Junior Level Transfer Student in Need of Advice

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I apologize in advance for my lengthy post… I thought that if I gave a detailed description, the feedback I would receive would be more helpful/relevant. ANYWAYS, I am a current college student looking to transfer! However, I have some concerns involving a couple of my top choice schools…
Although I am gravitating towards Bus/Econ, my class load has given me some flexibility regarding my major-- I have the ability to choose between Business Admin, Bus/Econ, or Economics.
So, with that said:
a) at UCLA, should I apply as an Economics major rather than a Bus/Econ major? Although I would prefer Bus/Econ, I am having doubts on whether my 3.8 would have a chance against the average GPA of 3.9something. Or are both majors equally competitive?

b) at NYU, would it be wiser to apply to CAS for Econ (I can’t seem to find it’s prerequisites) rather than Stern for Business? Again, I would rather attend Stern (aka my dream school) but know how selective their application process is… and know that they take your high school GPA into account. HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMICS WERE NOT MY STRONG POINT, as you can see listed in my information below.

COLLEGES I AM APPLYING TO
-UC’s: UCLA, UC Berkely, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego
-Private: NYU, USC

HIGH SCHOOL
-GPA: 3.06
-Independent Study Athletics: Equestrian Show-jumping (9th-12th grade)
-SAT: 1850
-School ranked top 1% nationwide

COLLEGE
-San Francisco State University, Fall 2014
-Community College in Los Angeles, Spring 2015-current
-GPA: 3.8 (cumulative), can potentially raise to a 3.89 by the end of this semester

EDUCATIONAL PREP
-Study Abroad in France, 11th grade

VOLUNTEER/COMMUNITY SERVICE
-Los Angeles Union Rescue Mission: aided in the planning/execution of an event to provide homeless families with a Thanksgiving dinner
~11th grade
-“Pony Camp”: taught children (including those with physical/mental disabilities) the fundamentals of horse care and riding
~ 9th-11th grade (200+ hrs)
-Alpha Gamma Delta sorority: all members required to participate in philanthropic activities

~College
-Alpha Gamma Sigma (Honor and Scholarship Society): required to volunteer at school events
~College
-Hillary Clinton Campaign Fundraiser (scheduled in the near future)

WORK EXPERIENCE
-Accounting Intern: handled bookkeeping and analyzed financial statements
-Marketing Strategies Intern: applied ideas to facilitate growth within the company

AWARDS/HONORS
-San Francisco State University Dean’s List
-Community College Dean’s List
-Ranked #2 Top Equestrian Show-Jumper (under 18yo) on West Coast in 2014

EXTRACURRICULARS
-Student Government: position as Senator of Business
-Alpha Gamma Sigma (Honor and Scholarship Society)
-Environmental Club: focus on sustainability-related issues involving school and community
-Alpha Gamma Delta (San Francisco State University sorority)
-National and International Equestrian Show-Jumping, 9th-12th grade
-caretaker of younger brother diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

Any comments/suggestions on how you think I can improve are welcome!!! (just don’t be rude, please)

2

You need to separate your high school activities and EC’s from your current “resume”. What matters now are your EC’s from college. Listing your HS activities isn’t relevant for this application unless you’ve put in thousands of hours into your passion.

Berkeley and LA are always reaches.
NYU is ridiculously expensive with no FA or scholarships to reduce that cost of $72K

The other schools appear to be okay.
Remember to cull your high school stats from your college stats.

3

I don’t know about NYU.

You should be a competitive applicant for all the UCs but they can be finicky for transfer applicants. I’d suggest you apply to Davis and Irvine as well.

TAG into UCSB so you don’t get shut out.

4

auntbea: thanks for the clarification on EC’s! I wasn’t entirely sure if they would be useful so I listed them just in case. Should I exclude the Educational Prep as well? And although the Equestrian Show-Jumping was throughout high school, I was participating in a minimum of 5 hrs a day, 6 days a week (x4 years), so do I still exclude it? Other than that, I can afford NYU and USC without aid or scholarship, so does that give me any sort of edge on other applicants? again, thank you for the helpful insight.

ncalrent: I have been debating whether or not to do TAG, but now I will definitely apply! And yeah, NYU is pretty secretive, its practically impossible to find any relevant information.

5

@sutt123, as a transfer student, you list activities that have occurred since you’ve been at your community college because the schools want to see what you’ve taken advantage of in a community college environment.

Rehashing anything before your college experience is really not helpful and it makes your application seem desperate. If there is something in your past, on a national level that is headline-making, then you might list it but otherwise: don’t list any EC’s from high school unless they are ongoing (i.e. continuing serving meals at the homeless shelter, continuing working at a food bank or an occupation)

6

I will definitely make sure to exclude the Study Abroad and volunteer work for the homeless shelter/summer camp I did as a high school student.

and to further clarify: I still ride horses (on occasion/very infrequently) but due to a shift in focus towards academics, can no longer put in the same amount of hours as I had been doing for the past 4 years. should i just not disclose this information and keep Equestrian as a current/ongoing activity on my application?

any and all advice is welcome