Hi! Current rising senior looking for an answer for an extremely specific situation. I haven’t found any answers directly regarding my exact situation so I wanted to ask here.
I’ve always wanted to apply to Ivies and t10s, but since I transferred in between 10th and 11th grade from a college prep school with no honors program to a competitive public school, my GPA at my new school is not top 10% due to the weighting of my 9th and 10th grade classes. I moved simply for family reasons and not for any personal reasons as my family valued my education and had to make a very hard decision to move me out of private school. However, my SAT score is very good and my junior year grades are also all As (mostly due to grade inflation in public schools). Will I automatically be rejected due to my academic index? I’ve read that 95% of students at Stanford and other similar schools are top 10% of their class, so I’m very concerned.
Keeping in mind that these schools are a reach for everyone, the impact of your transfer can be addressed in your counselor letter. My friend’s daughter was in this exact situation where all of her freshman and sophomore classes from the previous school were unweighted which had a dramatic impact on her class rank as a good 50% of the class was taking 3-4 honors classes per year with a .5 bump, and many were already in AP classes with a full point boost.
She had a single B on her transcript and she ended up well out of the top quarter of students. Her admissions results were good, but she also had a robust application. Best of luck to you.
Universities will look at your actual grades, as well as the actual classes that you have taken. Of course they will also look at SAT or ACT scores, letters of reference, essays, and ECs.
Stanford and other “top 10” universities are reaches for nearly everyone. You definitely need to make sure that you apply to safeties.
Do not worry about things that you cannot fix. Apply to a range of schools including safeties and you will be fine. Also make sure that you look for universities that are a good fit for you. There are hundreds of excellent universities, and the best fit for any particular very strong student is not necessary going to occur at the highest ranked schools. Your criteria for “great school” probably should not be the same as whatever criteria US News uses to help them sell magazines.
I think that you will be fine, but no one can predict whether or not you will be accepted to any “top 10” university.
Thank you. I forgot to add in my original post that I’ll make sure to use the additional information section too.
Also, just to show my concern with the situation, I have ECs and awards on par with most students accepted to these schools as well. Eg. I have multiple olympiad level awards. If I hadn’t gotten unlucky with my family situation, I wouldn’t be worried about applying to these schools at all.
I understand I’m never guaranteed admission to any top schools, but I don’t want to be applying to schools I’d automatically be rejected from. I’m not sure if I should shoot for top schools like I originally wanted to or just remove them from my list and focus on other schools. Or maybe I’m overthinking everything and this isn’t a big deal at all.
Then don’t apply to any where you don’t meet the minimum qualification. If a school requires calculus and you have only pre algebra, don’t apply. If you are afraid of rejection, then do t apply to colleges that reject people for sport (like Stanford).
And yes you are overthinking and personally I wouldn’t note it in the additional info. Kids move. Colleges know this.
Many many people transfer high schools. College admissions officers deal with this all the time – they will look at your transcripts from both schools. If you do make a comment in the additional information section, keep it very short and to the point. ECs, LORs, essays, etc. will also be part of any holistic review.
T10 and Ivy schools are reaches for any unhooked applicant. Be sure to make a well rounded application list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be excited to attend.
Thank you for the advice. I was originally going to be applying to safety schools but wasn’t sure if I should still keep the more competitive ones in my list. Are you saying that it’s worth a shot to still apply?
To be clear, the common app has a separate section where students should explain a change in high school. If a student wants to also use the additional info section, that’s no problem. I would encourage OP to coordinate with their HS counselor, because they are likely to discuss this in their LoR.
You should apply to several reaches, work with your counselor to best identify those. Don’t worry about things you can’t control (like class rank after a move.) Continue to focus on things you do control like grades, rigorous classes, and activities. Good luck.
If you have two parents who love each other and who get along, and who treat you well, and who care about education, and you have food on the dinner table, and good health, then you have been lucky in your family situation.
Almost everything else you can fix.
You might want to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, it recommends that you do what is right for you, be a strong student, participate in the ECs that are right for you, treat people well, and do not worry about it. This is the approach that we have taken in my family, and it has worked out for us, one way or another. However, it has worked out at a rather wide range of different universities (both for undergrad and graduate school).
If you can reasonably explain why a particular reach school is a good fit for you, then IMHO it is still worth applying. This assumes that you have also applied to safety schools.
You should ask your new GC to explain how they calculate rank for transfers or how they interpret grades from a prior school. Likewise, you can ask your old CC what your rank was at your old school or for that school profile. This is relevant additional info IF your new school reports rank. Many do not, so before you get too involved with how to explain, confirm that at explanation is necessary.
Thank you. For reference, my old school only had an UW GPA and didn’t rank. My new school only ranks top 10% of students. So that’s how I know I’m not top 10% (I’m unranked)
As suggested above, speak to your guidance counselor. If you are not eligible to be ranked due to the transfer they can note it in the LOR.
Provide a transcript and school profile from your first high school with every college application.
In any event, the best advice is to not sweat the things you cannot change. Again, admissions officer are well versed in dealing with many different types of situations including transferring high schools, different grading systems, etc. There are many colleges where students can get a wonderful education and have a great experience.
Your old school’s college counseling office has a school profile it provides to colleges, generally as part of your application. You can ask for it if it’s not on their website. That will help frame your prior grades and can be part of yourapplication. Your current GC should also probably be aware of it.
It may help in thinking about this to consider what would happen if a student were to transfer in from a school with a much more inflated grading system. In an extreme example, they could vault to valedictorian based on their very high previous grades.
Colleges are attuned to this issue. Fwiw, I was in your situation decades ago and understand the frustration.
My son transferred high schools, and I took the time to fully understand the way they would present the old high school situation with the new. I even offered my two cents, which they respectfully ignored. I would agree with others about maintaining focus on what you can control.