I am thinking of (hopefully) transferring from where I attend to another ‘hidden Ivy’. I’m not trying to be obnoxious about a school’s prestige but this speaks more to where I’m thinking of applying/attending. Does it act as any edge?
What is a “hidden Ivy”?
An edge for what?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Ivies
It is a group of colleges considered by the authors of the book to be more-or-less equal to the Ivy League in educational quality.
Some of the names on the list are well-known and respected: Notre Dame, John Hopkins, Stanford, Duke, Georgetown, USC. Many others may surprise some parents/students who are just beginning the college search process: Claremont McKenna, Rochester, Dennison, Richmond, etc.
In your other thread you said you want to transfer from Vassar to Amherst. A quick look at their institutional research shows that Vassar considers Amherst a peer, but Amherst doesn’t list Vassar among it’s peers. So I don’t think the Vassar name on your transcript will be a hook or a tip.
Your reasons for transferring are good ones. If you can’t get into the courses you want and that’s preventing you from declaring the major you want then transferring is a good plan. Just make sure you have academic/financial safeties and matches on your list.
There is no such thing as a “hidden ivy”, southern ivy, west coast ivy, public ivy, etc. it’s a made up term to sell books.
Amherst rarely takes transfers period, but the few it takes are rarely from “peer schools”. It likes community college transfers, and veterans (often same student). The idea being “who didn’t get a shot at this type of education before?”.
Can’t hurt to apply but at Amherst at least, it seems to be more of a negative than a positive.