Transfer Chances At Penn, Yale, Northwestern, Columbia, UChicago, Cornell, & Vandy

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hey everyone,

I’m a longtime lurker who finally made an account because I’ve been thinking about transferring from my current school (USC) to one of the ones listed in the title, as well as maybe Duke and Johns Hopkins. The main reason for this transfer is that USC doesn’t offer the specific type of combination of programs that I’m interested in (digital media/techy stuff + econ/business + politics/policy), whereas my top choice for a transfer program (Penn) does, in the form of its Digital Media Design major as well as its programs in Science, Technology, and Society and PPE (which USC has, albeit a recently added program that’s not necessarily as robust).

Demographics:

19, current college freshman, would transfer in my junior year (fall 2021)

Male

URM: Black (West African immigrant)

Transferring from USC

Academic Stats:

HS GPA: 3.96 UW, 4.8 W

13 APs, received 10 5s

College GPA: 3.75 to 3.8

ACT: Retaking predicting 34+

SAT subject test:

History and Literature, both expected 780s-800s

Major: Economics, Cognitive Science

College Extracurriculars:

  • Was Wellness Chair for Largest Undergraduate Residential College; as a member of community council handled thousands of dollars and helped organized events for the undergraduate community and outreach programs into greater LA. Most directly impactful wing of Undergraduate Student Government on student daily life
  • Active member in both College Democrats Club as well as Political Institute, has helped organize events including climate strikes that even the university president has participated in, panels with state senators, raised funding for minority bussing and ship work unions, and bringing 3 democratic 2020 presidential candidates (Pete Buttigieg, Corey Booker, and Bernie Sanders) to campus to host town halls
  • Member of 2 finance clubs that have organized investment banking recruitment panels with firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Blackrock. Also organized investment banking competitions partnering with banks like Houlihan Lokey, and is in the works of setting up an fund for the school
  • Has developed and created financial literacy programs for underserved communities and minorities in schools around Florida and California; developed investment guides and digital finance courses
  • Tutors and mentors children in the greater Los Angeles region through a campus-funded joint education program, which also incorporates athletic and physical programs
  • Member of Non-Profit Consulting group that provides financial and tech solutions to NGOs
  • Helped develop a platform for “fireside chats” with various tech industry leaders including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to promote understanding of role of technology in shaping socioeconomic change and commercial innovation
  • Co-founded entertainment and digital media tech consulting firm, designing and programming digital interfaces, producing digital and video content, and growing online presence and streams through analytics and marketing; assisted student-run publications in growing readership and securing features from prominent artists in the entertainment industry including Billie Eilish, FKA Twigs, and Grimes; also partnered with Slingshot, a music analytics and media AI startup featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 to develop digital strategy for artists and optimize streaming service and label revenue; also helped cast and develop concepts for episodes and spinoffs for major YouTube channel with 5+ million subscribers (Jubilee)
  • Helped create a digital resource for Coronavirus information and where to get tested, as well coordinating mutual aid for students across the nation, partnering with students at Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.
  • Member of a sustainable fashion club that partners business, engineering, and design students to develop clothing out of recycled and alternative materials and distributes them to homeless community around Los Angeles as well as selling clothes to raise money for various political issues including efforts to battle youth homelessness and better drug treatment
  • Joined fellow USC student’s e-commerce and helped oversee business development and digital strategy, contributing to company breaking 1 million in revenue the past year

Highschool ECs + Awards:

  • President and co-founder of a bunch of clubs including Environmental Club (built water treatment system and more eco-friendly trash cans that would compress trash)
  • Spanish Honor Society (volunteered with sexually abused and AIDS-infected orphans in Central America and rebuilt schools in Cuba after Hurricane Irma, also tutoring them in STEM and distributing books),
  • STEM Club (developed science and technology mentorship programs and competitions for students and youth in community)
  • Helped organize a joint event between student government and NHS that raised nearly $70,000 for children’s leukemia
  • Ran a digital marketing company that assisted in artists, small businesses, brands, and even realtors attracting new listeners and customers, plus some other clubs. Did this through a suite of services including social media services, branding and merchandising, building websites, and in the case of working with realtors, operating drones to take high quality photographs which would then be polled against one another to find best pictures to upload to sites such as Zillow.
  • Honored by 6th largest school district in America as an exceptional student/scholar and got in a letter of academic excellence from the governor of Florida
  • Ran track and wrestling, also worked part time sophomore and junior year to help support my family

Essays:

Would consider myself a very strong writer, and I have helped edit and refine essays for friends who’ve gotten into the very same schools I’m applying

Other:

Uncle went to UPenn SEAS, and was on admission committee for some time

Cons:

I’m taking a kinda joke theory of CS class rn that involves no actual programming that I’ve sorta fallen behind in, so I might take it pass fail this semester as USC is offering that due to the pandemic. Idk if colleges will let it slide considering the state of things but I may be something I’m uncertain about; might also take my Calc 3 class pass fail this semester.

Also I don’t have that many really big awards (national level+) that are worth mentioning.

Thanks for any and all feedback!

2

this was also crossposted on reddit, but I’m hoping I can get better feedback on here :smiley:

3

Before we do this, an honest answer please: was USC your first choice applying out of HS, or were you turned down by Ivies/other super-selective places?

ps, for transferring as a Junior you don’t re-take ACT or do Subject Tests.- those are tests for high school juniors / seniors, not college frosh/sophs.

4

No, USC was my fourth choice, and I got waitlisted from my first two, Harvard and Stanford. Aside from those 3, I mainly applied and was accepted into schools in the upper T20s - T30s ranked schools (Rice, WashU, UMich, CMU, Berkeley, Emory, UVA, NYU, etc) as I thought I could get the most aid from them.

I ended up picking USC because they gave me the most aid, but now I’d want to explore some other programs I didn’t really look that deeply into initially.

Also, thanks for the testing advice!

5

Thought as much. Your “main reason” for transferring smacks of somebody legitimizing a desire to move ‘up’. As it happens, II think that’s. a perfectly fair and understandable desire. I just prefer it when a student owns it :slight_smile:

You have a LOT of ECs, but I think they are over-written. Obviously some of them must be bigger deals than others, but it is hard to tell which is which. Also, applying as an entering Junior you will want to consolidate down your HS ECs a lot- but that can wait until January, when you are actually applying.

Vandy has built a rep for being transfer-friendly, but Columbia- esp for a Jr! is not. I also wonder what (besides perceived prestige) is bringing this group together. Vandy in particular is an outlier. Your list is sort of the ones missing from last time, and no more cohesive (in any dimension that I can see). I think you still have work to do in figuring out what you really want, and what you have learned from (most of) a year at USC.

You turned down a lot of schools last year that seem just as likely- did you think of asking any of them about accepting the place now? (at least some of those schools say up front that they will keep your file for a year in case you change your mind)

The challenge, of course, will be getting aid that matches what you have.

(also, you thought NYU would be good for finaid?!)

6

If you keep your college GPA high, you’re a competitive applicant pretty much anywhere. Transfer admissions can be random, so I’d apply to a few schools that really interest you. This doesn’t mean pick every T15. Find maybe 5-10 schools that truly pique your interest and seem to “fit” you. Schools in transfer admissions are mainly looking for interest, growth from high school, and fit. Essays and personal statements are VERY important for transfers. Schools would rather admit students with lower test scores and GPAs if they have stellar essays and articulate good reasons for transferring and how they fit into the school they’re applying to. Not saying somewhere like Northwestern will take unqualified applicants, but the difference between a 32 ACT 3.6 college GPA getting in over a 35 3.8 could be fit and essays.

Retaking the ACT could be beneficial; however, test scores as a junior probably won’t be very important if you have 2 years of great college grades at a competitive school. If you want to retake it once just to see what happens, it may give you a better chance at some of the ivies, but it’s nowhere near as important as it would be for freshmen.

The other issue is that you may have to spend an extra semester or two in school because of credits. Some schools have strict policies on credit transfer for major classes. You may only have to do 4 semesters, but just be aware that’s the best-case scenario. Would you be willing to spend an extra year in college (and more money) just to go somewhere like Vandy?

I would also run NPC’s at all schools you’re interested in. See what the estimations say. That might narrow down your list of schools. You can also look at a list of loan-free schools to help you. They’re most often going to offer the best FA.