Transfer (Highly Selective Colleges)

Applying to College
1

I am a freshman at Georgetown in the School of Foreign Service. I am looking to transfer at the end of the year, mostly because I realized over the course of freshman year that I am interested in engineering and Georgetown does not offer that. I’ve included some of my stats below.

College GPA: TBD, probably between 3.7 and 4.0
High school GPA (unweighted): 3.95
SAT: 1570 (770 V, 800 M)
SAT Subject Tests: Math II (790), Physics (800), Spanish (800)

College extracurriculars include:
• math and science volunteer tutor
• founded a non-profit that teaches music to children in underfunded schools in DC
• club sport
• member of a band

High school extracurriculurs include:
• orchestra
• music (cello)
• club sport
• math and science tutor
• debate

I am considering Yale, Chicago, Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, and Hopkins. I know that a lot of my application depends on writing and essays, but how realistic would a transfer to these be? The acceptance rates are frighteningly low…

Thanks!

2

I think you answered your question…not very realistic.
Think more about other very good engineering schools.

Also ask why are you choosing those? E.g., Do you like the Core Curriculum at Columbia?

3

It is also hard to transfer into an engineering program as many of the classes are sequential.and you would be starting the program a year late.

4

Where else were you accepted last year? Do any of those colleges/universities offer engineering? If so, it would be worth an email to contact the admissions offices and ask if you could be allowed to start there second semester. There is no good reason to hang out at Georgetown until the end of next spring. You need to get started on the engineering coursework ASAP.

5

@gotplayed I am sorry but some schools on your list either do not offer engineering (Chicago) or they are not very strong for engineering (Yale, Harvard). Looking at your list makes me think that you just want to transfer to a school that is in general more prestigious than Georgetown, not necessarily to a school with top engineering offerings. Adcoms at top schools can really sniff a mile away applicants who want to transfer for prestige reasons.

6

@happymomof1 - From another thread by the OP in April.

OP, if you’re sincere about wanting to transfer to an engineering school, you should widen your net. Have you investigated all possible ways to get the classes you want while at Georgetown? Have you explored transferring out of SFS into another school?

From your other posts, it looks like you are desperate to get out of G’town - you mentioned walking on to a varsity team to use that to try to gain a transfer advantage. As a mom my suggestion is to continue your extracurricular involvement at Georgetown and also focus on your academic path. Georgetown is a wonderful school and will provide you with a top-notch education and amazing opportunities. The difference between what lies before you at Georgetown vs. what you could gain by transferring to the schools you named is negligible in the grand scheme of life.

I say this in the kindest way possible, but perhaps a few sessions with a counselor might be helpful in re-framing your disappointment over not getting into Yale, and would help you become a happier and more settled Hoya?

Good luck -

7

You might also want to research to see if Gtown has a 3+2 engineering program – that could be another way to go.

8

Get good grades your first year and I think you’d have a decent shot @ hopkins for applied math and statistics which is a relatively low enrollment major that quite a few transfers into the engineering school end up majoring in. Check out Penn, Northwestern, and Duke as well. They’re prestigious and have much better engineering programs than a lot of the schools you listed.