Transfer from McGill to US school, possible?

russtransfer
Sat, 16 May 2015 09:51:11 +0000

Hey, I’m someone who just did this! I’m an American who attended McGill for the last two years and just finished the whole transfer process. I was accepted to most of the schools I applied to, including two top 10 liberal arts colleges. If you’re an American, and you work hard and get lucky, then it’s definitely possible. It’s probably possible as an international student, but I don’t know anything about that and so anything I say may not apply. Anyway, I’m happy to answer whatever questions you may have.

Also @tomofboston, it’s definitely true that getting into elite schools is difficult as a transfer, even moreso than as a freshman since they accept a smaller percentage, but it isn’t the case that being denied as a freshman means you won’t be able to get in as a transfer. I had pretty good scores and grades in high school and a couple of interesting extracurriculars, and my essay was good, but other than that I was pretty unremarkable. I applied to the schools like the one I’m transferring to and was rejected, which is how I ended up at McGill. However, I worked really hard at McGill, got a high GPA and developed close relationships with my professors and my small department, and through all this I was able to make a much stronger case for myself than I did as a high school senior. (I’m not saying this to be pedantic! Just to say that there is some hope for those who didn’t have the most stellar applications in high school, although that hope is admittedly a slim one.)