Transferring to other schools

Transfer Students
1

Hello.

I am a student at a university in New Jersey. I am anticipating a transfer to a more propitious school. And the schools happen to be extremely competitive. I have submitted my applications to 5 schools: Stanford (I am attending summer session there in June), Cornell, Yale, Johns Hopkins and University of Pennsylvania.
I have a stressful life as a college student, and my undying willingness to transfer out is adding to that stress; which also happens to my posting this discussion at 2:30 A.M.

Here is a version of my academic and activities’ profile:

Had an equivalent of a 4.00 GPA in my high school in India.
Have a perfect GPA in my freshman year so far, made Dean’s List and pursued and still pursue 2-300 level courses. I am an honors student also.
I have theoretical research under my Professor of Astronomy. I have a high leadership of just one club (that promotes STEM education in students in several ways); however, I introduced tutoring in physics for the club. And I tutor high school students twice a month in my university. I also work part-time as a teaching assistant for lab periods and act as an exam proctor for the department of physics at my school 5hrs/week
I also used to write articles for the school magazine and the newspaper, until I didn’t this semester. However, I wrote several articles pertaining to several issues and advances in the sciences, and yet got turned for any leadership position.
I only mentioned my city-based magazine reporting and a student exchange program to a European school, however, refused to pursue the latter in the future - for my high school extracurriculars.
And most importantly, I worked very hard on my essays on the Common Application. I was as succinct as possible and felt myself that I was putting down convincing reasons to transfer and pursue my intended major(s) of ASTROPHYSICS/ COSMOLOGY

Yet, my SAT scores aren’t exceptional and only average. I have strived to master the English language, but my scores on Standardized tests have severely challenged that process. And I consider this to be a blot on my application.

Besides getting accepted, getting the maximum possible financial aid is also imperative. My family earns 20,000$ equivalent, and cannot afford to obtain any other loans from my native country and my primary sponsor cannot offer more than 15-16000$ the next academic year and henceforth. Plus, I just obtained a Social Security Number, and obtaining a loan from the U.S is proving to be difficult.

It may be ridiculous to post my achievements and basically ask everyone to evaluate my progress, yet I wish to gather more opinions from other seniors who have gone through a similar process or an academic in the field of education.

Thank you for your feedback.

2

Are you going to apply to any schools that are going to be easier to get into/would offer a student with your academic record lots of merit aid?

3

I would encourage you to apply to schools that either
a) Offer plenty of merit-based scholarships. These are hard to come by for international students, especially transfers.
b) Meet full demonstrated need for all accepted students.

I’d focus on option B. Keep in mind that the vast majority of colleges that have this generous policy are need-aware for international transfer students. You seem to have a great profile, so look into those colleges. Good luck. It’s a tough road for international students, especially ones that transfer.

4

The schools you list accept VERY few transfers, American or international, and most of those accepted come from peer schools. If you are not a US citizen or a green card holder then obtaining a federal loan is not only difficult but illegal.

5

Only UPenn from the above schools is need-aware.
I have applied to Rutgers New Brunswick (wherein every Tom, Dick and Harry with a decent GPA will get into, no offense meant), but I do not expect them to provide me with a full ride or something equivalent (international students) primarily because their merit-based scholarships is quite limited
Most public schools or schools to be easier to get into have/ had the same limitations. USC, UCLA, UCB, Northwestern, NYU- I mean every single one of them.
I have looked at all angles: acceptance rates, my major’s strength at the school and financial aid statistics, and finally defined my list with the above schools.

As per the loans, I would only require my SSN, school’s documents and ID and a cosigner green card holder( a relative).

6

@“Quade Santana” So where will you be transferring to .?