Transfer?

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
1

<p>Okay, so, this is going to sound kind of ridiculous and I’m totally aware of that. But hear me out. </p>

<p>So, I’m currently enrolled as a freshman at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Good school, but not fantastic, not a top 20 like most UC transfers. I haven’t started yet and I’m freaking out, most likely because of nerves, but I’m terrified I’m going to hate it and I kind of think I’m going to be right… Huge school, huge party school, not so dedicated to academia (I enrolled because it was my cheapest option but now I’m thinking I should have gone with Syracuse). So, to entertain my terror, I looked at a couple of schools I could maybe apply to after first or second semester. And I found UC. And loved it. It seriously offers me everything I have ever wanted. And I know I’m being silly, because I haven’t even started college yet, but please indulge me. </p>

<p>What do you honestly think my chances at transferring to UC are, if I have a stellar, stellar, stellar first semester or year? I’m not really hopeful at all because my HS career is going to haunt me, but. I would probably apply as a Cinema and Media Studies major, as that’s what I really want (if I go to UMass, I’m going to do the film certificate, but…) </p>

<p>I like UMass, but I feel like it’s going to be High School, Part II.</p>

<p>HS GPA: Eek. 3.4-3.5. I get mostly B’s and A’s, and it would be astronomically higher, except I cannot do math to save my life. I really, really can’t. I’m trying to see my doctor about testing me for dyscalculia, a learning disability, because I have nearly all of the symptoms. I don’t know if being diagnosed would affect UC’s decision at all.</p>

<p>Rank: Last time I checked, it was 11/120. </p>

<p>Classes: All honors/AP. I got A’s and B’s in everything except my math courses (C-C+) and one quarter of AP Biology (C+). English 9,10,11, AP plus two semesters of creative writing and an independent study. Algebra I, II, and Geometry. Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, AP Biology, Field Ecology, Marine Biology. U.S. Citizenship, World History, AP U.S. History, and AP European History, plus a Civil War class. I’m also taking an adult ed class outside of school in film criticism. </p>

<p>SAT scores: I will most likely retake the SAT if I decide to transfer because only my reading score is in the middle 50. And UC doesn’t look at the writing score…? M 510, CR 720, W 680. Cumulative 1910/2400 or 1230/1600. </p>

<p>Location: I only include this because I’m from Maine, and I thought geographic location, being from New England, might help. </p>

<p>EC’S (which are my strong points):

  • 3 years on my high school’s Drama team. I’m currently president and I have been the assistant director for 3 productions. I also organized a fundraiser for our team because we don’t get any funding. We won runner up this year at the regional competition. This is my baby. I spend 15-30 hours a week at Drama, depending on our season.
  • 2 years on the high school’s Environmental Club (Green Team). I’ve been on it since its creation. We organized a recycling program at our school and won a grant to build a school garden.
  • 2 years on the Anime Club. I’m currently the treasurer. I’ve been on it since it’s creation.
  • 2 years on the Tech Club. I was the primary photographer and editor for the sports teams. I really enjoyed it but once Drama took over my life, I had to stop.
  • 3 years on Quill. We release an annual collection of student work. I’m a student editor.
  • Currently in the National Honor Society.
  • Spent a week in NYC at Columbia my sophomore year at a women leadership Conference.
  • Spent two weeks on a short term cultural exchange in South Korea my junior year under a full scholarship, from the Korea Foundation.
  • I’ve won the school Poetry Out Loud competition two years in a row.
  • I have spent two years, the length of its existence, on a town committee that is dedicated to revitalizing my town, which is kind of crappy. Or a lot crappy. I’ve helped organize and run the annual summer concert series that we started, an annual Father-Daughter Valentine’s Dance, and an annual holiday celebration for the downtown businesses to get people in town to go to them. </p>

<p>So, clearly, I sucked as a student but my EC’s are okay. I have little hope, but maybe I just need to hear it from you all, haha.</p>

2

<p>Oh, also, 620 on U.S. History SAT II and 680 on the English SAT II. Not stellar. Aaaand I forgot that I volunteered to help run the first ever Augusta Down Syndrome Budday walk. </p>

<p>Again, I know I have, like, -3935% chance of getting in, but if you would humour me anyway.</p>

3

<ol>
<li>510 is around the national average for SAT M. An undiagnosed case of dyscalculia would most likely result in a much lower score.</li>
</ol>

<p>For the record, my math grades in high school were the same as yours and I scored 770 on the math section of the SAT after two weeks of preparation (got one wrong). Are you sure raising your score is an impossibility?</p>

<ol>
<li>At UMass Amherst you will have access to the facilities, faculty, and extracurricular opportunities that are available to students at Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire, which are four of the best liberal arts colleges in America. So even if you grow to hate your own school, which may or may not happen, there will be four other schools for you to go to. I’m not saying the existence of the Five Colleges renders your concerns irrelevant, but you seem to have adopted a very negative attitude toward UMass Amherst before you’ve even set foot there.</li>
</ol>

<p>Plus, I’m sure there will be *some *people at UMass Amherst who share your interests and aversion to wild partying.</p>

4

<p>Transferring from UMass Amherst is not an impossibility. I know someone who did just that.</p>