Transfer from T25 to T10 ( Mid HS GPA) [NJ resident, 3.6 HS GPA downward trend, 4.0 college GPA in one semester]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Guidelines

Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident): I am a Permanent Resident
  • State/Location of residency: NJ but in a different state for college.
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): T25 College ( Washu, UNC etc )
  • Other special factors: Dad= Columbia MBA if that helps.

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

None. Full Pay!

Intended Major(s): Environmental Policy and planning and related, Statistics as a minor.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.6 UW Downward trend
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.4
  • College GPA: 4.0/4.0
  • Class Rank: 70/535 for HS. Top 13%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 36 ACT

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

13 APS ( Max possible is 15) . All the hardest APs pretty much.

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)

Envi Sci class and Econ class and Math and Comp Sci class and than some basic Gen Eds. ( All A’s) .

Awards⁠

  1. Silver placement in a major sustainability competition (20,000+ participants).

  2. ⁠Multiple top 10 placements at national-level environmental science competitions.

  3. ⁠Strong national-level placement in FBLA.

  4. ⁠State-ranked competitive swimmer.

  5. ⁠Silver award in a state-level environmental science competition.

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

• ⁠Founded and built an environmental science organization with an impactful website and software. ( Statewide recognized, over 1K organizations partnered)

• ⁠Conducted Environmental Science research at Brown University.

• ⁠AI research project at a Top 25 university (environmental science-related)- Planned Environmental policy for local city government for equity goal.

• ⁠Worked on environmental consulting projects with tangible outcomes(Consulted for Mid Tier company)

• ⁠Author of a published book and research-based paper.( Book was briefly a best seller)

• ⁠Founded an organization supporting individuals with disabilities (statewide impact).( Personal story + good verification from many orgs)

• ⁠Environmental science–related internship (finance-oriented focus).

• ⁠Founded a nonprofit supporting children in developing countries by reusing sustainable school supplies.

• ⁠Co-authored economics + environmental science paper (non-official publication).

• ⁠Consistent community service involvement.

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

Transfer Essay: current college only offers basic Envi Sci Major, looking to transfer to a college with focus on environmental planning and policy. Current college also lacks statistics as a stand alone .

Additional info section: Dad illness resulting in low GPA in HS.

LORs: 7/10 Envi Sci teacher and Econ Teacher

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

College List: Applying to Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Duke, Brown, Northwestern, Dartmouth, Penn, and UChicago (primarily T15 schools).

Given that I have a 3.6HS Gpa, (I had 7 B+'s in HS but this is cuz of Fathers illness), but given the rest of my profile, what are my chances to the above colleges?

Applying freshman transfer ( Sophomore fall marticulation)

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I think that your story is so unique that it is very difficult to guess your chances.

Normally transferring in to a top 15 university is very difficult. You have an interesting reason to transfer and an interesting story.

If I am understanding your post correctly, you are currently a freshman in university and are applying now. This suggests that you will be applying with only one semester of university grades. This means that your high school transcript will matter quite a bit, which might not help you in this case.

If you do not succeed in transferring then there is another option that is probably more likely to be successful. That is to complete your bachelor’s where you are, and apply to highly ranked universities for a master’s degree or some other graduate degree. If you go with this plan, then you should make sure that you have taken the math classes that would be appropriate for your “statistics as a minor”. I do not think that it matters much whether you have an official minor. But having taken the classes will help. I took a lot of probability and statistics and stochastic processes as a math major, and I think that understanding this well is a useful skill in many areas. If you apply for any graduate program (to start the program after getting your bachelor’s degree), they will not even ask nor care about your high school GPA. What you do now in university will of course matter a lot (including internships and coops and similar activities).

If you were to some day become a graduate student at any school on your list above, you would probably find that the majority of other graduate students come from undergraduate schools that are ranked the same or lower than where you are now. I got my master’s at a different highly ranked school (specifically Stanford) and the other students in the same program came from a very wide range of universities. I did not happen to know anyone from WUSTL at the time, but had a friend from UNC who was one of the stronger students in the program.

I think that this probably does make you a legacy student at Columbia. Someone I know very well has a master’s degree from Columbia and I am pretty sure that her children would have been considered legacy if they had applied to Columbia for undergrad. You might want to ask Columbia admissions (I would probably send email, be polite, and be patient about expecting a reply).

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Did you apply to these schools last year?

I can’t chance you. Your HS record will be an important part of the holistic evaluation because you have only completed one semester of college. It doesn’t sound like you want to transfer unless you can go to a higher ranked school, is that correct?

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If you applied to these schools last year and were denied, I don’t think one semester in college will change your previous results. If you really want to transfer from your current school, you need a bigger list.

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You have a very interesting and consistent profile.

Need to explain the reason for the downward trajectory in your grades (illness in family/caretaker).

Published best seller !!! Are you the sole author ? If yes, then this is an incredible achievement–especially if it relates to your intended area of study.

My best guess is that you will receive very strong consideration for admission to all of your targeted schools; you may receive multiple offers of admissions.

Great profile !!!

P.S. Some concern regarding your LORs which you estimate to be about average or slightly above average (7/10). Consider asking another to write a LOR.

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If you are a current frosh trying to transfer as a sophomore, then your high school record will be important, due to having only a semester of college record. A 3.6 high school GPA with downward trend would not look good at the most selective colleges.

If you are a current sophomore trying to transfer as a junior, then your 4.0 college GPA will be more important.

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If you got into a Top 25 (whatever that means) with a 3.6, well done. I’m not sure there’s much a difference between them and the schools listed.

But one semester does not really make a pattern. Cornell might be most transfer friendly - but they offer people transfer guarantees. Did they?

But U Chicago, as an example, let in 268 of 2884 transfers. NU 484 of 4085.

I’m guessing most aren’t after one year but don’t know.

I’d talk to each school’s transfer team but imagine two years is better.

I’d also make it work at your current school - you sound like maybe it’s beneath you (it’s not) and you have one foot out the door which will make for a terrible experience for you. There’s nothing you can do at a top 15 school that can’t be done at a top 25 school.

Good luck

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FWIW Columbia defines legacy as child of a graduate of Columbia College or Columbia engineering. So a parent having a MBA from Columbia won’t hurt but it does not fall within the official legacy designation.

Did you apply to these schools as a freshman?

(Meant to reply to thread..oops)

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Are you also applying to transfer to some less selective colleges that fit your target description? That would help maximize your chances of getting a suitable offer, and then if one or more of these applications works out, great.

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If you applied to these schools and were rejected last year then I don’t think one semester of college will move the needle. Of these schools Northwestern is somewhat transfer friendly as is Cornell —the others will be very tough as they accept few transfers.

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I wonder what the school is? Typically they’ll have policy but not science if this were the case. Others have policy in the science major..as a sub major. Others it could be in poli sci or public policy majors.

I’m feeling this is a - I deserve/want to be in a high ranked school situation.

That description you put up is highly unlikely to be true. I wish we knew the school.

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Also keep in mind the coursework you take is more important than the name of the major you have. In addition to these transfer applications, I suggest you work with an academic advisor to formulate a plan of study if you remain at your current college.

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I didn’t apply to any of the above schools as I had ED my current T25. But yes I am interested in transferring to a better one only.

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Just wanted to clarify: NEVER APPLIED to above schools in HS as I EDed current T25.

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Define better. That US News says is higher ranked does not make it better. Rank is to sell magazines and generate web ads. It’s not real. But its very clear you were just seeking a US News rank and not serious with the rationale.

I hope you don’t tell the schools that in your apps.

Make sure you add Indiana U to your list. It’s #1 in the major in the highly ranked O’Neil School of Public and Environmental Affairs and you’ll get in.

You’ll say it’s #73 but not in your major

Good luck but I’m guessing you are already in a GREAT spot!! Take advantage of the many opportunities your top 25 will offer.

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So between us on this anonymous board–does this basically mean your stated rationale, that it is a critical problem that your current college does not offer what you need in a major, is not really true? Like you would still choose your current school over a school with a more suitable major if you saw your current school as generically “better” than that alternative?

I’m not going to judge your motives personally, I would just warn you that if possible transfer colleges may suspect this as well, it could undermine your chances of success.

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One thing strikes me about this sentence. This might particularly hit me because I did attend two highly ranked universities (MIT for a bachelor’s and Stanford for a master’s degree) thus this particular response might be tainted by my personal experience.

I think that it is wrong to think of higher ranked universities as “better”. IF there is anything unique about the highest ranked universities (a big “if”), it is that they are academically more difficult, and that they have a slightly higher percentage of very strong and very competitive students.

As an example, you might imagine going in to a math class intended for a math major at MIT. Sit down in the front row. Look to the right of you. Look to the left of you. It is very highly probable that between you and the one student sitting on each side, that at least one of you and very possibly two of you had 800 on the math part of the SAT exam. These students still find MIT to be a lot of work. Classes go fast. There are tons of homework. Exams are brutal.

I still remember very well doing homework on Saturday’s at Stanford, and I should have been doing more of this at MIT.

Comparing these schools with your average in-state public school, or the school where you are now: They are all going to have very strong professors. They are all going to have great internship and research opportunities. They are all going to have many very strong students. If you go to a top 10 rather than top 25 university, either you will notice no difference at all, or you will notice differences that are pretty much random (one might have cows on campus, one might not, one might have a cyclotron or a telescope somewhere, but this will not depend upon their ranking), or maybe, just maybe, you might find the higher ranked one to be academically more difficult. I do not think that you will find it to be “better”.

And I did have at least one very bad professor at MIT, and at least one very bad professor at Stanford. This can happen anywhere.

You might find a school that is a better fit for you. You might find a school that is higher ranked but it might not necessarily be a better fit for you. If you are already at a top 25 ranked university, I do not think that “better” really exists.

Please ignore rankings.

And we have occasionally seen threads on this web site from students who transferred, and wish that they were back at their original school. I guess that this is one thing that you might want to be cautious about.

I think that I am mostly urging you to appreciate where you are, and be cautious about transferring.

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The average college student changes their major at least once before deciding what to study. I would really do some exploring of your real passions before transferring for a major you might very well change. The new school you go to might not have what you ultimately need, regardless of “prestige.” Plus, you’re likely going to get declined anyway, because you still have to submit all of your high school stats.

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I feel like if you’re dissatisfied for the reasons you’ve written above, you won’t be satisfied at your new place, either. Say you’re at WUSTL now after EDing. Then maybe you get into Columbia and transfer. Well, you aren’t at Harvard. Oh dear…

I don’t mean to be harsh, but your record sounds like a lot of the fairly-bright CC teens who are on here every day. If they’re not getting into super rejective colleges on the first round, it’s hard to say why that would change as a transfer (when many colleges are stricter).

My vote, like many above, would be to find the ways to love and appreciate where you are. You did apply there ED, after all. And you have the great privilege of having a family that is footing the whole bill.

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