<p>I’ve just finished up my freshman year at Columbia Univ. (Columbia College '14, undeclared). Currently I’m taking a year off because I want to transfer to a different college as a sophomore (instead of a junior), to continue with a research opportunity at a major university (abstracts recently submitted and accepted), and because I really needed some time off from the college atmosphere.</p>
<p>Simply put, I’m DESPERATE for a transfer. I strongly feel that Columbia is not the right fit for me, for a number of reasons. The schools I’m applying to are: Yale, Harvard, Stanford, uPenn (SAS), Dartmouth, and Brown.</p>
<p>I currently have a 3.85 at Columbia after 2 semesters, including a difficult advanced organic chemistry course and the standard core curriculum. I had a 3.89 (unweighted) at a top 20 private high school; SAT: 2360, SAT II Math II: 800, US History 760. I can get very strong recommendation letters from 2 Columbia professors (both in literature/english) and my research professor I am currently working for.</p>
<p>I’m wondering how difficult the transfer process is to these schools…I know the transfer admit rate to Harvard, Yale and Stanford are <3%. How much will the fact that I’m not currently taking classes (taking a year off) affect me? What are my chances in general? I’ve heard that it’s sometimes tricky to transfer from an ivy to another ivy, because admissions officers wonder why a student would want to transfer (where as, it’d be clear that a state univ. student would want to transfer for the obvious academic benefits). </p>
<p>I don’t think taking a year off makes a difference at all, although they will want to know what you’ve done during that time.</p>
<p>It’s obvious both from your HS record and time at C that you’re qualified for any of these schools. It’s really difficult to predict transfer admissions because there are such a wide range of factors that schools could be looking for. For instance, S is known to be open to CC and non-traditional students, while Y admits relatively few transfers from CCs. The admission rate for Penn is about the same for transfers and fr applicants, so that might be along the lines of a match for you.</p>
<p>As far as transferring between selective schools, it is more difficult in the sense that there aren’t huge differences between them like there would be between them and say a top public or a LAC. That makes writing the essay about why you want to transfer a little trickier, but as you know, beyond their size and academics, there are many other aspects of college life that you can discuss: region of country, atmosphere, city vs. rural, etc.</p>
<p>I think whatever school you apply to will have a somewhat easier time trying to grasp why you want to transfer. I think if you write a really good essay explaining why you want to transfer, you will probably get in. I mean, you had a 3.85 at Columbia, which is probably equivalent at those schools. And, it will be more about your interest than your desire to go to an Ivy (or other top school). So, I think the ball’s in your court.</p>
<p>The tricky thing is the commonapp prompt for transfers: </p>
<p>Please provide a statement (250 words minimum) that addresses your reasons for transferring and the objectives you hope to achieve.</p>
<p>Quite honestly, I have no idea how to answer this question such that it applies to 6 very different schools (and without “dissing” Columbia, which would be in bad taste, though honestly, being in the middle of manhattan is too much stress for me). It’s hard to argue that there are academic opportunities lacking at Columbia/NYC – and that I could find better opportunities in, say, New Haven or Hanover. Generic answers obviously wont work, and the commonapp prompt for transfers is much more limiting (albeit straightforward) than the prompt for freshmen…</p>
<p>You don’t have to write a main CA essay that is generic for all the schools you’re applying to. Just like with your fr application, once you submit to your first school, you can make alternate versions of your application in which you can change anything, including your essay. Some schools will have supplemental “Why College X” essays, but for those that don’t, you can customize your main essay to address that school.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with discussing what at C doesn’t work for you, and it can be done without ‘dissing’. There is no reason why you can’t state that Manhattan is not for you, although that argument won’t be as strong for H & Penn. </p>
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<p>Academic opportunities may have to do with your particular interest, and could be stronger at one school than another school. I can think of a major difference between academics at C and the rest of the schools you’ve listed (hint: B is at the other end of the spectrum). While she didn’t transfer from C, my D1 had an argument about something schools like Y and D offer, that while not academic, is none-the-less an important and valued part of the college experience.</p>
<p>But doesn’t commonapp require that you submit the same essay to all colleges?</p>
<p>“Note: The Common Application essay should be the same for all colleges. Members that wish to review custom essay responses will request them on their Supplement form.”</p>
<p>And you’re right, the CORE curriculum at Columbia is really limiting for what I want to do. I want to double major statistics and biology (with pre-med), and I calculated that if I stay at Columbia, in order to graduate, I would have to only take Core classes and Classes relating to my major. I wouldn’t have time to discover all the unique courses you get to take just for fun (say at Brown). Would this be something to emphasize in my personal statement? It wouldn’t be bad that I’m discussing what is lacking at my current college (Columbia… lack of academic freedom) instead of discussing what opportunities would be there at H or Y?</p>
<p>Did you apply to those colleges already[ as a freshman]? Were you accepted ? or rejected? If the answer for any of the colleges on your list is yes to the first question and yes to the the third, then I advise you take those colleges off your list. If you were accepted, and you decided to go to Columbia instead, you still may not get another chance, unless you give them a really, really compelling reason to accept you, including a good reason for your change of heart.
Even if none of the above apply,you still may want to consider casting a wider net, if you are truly unhappy at C. Its hard enough getting in as a freshman- as a transfer it is that much harder, as there are so few students who choose to leave those colleges.</p>
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<li>IMO the CA exists to facilitate the college admissions process, not make up more rules.</li>
<li>They say the same thing about not changing essays for fr admissions.</li>
<li>All colleges want to know why you want to attend, but not all have a place to address it in their supplement.</li>
<li>You can in fact make alternative views with different essays. Of course this decision is up to each applicant, but I can tell you that over the past 5 years, I haven’t heard of any problems with different essays, either for fr or transfer admissions.</li>
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<p>Colleges realize that not every 17 yo knows exactly what they want, or that what they thought they wanted might not have turned out that way, or that they changed their mind, yada yada yada. Heck, you’re transferring, something is not working out where you are. Because things do change or not work out as expected, I wouldn’t necessarily agree that you should drop colleges based on your fr admissions history with them. You HS stats and test scores are competitive for any school and unlike most soph transfer applicants, you have a full year of college coursework and a year of doing something (hopefully) interesting and productive.</p>
<p>Your CA main essay should discuss BOTH what is lacking in your current college AND what you are looking for and what the opportunities are offered in the transfer school. There’s plenty of room for both in the 500 words. And, there’s room for nice things to say about C too; you go to C, so I know you know how to write a good essay that tells both sides of the story in a diplomatic manner ;).</p>
<p>For the record, I got rejected from Yale and Stanford when I first applied, WL’d at Penn, and didn’t apply to Harvard, Brown or Dartmouth. Idk if that matters though…</p>
<p>Take Y and S off your list then. And find some U’s that have higher transfer acceptance rates as well, if you are desperate to leave C. Getting into B or D as a transfer is as hard as trying to get into HYPS as a freshman.</p>
<p>Why would I take Y and S off my list? From what I’ve heard, there is a chance of getting in the 2nd time around (however small), especially if you’ve done significant research (2 abstracts accepted to major medical conferences) and have maintained a decent academic record in college… besides I really want to go to Y and S, and figure I might as well try…</p>
<p>I’m not (desperate) enough to leave Columbia that I would transfer to, say, a state school, cause the difference in education is still significant. Also, I’m just not interested in any other schools, unfortunately, other than the 6 listed…</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice – I do have a former hs guidance counselor that is renowned (former admissions officer at top 10 univ.) and will have plenty to say – but I shouldn’t bother him right now since he’s in the middle of EA/ED/RD for his current students</p>
<p>You were rejected from H and Y, and unfortunately, H only accepts around 1% of transfers and Yale about 3%. It isn’t impossible, but you only have 1 year of college under your belt, so hs still matters greatly.</p>
<p>"Why would I take Y and S off my list? "
because your HS record does still matter greatly. AT ALL the colleges you have on your list. Both Y and S keep application files from prior years, so you wont be getting a “fresh look”- they will be looking back at why they passed on you the first time. Its your dime, but wasting time applying to a college that already said “no”, and where you now have even less chance of acceptance is your call.
DS tried to reapply to Dartmouth and Brown, 2 colleges that HAD accepted him as a freshman[ both regular decision, no hooks]. Both rejected him as a transfer.</p>
<p>If you were applying as a freshman now, to just those colleges, you would be told you need a safety, cause the chances of acceptance at any one of them are statistically very low. Why do you think that does not apply now, when it is even harder as a transfer student to get accepted?</p>
<p>i AM okay with staying at Columbia (won’t like it, but will finish up my degree early in 2 years), if rejected from all 6 transfer options – so therefore, C is my “safety,” i guess… as entomom said</p>
<p>i know my chances are slim, just as any transfer applicant… my question still relates to how to approach the process, and possibly increase my chances…</p>