How do I fare at Northwestern/other top schools?

Transfer Students
1

Demographics

From a midwest state (not a state with a strong flagship)

Current freshman looking to transfer for sophomore year in Fall '26

Majoring in economics/finance, interested in consulting/venture capital/economic policy

HS Stats

~3.7 UW GPA / 3.94 W GPA

-8 APs (three 5s, three 4s, one 3, didn’t take the other one)

Test optional for schools that require (31 ACT for schools requiring)

HS Extracurriculars include:

-Paid internship at Fortune 500 IT/telecoms company

-Unpaid internship at startup education/tech company

-VP of DECA

-VP of Investment Club

-Link Crew Commissioner

There are more, but these are the most impactful ones I will mention

College Stats

Dual major in finance and economics

4.0 GPA / 16 credits taken 1st semester

In honors college

Extracurriculars include:

-Legislative internship at my state’s House of Representatives

-Part of a selective venture capital fund

-Assistant Marketing Director at my school’s consulting organization

-Undergraduate research revolving around economic impacts of renewable development on rural counties

-Recruitment team for my social fraternity

I’m applying to only private unis for their stronger aid (I have run the Net Price Calculator on all of them and they are very generous):

Northwestern (will do Early Decision here), Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn, Duke, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Emory, USC

How do I fare? Additionally, am I being unrealistic with the schools I am applying to? If I do not get into any/commit to any, I will not be reapplying next year (simply due to how far behind I would be for credits and for recruiting).

2

Did you apply to these last year ?

So you have one semester under your belt ?

Your hs record will matter. I’m not seeing an in at any - this early after starting. If you were in hs, you wouldn’t get in (I don’t think).

If you don’t get in, you’ve already accomplished so much - legislative internship, party of a venture capital fund. Most kids at top schools will not do of these - so you will have success in life regardless of your school. I’m sure your current school is solid. Is there not a solid Midwest flagship ?Successful kids come from everywhere.

What is your major ? Economics and finance aren’t the same. Half your list doesn’t have finance. It could impact how long you’d have remaining.

As examples of difficulty, Brown admitted 215 of 2987 transfer apps. Emory 396 of 2445. NW 484 of 4045.

I wish you luck - you never know if you don’t try but I’m not seeing it. But apply and see.

Best of luck.

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3

Is there such a thing as early decision for transfer students? I had not heard of this.

Partly no and partly yes.

I do not see any point in transferring unless the school that you would be transferring to is a significant improvement over where you are now. It could be an improvement in terms of affordability, or in terms of education quality (this one seems unlikely), or in terms of opportunities. Unless a school is a big improvement in one way or another, it would make more sense to stay where you are. As such, if you are going to apply to transfer, then you might as well apply to reaches.

However…

Exactly. You are applying with only one semester of university classes. This means that your high school record will be quite important. While your high school record is very good, I do not see it as being likely to be “Northwestern, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, …” good.

To me succeeding in transferring seems unlikely.

Looking for good internship opportunities where you are seems like a good plan.

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4

For NU there is:

Northwestern offers transfer applicants two pathways to join our community: Early Decision (ED) Transfer and Regular Decision (RD) Transfer. By applying Early Decision, you commit to enroll at Northwestern and withdraw your applications from other schools if you are admitted.

For students who apply for financial aid, the financial aid offer will be exactly the same whether you apply ED or RD.

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5

Slight wrinkle, I vaguely recall seeing that NU may be need-aware for transfers.

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6

Reason for transferring ? This is important.

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7

Correct - but if the NPC was checked, should be ok - or are you suggesting they don’t meet 100% of need on transfers ? Other than AI, I don’t see on their website that they state that they will meet it. OP might want to confirm before applying ED. Fair point you bring up if that’s what you are making.

“Transfer applicants who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply for financial aid in the form of grants, loans and part-time employment.

Financial aid is awarded on the basis of need but is dependent upon availability of funds.”

8

No, I don’t have any reason to think they wouldn’t meet need for admitted students.

9

Ok. I actually can’t find that they do so you got me thinking :slight_smile:

They say this below so I wondered but hopefully they do. If someone needs too much, maybe they just turn em down. Hopefully. It’s suck to show $60k of need on the NPC but get offered 30k due to avail of funds. It’s prob worth a call from OP just in case (to clarify) b4 they ED.

1 Like