What schools are realistic for me? Transfer Applicant with AA, 18 Schools

Transfer Students
1

Hey CC,

Here is a slightly different post. I am a non-traditional student (23) who in the last year has developed a new-found motivation for school. My goal is essentially enter the highest quality institution I can for my undergraduate degree (Philosophy). I know that transfer admission rates to some of the more select schools are higher than freshman rates and I will hopefully be able to use this to my advantage.

In a nutshell my goal is to get into the best school for philosophy that I possibly can with my stats, in terms of schools with the highest academic rigor. Other aspects (cost, location, athletics, student life, etc) are not as important to me.

Schools I am interested in (Philosophy), Transfer rates pulled from CollegeTransfer:
Washington University, St. Louis - Transfer Admit Rate: 20%
UC Berkeley - Transfer Admit Rate: 20%
UCLA - Transfer Admit Rate: 24%
University of Southern California - Transfer Admit Rate: 24%
New York University - Transfer Admit Rate: 24.63%
Emory University - Transfer Admit Rate: 29%
Colombia, General Studies - Transfer Admit Rate: 30%
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill - Transfer Admit Rate: 35%
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor - Transfer Admit Rate: 39.41%
University of Virginia - Transfer Admit Rate: 39.70%
College of William and Mary - Transfer Admit Rate: 44.90%
University of Pittsburgh - Transfer Admit Rate: 51%
Rutgers - Transfer Admit Rate: 51%

Please feel free to suggest any schools who you think I would be competitive for that have a focus on academics and offer a good philosophy program. I am not set on any of these schools.

My safety schools:
Pretty much anything in Florida since I have an AA from a community college there and there is an articulation agreement. Would likely be University of Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida or Rollins.

Community College Stats:
3.5 GPA, Honors certificate from the honors college, 15 hours of honors coursework.

ECs:
Habitat for Humanity Volunteer
Animal Shelter Volunteering

Work Experience:
Bartender/Server
Programmer
System Administrator

Highschool:
No Transcripts
No ACT/SAT
GED

Other notes:
Started off my education career poorly, dropped out of high school, started working at 16, mom had cancer, is disabled, helped to support her and raise my siblings. Tried to start at community college but wasn’t able to give it the attention it deserved because I was still working full-time. Dropped in and out a couple times. Finally got it together and was able to commit to school, for the last 4 semesters I have made president’s or dean’s list and brought my GPA up steadily to where it is today, also along the way I got into and participated in the honors college.

I know this is probably a different question that you usually see here but I’d appreciate any guidance. This is the first time in my life I have actually been able to devote myself to education and I’d like to pursue the best opportunities available to me.

2

Do you need financial aid? If so, drop all the schools that do not meet need for transfer students. That will shrink the list considerably.

3

What does the Transfer Counselor at your CC have to say? Usually they are pretty savvy about this. You also should run your list by the Philosophy professors at your CC. They know where their students have been admitted.

Lastly, cost is something that is going to enter into things when you are deciding which offer to accept. So get straight with yourself about money now, rather than waiting. When you turn 24, the FAFSA will consider you independent, so you will be able to borrow an additional $4,000 in student loans each year. But that might well mean that you still can’t afford a dream institution. Get to know, and hopefully to love, your in-state financial safeties.

4

I’m not sure if we have an independent transfer counselor. It seems we have two counselors sent from two different Florida state universities that primarily exist to ensure ease of entrance to those institutions specifically. I will check with the advising department.

I will also consult my professors. Thanks for the response.

5

UCLA and Berkeley give no financial aid to out of state students. Virginia and Chapel Hill are required by law to limit out of state enrolment.

6

Are you interested in grad school or entering the workforce with a bachelors degree?

7

Can you explain why money is not an issue? Do you have parents now?

8

Good info. I should perhaps determine which schools limit out of state enrollment as well. Surely some of these transfer rates are from students transferring from preferred instate community colleges.

9

@Hippobirdy grad school.

Not attending to get a job or for career training

10

@Sybylla No parents. I live in a van and work remote for a larger tech firm. My expensive are minimal and I can afford to offset some costs of education

11

So you are independent for fafsa purposes now? How much have you taken out in loans so far? Do you have BF in Florida?

12

Out of state transfers have the lowest transfer priority for UCLA and UCB. Costs will be $65K/year to attend.
Transfer GPA admit for 2019 Philosophy major.
UCB: 3.55-3.90
UCLA: 3.65-3.91

Out of state Transfer admit rate:
UCB: 6%
UCLA: 7%

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfer-admissions-summary

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major

13

@Gumbymom Thanks Gumby. This helps a lot. Even when looking at specific transfer rates for majors I neglected to consider caps on out of state students. This will help me cut down my list and focus only on more attainable schools.

14

You have a unique story which will help you, but if you are just going off your cumulative GPA, all those schools except UPitt and Rutgers will be really difficult to get into with a 3.5. I don’t know what it has been recently, since you said you’ve been pulling it up, so that might change things slightly.

I don’t know about Philosophy, but I use the Niche calculator (I raised my SAT scores since they hold much less wait after strong college grades) and cross reference that with transfer admit rates. Look for schools 50% + average across those two to be targets.

Keep in mind UCB, UCLA, UNC and UVA transfer rates are different OOS

15

Seriously, living in a van isn’t going to make an out of state university affordable. It’s triple the tuition. You’re not going to be able to get the financing for it because there’s no one to co-sign. I think the only reasonable solution for you is to stay in your home state

16

UF and FSU would be a home run. I would stop looking personally.