<p>Is it possible to go to SF State for two years and get a high GPA and transfer to an Ivy, or is it easier to go to SF State for four years, then go apply to an Ivy grad school?
Ivys I’m thinking about:</p>
<p>Stanford (legacy)
Yale
Columbia</p>
<p>BUMP, i need help</p>
<p>btw, I am trying to double major in Econ/Chinese or Major Econ and minor in Chinese</p>
<p>Buuuuuuuuump</p>
<p>The Ivies (except Cornell) take a vanishingly small number of transfer students. It would be easier (though still very difficult) to get into their graduate schools.</p>
<p>Also, you don’t know that the schools you’re interested in have the best grad programs in those fields and specialties. Graduate school isn’t about a fancy name, it’s about your major professor and your publications.</p>
<p>Stanford takes only 20 transfer students a year (about a 1.5% rate). Unless you have a hook far more interesting than a 4.0 gpa (yawn), you won’t rise in the pack.</p>
<p>Ivy graduate schools will be tough to get into from almost any college, state or elite. You may want to plan to get a terminal MA first and then reapply for PHD programs at these elite colleges if you don’t get in the first time around. For a PHD program, you should be doing things during your undergrad years to distinguish yourself in your field–internships, publications, research, work-related experience, whathaveyou.</p>