Lofty Transfer Aspirations - Constructive Input Appreciated

Transfer Students
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<p>Hey everybody. This will be my first attempt at a thread posting and I started this account solely for this discussion. Before I continue I would like to tell everyone that I currently attend a small private college (tier 2) in the United States. I wish to transfer from my current institution to a school with much greater academic rigor and reputation (along the lines of an Ivy league, U Chicago, Northwestern, Georgetown, Duke, etc…). As I have read other similar threads, I see many people with very unconstructive responses, labeling individuals as not being worthy of an ivy league education or calling them “ivy league ■■■■■■.” I ask that if you have already decided, from my introduction, that you intend to stick me with this or any othe similar title, that you move along to some other thread as this sentiment is surely a display of your ignorance rather than your sincere intent to assist another. So, here is my story (in brief), just as many others have theirs…</p>

<p>I did not perform well during my high school years. I was always a great student and when I got to high school, particularly after my freshman years, my performance dropped immeasurabley. I was always in honors classes, however, family problems (father’s alcoholic abuse landed him in prison on and off, and single mother had to work 60+ hour weeks to keep the family afloat). I was alone and without parental guidance or self will/determination I graduated high school with a 2.9 GPA and an 1150 on the SAT (old exam). Luckily ,however, when I got to college I realized that I had to work for myself, and that no amount of complaining about anything would get me anywhere.</p>

<p>Here are my stats from college:
-4.0 GPA from freshman year (will apply for transfer as junior entry - they say this is the best time to apply if you performed poorly in high school). I will maintain my high GPA this next year as I am more than capable of it.
-Freshman Class President
-Founder and President of the Philosophy Club
-Member of Cycling Team (Nat’l Champions)
-Employed during summers at local amusement park
-I submitted work for publication in Philosophy Journals, however, was kindly rejected. Hopefully this will act as a display of my level of determination and goal oriented nature.</p>

<p>In closing, I feel that I have done everything I could have (given my high school record) to improve my chances at gaining acceptance to one of the forementioned universities. Thank you for taking the time to review my post and perhaps for any responses I may receive. My majors are Philosophy and Religious Studies; my minor is literature. My current school, however, does not have a philosophy major - a main reason for transfer. Have a great day!</p>

<p>D</p>

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<p>Welcome to CC where nearly everyone has lofty goals! It certainly sounds like you’ve turned thing around in college and schools will like that. </p>

<p>As your schools still require the SATs, hopefully you are planning to retake them. With a strong score you should get into some great colleges. In addition to those you’ve listed, I’d throw in a couple of applications to slightly less competitive colleges that take more transfers. Maybe NYU range schools if money isn’t a problem.</p>

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<p>It has always been my belief that transferring up was meant for candidates like yourself. You clearly have focus and determination, but were kept back largely by factors beyond your control. Your college record is impeccable, but you will need to retake the SATs if you want to be competitive at Ivy League schools. Likewise, you will need to gracefully explain your “unusual circumstances” that contributed to your high school record in a supplementary essay. Good luck! Keep us posted.</p>

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<p>Wow. Thank you wayward_trojan and hmom5 so much for the enthusiastic support. I feared that perhaps it would be suggested that I retake the SATs. I realize that I have done fairly well in college, and I feel that if I did not perform well on the SATs, it would perhaps harm my application as it may show that I have not grown as much as my application (without new SATs) may suggest. I suppose like somewhat of a truth test. Should I trust in my ability and retake the SAT or perhaps take my chances without? Would that be an extreme detriment?</p>

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<p>For the schools you’ve listed, a 4.0 is great, but both the courses you’ve taken and your current college will count as well. I too would recommend taking the SAT again as I think it will help to support your gpa.</p>

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<p>Well it seems the consensus is that I ought to retake the SATs. Thus this will be my next plan of action. Thanks to all who commented on my post.</p>

<p>On another note, money is lacking in my family and I will be largely responsible for the funding of whatever education I choose. I realize that transfer students typically receive little in the form of scholarships and other funding. After graduation from my undergrad institution (whatever it ends up being), I intend to pursue a career in law, yet another cost. Is it wise for me to take out loans and accumulate any considerable amount of debt for the remainder of my undergrad to pay for an education at one of the earlier mentioned institutions? Perhaps attending a more respected university could ultimately be a greater benefit when it comes to time for law school application?</p>

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<p>No, you should not accumulate undergraduate debt if you are planning to continue your education. Stafford loans have a limit, so it is better to reserve them for graduate/professional school.</p>

<p>Fortunately, many good schools offer generous financial aid. Almost every top 10 schools makes a commitment to meet 100% of need for domestic students. Many of those schools eliminated loans. So, at this point, your goal is to get SAT scores that would make you a competitive candidate for transfer into top schools that offer grant-based financial aid.</p>

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<p>Do Ivy league schools consider your scores if you retook the SAT while in college?</p>

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<p>Best to check individual websites, but I know that Y does and I’m guessing the rest are the same.</p>

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<p>Can anyone else speak to this?</p>

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<p>Well, college board recently announced that you can send specific scores to college, so it doesn’t really matter.</p>

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<p>Thanks all for the much appreciated input! My final inquiry is, as touched upon earlier, what do you believe my chances are at schools like Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern, UChicagoand the various Ivies (based on the stats and circumstances mentioned in the original post)? With retaking the SAT vs. Without retaking?</p>

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<p>Unlike a lot of reformed students with lofty goals, you actually have a decent hook to go along with your 4.0, even if it’s a small school being your class president is pretty impressive and it shows you’re not a typical humanities nerd who doesn’t have any social skills (which also shows you won’t fit in at Uchicago, jk…sort of haha).</p>

<p>If you can get some excellent recommendations and write some stellar essays (start NOW and rewrite them until they are perfect, get one or two of your English profs to read them) I say you have a solid shot at almost any school. The only “elite” school that doesn’t seem to like reformed students is UChicago, it seems like a lot of kids get dinged because they did poorly in high school; go look back at the accepted transfer threads and you’ll see what I mean, every accepted student that I’ve seen on CC had at least decent HS grades. It’s still worth a shot though, Uchicago is a great school and was actually my first choice when I was applying a while back.</p>

<p>I dont’ think you should retake the SAT’s. There is no evidence that top schools actually take them into serious consideration for a Junior transfer and in reality a lot of Adcoms have said the opposite, I remember reading a U of C adcom who said that a decision to accept a student never comes down to SAT scores. There’s also the chance that you won’t get the type of score elite schools might be looking for (2250+), it has a lot more to do with how much you are willing to study for it than it does innate ability, and it will take a LOT of studying to get that kind of score. I just think it would be a waste of time, but if you have the extra time and feel you can score highly then go for it. </p>

<p>In short, I think your chances at Georgetown, and NU are very solid. If what you say in your original post doesn’t change then I would bet that you would get accepted to at least one of the two, if not both.</p>

<p>Duke, Uchicago (for the reasons I mentioned above), and the Ivies are much more competitive, so I’m not so confident about admission to those schools. Cornell, Brown, Penn, or Dartmouth, could very well send you at least one acceptance but it’s definitely not as likely as G or N. Harvard or Yale it would be futile for me to chance you at because these schools receive applications from the best students in the world, and I would not feel confident that anyone would get admitted as a transfer there unless they had a very unique hook (famous actor, musician, highly successful entrepreneur etc.) so it might be worth applying to them but I definitely wouldn’t start looking for apartments in New Haven or Cambridge. </p>

<p>Disclaimer: Like all the posters as CC, I’m not an admissions officer at any of those schools, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt just as you would any other poster here. I have, however, been reading CC for 3 years and I feel like I at least have some knowledge about the kind of student these schools accept, even if it is anecdotal.</p>

<p>Good Luck! I hope you end up somewhere great.</p>

<p>Edit: It would be a good idea to apply to some safeties as well in case you get dinged at all of the top schools you apply to. UNC, Umich, Wustl, USC, Emory, or Vanderbilt are all among a great many lower ranked schools you can get a comparable education at. You should always have a backup plan unless you are happy staying where you are at if you don’t get into your dream school</p>

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<p>side note: harvard and princeton don’t accept transfers anymore. (harvard might start up again, but probably not any time soon)…</p>

<p>and i’ll say what ive been saying, the mantra i followed my 2 years of college and it did rather well for me…</p>

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<p>work your HARDEST towards a goal, but always keep reality in mind. </p>

<p>obviously you’re doing really well for yourself, but you still have a WHOLE other year of finals, sleepless nights, and stresses to go before you apply to school. i think you should of course reach for the top schools, and keep that in the back of your mind to help you work your best while you go through another year at school, but always keep a safety school there as well… one that you would be guaranteed an acceptance and has your major too.</p>

<p>as far as chancing you for these schools youve mentioned, yeah i could do that… and just like ever other thread, we’ll say the same thing, “oh! i think you have a great chance” yeah… if you get another 4.0 next year… but people with these “chance me” threads are always jumpin the gun… show me 2 full years of 4.0s and then i’ll give you my opinions… </p>

<p>2.</p>

<p>my advice is to choose a good school, a good program, one that you ACTUALLY have fallen in love with and pursue that one whole heartedly… because if a school sees you’re pursuing them out of love and dedication, not because of its NAME or its REPUTATION… but because of what it can offer you and vice versa, then your chances have just skyrocketed. </p>

<p>Fit is EVERYTHING…</p>

<p>Just because an Ivy is and Ivy, doesn’t mean that’s the right school for you.</p>

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<p>BrandNew, thank you for the sincerity of your response. It is good to hear a level headed response to my statements and inquiries. I appreciate another student who has gone through similar things and has a completely supportive, original, and real response to a student in an uncertain time. Thanks so much, and I certainly will work as hard as I am capable next year.</p>

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<p>Based on my observations in this forum and my personal experiences, I would suggest that you not attempt to use WashU as a safety school. Admissions there appear to be just as unpredictable as those at even higher-ranked schools, and it has a reputation for attempting to artificially inflate its ranking in the first place (by manipulating yield, encouraging massive numbers of applications via highly-coordinated marketing, etc.). On top of that, it doesn’t seem that the need-based financial aid there tends to be as good as it is at most similarly-competitive institutions, though it does offer some (largely very competitive) merit aid, unlike most top schools. That said, if you’re genuinely interested in the school, then by all means pursue admission there – just know that it’s quite selective.</p>

<p>Disclaimer: I was using it as one of several safeties, and I was wait-listed there. Aside from a Harvard wait-list, I got in everywhere else I applied, including MIT, Caltech, Penn, Chicago, and Northwestern ISP. If you’re wondering, I didn’t really like Yale or Princeton, though in retrospect I probably should have applied at Stanford in case MIT didn’t work out. I have a few friends and acquaintances who are or were students and/or accepted applicants at WashU and who have vouched for much of the above, and I have read about others in similar situations to my own in the forums.</p>

<p>Don’t use WashU as a safety – it’s not dependable enough in that regard.</p>

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<p>Nocturne, my mom wanted me to apply to WashU cause she went there and my whole family is in Seattle (im in jersey), but i didn’t, because after reading tons of statistics, i found that the favor almost always goes to instate Washington Community College students and barely any to out of state. they really like picking from their own bunch hah. </p>

<p>but Lifecycle, thanks for taking me seriously… haha i didn’t mean to sound bitter or sarcastic, i’m just being honest :]. I was told to try for Cornell when i first entered my county college and i didn’t think it was at all reasonable because I too graduate with low SATs and a 3.0 gpa from HS… However, i showed complete commitment to (only) Cornell’s ILR program from my first year and then worked hard at school as well. when I applied to schools, i applied to Cornell, TCNJ (Safety), and Barnard. I wasn’t surprised when i didn’t get into Barnard, because i had NEVER showed interest in the school (reason for me applying is a long story), but in the end, i got into Cornell because, after chatting multiple times with the admissions counselor, they recognized the sincere dedication i had to the college. It’s like that saying, “those who wait will be rewarded”</p>

<p>best of luck to you champ!</p>

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<p>@ BrandNew70x7 </p>

<p>Congrats on Cornell ILR. However, WashU is a top-tier private university in St. Louis, MO. They do not favor Washington residents. I think you are thinking about University of Washington-Seattle, which is the state school of Washington. </p>

<p>But anyway, Cornell is better than WashU so I guess it did not matter to you.</p>

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<p>oh oh hahahaha yeah yeah definitely thinking of UWash, my badddd :stuck_out_tongue: haha</p>

<p>but yeah thanks :]</p>

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<p>Just to add to the SAT discussion, I called CAS at Cornell yesterday and asked them if they care about the SATs and they said ‘we don’t really care about the SATs but you can retake them if you want…’ (the latter part was almost cynical).</p>