Hey people,
I am currently an undergraduate student at a non-accredited institution (with a long-standing history) almost definitely due to receive accreditation within the next year. I plan to transfer for my junior and senior years.
Unfortunately, because the school is still growing, the school’s classes are limited (primarily to B.A.'s with the exception of Biomedical Science and a few others) and thus cannot suit my needs. I want to study mathematics, statistics, finance, quantitative economics, and/or accounting and would prefer doing it at an Ivy League or elite school. Some schools that I am considering are: All of the Ivy leagues except MIT, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Rice, CMU, UVA, Michigan, Stanford, London School of Economics, NYU Stern, USC Marshall, Claremont McKenna College, and Pomona College. Additionally, I am not against traveling to either a french-speaking or mandarin-speaking country as I speak French with novice-intermediate proficiency (and can write with intermediate proficiency). The latter, I can speak very well, but can not write.
Some background:
My high school unweighted GPA was ~3.4.
I took 8 APs with all 4 or higher except for one 3.
My SAT score was 2280, CR - 800 Math - 750 WR - 730
My College GPA is 3.972 (2 quarters in); however, I elected to take the hardest classes first and are thus left with only easy foundation classes for the next year. The highest level class I have completed is 300-level statistics. I anticipate this number to increase. I was given an A- in one class due to a ideological disagreement with a professor (had a 97%+ until the final project where she gave me ~60 which I contested and had bumped to an 80, leaving me at ~92%).
I am ethnically Chinese.
I am a naturalized U.S. Citizen.
I am on the debate team.
I am in the chess club.
I played varsity water polo and baseball in high school for 4 (2 years on JV) & 3 years (3 years on Varsity), respectively.
I have a full-tuition scholarship/fellowship.
I head the finance club.
I am in the BJJ/MMA club.
I have about 3 months of full-time work experience.
I will have my EA license by next year.
I trade stocks and invest.
I come from an upper-middle class family.
I have about 300 volunteer hours from high school (if high school is even a consideration at this point).
I should have moderate/high faculty support for a transfer.
I have one full-time employer reference.
Please give me your input, tips, and so forth.
Thank you for your time.
…MIT isn’t an Ivy. Additionally, are you REALLY looking at all the Ivies? Because Princeton doesn’t take transfers. You might need to do more research on which schools you’re planning on applying to.
My bad there. Regardless, any application tips? The details can be hashed out as I narrow the number of schools down. Frankly, I’m only familiar with Harvard’s, USC’s, UCLA’s, and Berkeley’s transfer processes.
I am concerned about the impact that studying at an unaccredited institution will have on your ability to transfer. Have other students been able to transfer from your university?
Many institutions wont accept credits from schools that are not regionally accredited. This means that any degree earned or classes taken at a school that has national accreditation or non accreditation wont be viewed as having transferable credits. None of your classes may count.
This is a shock that a lot of students have when they attend a non traditional school EVEN if the school is accredited. It must be regionally accredited in order to count.
Even if the school receives accreditation in the next year, the classes taken while non accredited may not be transferable and if next years accreditation is not regional then it wont matter anyway.
The school will have regional accreditation. It is anticipated to occur by the end of this year and sometime next year at the latest.
Edit: I was fully aware of the accreditation risk upon entering the school. The worst case scenario is that I have enough transfers credits from various sources to clear over a year, maybe even two, at many public schools in CA (my home state) or I graduate from a non-accredited school (with a minimum of 1 year of full time work experience and fluency in a foreign language due to graduation requirements).
Double check @CollegeXfer . I worked at a health sciences school with national accreditation in CA a few years back. Our students had a lot of trouble getting into the UCs and CSUs, although some did. One was accepted for a master’s program at UCLA and the offer was rescinded when they realized we didn’t have regional. I know that when we received WASC it solved a lot but, you might want to check with the individual registrars at any school you choose to transfer to. It is up to their discretion. Also get the name of the individual registrar who tells you yes, just in case. This could be tough.
Fingers crossed nobody gives you trouble.
@CollegeXfer
I was in a similar situation last year. I even had similar stats, except I had no where near as decent ECs. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, transferring is slightly more competitive than normal admissions at the top schools. It is understandable when you think that the amount of available seats for transfer is solely dependent on the amount of freshman/sophomores that leave after one or two years. It’s only a testament to the school’s strength if so few spots open because that means no one wants to leave!
My school was like yours in many ways: it was very, very limited from an academic standpoint. I also had no clubs or organizations to develop my interests outside of school. Most of the ECs I reported on my apps were independent “self studying Japanese,” “training for marathon.”
The accreditation ordeal may prove to be a hurdle, as previous posters mentioned with potential credit complications.
I don’t want to be rude, but it’s obvious you need to do more research about the schools you want to apply to. My list would be so different if I could go back because I now believe that making your college list is the most important part of the process. Applying to all of the ivy leagues may seems reasonable, but you will soon understand that they are remarkably different, unified only by that title of prestige: The Ivy League. With that said, I applied to many, not fully grasping the differences, and I regret it.
My recommendation is to spend A LOT of time researching your colleges. I even reached out to students and talked to them the summer before I applied. Start crafting your essays now, as well.
Just so you know I’m not basing my advice upon speculation, I was accepted as a transfer to UCB, UCSD, Reed and Penn - still waiting on a few.
Reed would probably be one of my favorite schools out there (really want to play with their reactor). Unfortunately, my career path is headed towards investment banking and financial analysis which requires a prestigious degree (not saying Reed isn’t prestigious, but looking towards finance).
Personally, I don’t care about the prestige but the banks sure as hell do. I’ve spoken to some much older friends/acquaintances who are in the industry and told me it’ll be hard for me to break in at te undergraduate level without prestige.
My registrar, dean of admission, faculty members, and others have all stated that we will have regional accreditation soon (we have a huge banner saying we’re a candidate on our main building).
I’ve always been an independent studier so I’m not too worried about whether the school fits as much as how much the degree is respected; thus, once again, does anyone have any solid suggestions?
To the other posters. Thanks for all your input. I appreciate the timely and informative responses.
You can’t transfer to LSE. You can apply to start a course there.