transfer advice...am i crazy?

up40love
Tue, 26 Oct 2004 18:40:14 +0000

Why do you want to transfer? Simply wanting to return to the city life isn’t a compelling reason, especially if you want to transfer to a school like Yale where the most important component of your application is the essay articulating why it’s the perfect place for you and why they need you there. It’s not enough that they have a major that your current school doesn’t have. You need to figure out why you need Yale’s or U of C’s particular program, because they’re not the only ones who have it.

Depending on the school, your high school performance may or may not play a large role in the process. I know that U of C, Penn and Dartmouth–I know you didn’t list all of those, but this is for reference–refer to your high school records and the latter two place great weight on them. Yale and Brown, however, tend to accept personalities rather than numbers. That’s not to say you can get away with being accepted to either one as a mediocre student with a shining personality.

How are your relationships with professors? You need to be honest with yourself when evaluating that. Some people opine they have wonderful, close relationships with instructors, but really don’t. Seek out the professors who will write anecdotal recommendations, not just someone who can enumerate a cursory evaluation of your work and character. It’s vital. It determines whether or not adcoms view you as a person or as a list of characteristics.

Maybe you need to cut back on your EC responsibilities and invest more time in fewer of them while also raising your GPA.