<p>Hey, so I’m a freshman at Hampden-Sydney College. It’s a small liberal arts college in Virginia. It’s a solid school academically and proves to be challenging for most students; the rigor can be seen in that the average GPA is a 2.9, and it was voted one of the hardest places to make an A. Socially however it has not been a good fit for me, and I would like to be around more like-minded people. I intend on being a classical studies or philosophy major and I was wondering what y’all thought of my chances at:
George Washington University
NYU
UVA
UNC
Cornell</p>
<p>If there are any suggestions for schools that you may have based on my criteria and intended major that would be helpful too.</p>
<p>My current GPA is a 3.75
ECs: Unity Alliance Club (Gay Straight Alliance), College Democrats, Classics Club, and hopefully membership in a literary society next semester.
My SATs weren’t exactly great (I’m bad at standardized testing)
Writing: 580
Math: 600
Verbal: 630
My high school was a competitive private school, and my GPA was a 3.2 (not spectacular I know), but has a solid upward trend (going from Bs and Cs freshman year to all As and one high B senior year, with AP Biology, AP Literature, and AP Art History senior year as well as an independent study in Middle Egyptian Language (hieroglyphics). Freshman year I was captain of the J.V. football team. Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years I was captain of the varsity cross country team. Sophomore year member of the theaters stage crew, and had a role in the musical my senior year. I taught a small group class on philosophy and the Christian faith, and was also president of the debate club my senior year.</p>
<p>I can get solid letters of recommendation, and am able to articulate well in an essay my reasons for transferring.
If you having any tips for applying that would also be helpful! Thanks!</p>
<p>If you are looking for the right people environment, there is a vast difference between living in the heart of NYC or DC and living in the small towns the other three colleges are in that you named. I recommend focusing on applying to a variety of schools in the two major cities. You will have plenty of options if you go for a range of colleges in terms of selectivity. Consider especially Hunter College in NYC. <a href=“http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/classics/classics/undergraduate”>http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/classics/classics/undergraduate</a></p>
<p>Momyrocks, City vs. country doesn’t bother me at all. I’m in NYC a lot, and equally happy in D.C., or out in the country. Really having a good school is what matters to me. But chances?</p>
<p>They all seem like reaches to me, not all necessarily high reaches, but reaches nonetheless. While your current GPA is great (but you haven’t even yet completed your first semester yet), your test scores and HS GPA are unremarkable for those schools. When applying with less than a year of college under your belt, those two things are still going to play a big part in the decision of whether to admit or not. But, it never hurts to apply anywhere and you may have a shot at one or two. If you definitely want to transfer from your current college, though, I’d add some match and safety schools to your list. And make sure everything you are interested in looks to be affordable. </p>
<p>Thanks for the input justlookingnow! The GPA is calculated based on what I’m reasonably guessing I’ll make based on performance so far. Some of those grades are solidified though. I know my high school GPA and scores weren’t exactly remarkable but I figured for at least UNC and UVA I’d have a decent shot since their average GPAs for transfers are 3.5 (UVA) and 3.6-3.7(UNC). </p>
<p>Of course it’s worth a shot. With respect to UVA and UNC, keep in mind that a great number of those transfers will be juniors coming from CC’s under guaranteed admissions programs. That may be skewing the reported average transfer GPA one way or another. And, even though your GPA is above that average that does not necessarily correlate into above average chances of admission. The pools of regular transfers such as yourself will still be very competitive for the slots they have open. However, if you are “in state” for one of those, or have any “hooks”, that should help you out a bit. Good luck. </p>