would like a letter of rec as early as possible. Once I had a good idea that I was transferring and had a rough idea of which professors I wanted to ask, I made sure to go to their office hours as much as possible and really foster good relationships with them (I still keep in touch 
!)
My high school performance was not as strong as my college performance, but I had really good test scores- I really donāt think high school performance is as relevant when youāre a transfer and especially not test scores given that you already have a year of college and academic performance under your belt for them to scrutinize. IMO standardized tests are traditionally used to estimate how youāll perform your freshman year of college and therefore redundant when that year has already passed.
If you know you want to transfer and have a good idea of what you want to major in, i HIGHLY recommend looking up major requirements for your respective major and getting those out of the way (I have no idea if this helps with admission, I just know it makes life as a transfer so much easier.)
@CollegeSun So, Iām a little unsure what the proper response is. I know the app says only to apply if youāre a current freshman or sophomore in college, I donāt know that they accept college juniors at all.
Unfortunately, I donāt think you would be allowed to take an extra year at Columbia. Something they made very clear to us at orientation/once we got accepted was that EVERYONE at Columbia (in CC or SEAS) is only allowed 8 semesters of college coursework. As a sophomore transfer, I already had 2 semesters under my belt and therefore only allowed to be at Columbia for 6 semesters (3 academic years). They donāt let you take an extra year or semester to continue your degree or add another major/concentration as far as Iāve been told. This is a reason why some transfers opt to graduate with just a concentration ( a minor but slightly bulked up/with more classes, itās usually less credits than a major but youāre not eligible for honors and canāt write a thesis, thereās no real difference besides that), since we know only have a limited number of semesters. This is true for non-transfers as well, and the way its been expressed so far makes it seem like an immutable rule.
However, I believe people in Columbiaās school of General Studies (the school for those taking non-traditional paths. lots of veterans, people re-entering academia, or people that were pursuing a degree but had to stop. ages range a lot but I would say the majority of GS students Iāve encountered are in their late-20s to mid-30s.) are allowed to go longer than 8 semesters since they are allowed to attend school part-time or full-time. They also pay by the credit as opposed to a semester tuition system. In order to be eligible to apply for GS I believe that you have to have at least a year gap between your last collegiate experience (i.e you would have to take a gap year or something along those lines.)
In my opinion, you should reach out to the admissions office and inquire if itās possible to transfer in your senior year. If they say no, I donāt think taking a year off of college and applying to GS just to have Columbia on your diploma is fully worth it, just given how convoluted your individual process would have to be, with no guarantee that you would even get in. Iām also pretty sure GS is more for extenuating circumstances for individuals who are coming from the workforce, or chose to focus on their families, or who are coming from the military, etc. and less for a way to get around the transfer year limitations.
Hope this helps. This is all off of memory and typed off of my phone, so you should absolutely corroborate anything Iāve said with official Columbia policy and admission requirements before you make a decision. Best of luck!
Thanks for the info! Yeah, I contacted the Columbia admissions office and they said the exact same thing. I guess I will look to transfer to other schools then. Sad coz Columbia was my dream school
Preparing to apply financial economics major :). Also, transfer fall 2020 applicant
hey everyone! Iām currently a freshman planning on applying to transfer in fall 2020 as a polysci major :). just curious, is anyone else also applying to Barnard?
Anyone applying to SEAS?
@childishlandino wait do I know you? what school do u go to? cuz I know someone whoās also applying to transfer to Barnard and Columbia who is also a poly sci major lol
@heyigotnoclue @jazziscool Hey from a California community college student here!
@QueerandHere Hi, thank you so much for taking your time to write all that! Itās super helpful (Iāve never actually heard from someone who was accepted into Columbia undergrad as a transfer student). Just curious, but do accepted transfer students at Columbia generally have jawdropping extracurriculars?
@jazziscool haha I donāt think so. I go to UT
Hey, @jazziscool, Iām applying as a rising sophomore. For anyone else doing the same, do you guys know what they weigh more heavily and less heavily on the application?
quick question to the group because admissions did not answer my question (-__-āāā), do we need to retake or take the SAT if we did not take it in high school or had a bad score? Someone told me that it does not really help because if you had been at a college 2 years, they just look at your classes and GPA. please tag me with your answers. thanks
Iāve just finished my first semester of college and am planning on applying to Columbia. I currently go to a decently ranked private 4-year university with a 3.92 for my first semester and a 1470 on my SAT. How rigorously will they look at my high school gpa in comparison to my college one? Iām scared that they wonāt take my gpa seriously as a lot of the classes that I took were intro ones that I had to get out of the way. Is this detrimental to my application? Also, I did a lot of extracurricular activities in high school but have not joined that many in college/ gotten leadership positions in them as I was working part-time and wanted to focus on academics. Will that hurt me? Sorry for all of the questions! Very much anxious about transferring and the transfer process.
Is anyone else here from New York City?
Hi everyone! Iām currently at UMich and applying as a rising junior
Hi everyone! Im a CS major at Rutgers University, attempting to apply to Columbia as a rising sophomore! Wondering if anyone has opinions on whether I should I apply to SEAS or CC, last year I applied to SEAS and got deferred (the ultimately rejected)ā¦
@AwaitingApplicant131 you should do a little research about SEAS and CC, learn more and then decide which school will help you more for your future plans.
@Newyorkkidd oh lol u are applying to columbia too? just saw you on the cornell forum ROFL