2011 Transfer Discussion Thread

<p>-Where: Columbia and Brown
-Why: A ton of reasons. I’m currently at a good public university but i feel confined by the general lack of intellectual motivation and I’m definitely looking towards a lower student-teacher ratio. Also, I’m an international student and I’m very disappointed by the lack of diversity here. I also feel secluded from the world because of the location of my school and I feel like people around me can be a bit ignorant of their surroundings and current events. I know these are very generic transfer reasons but i feel very lost at my current institution. I did not choose to attend my current school; this was the only university I got accepted into and my application to this school was a split-second decisions completed two days. Attending Columbia and Brown is my dream, but as an international student i feel like i screwed up my chances this year by applying for financial aid.
-major/goals: economics or international relations (both Columbia and Brown offer great programs!!!). also looking into film studies because of previous experiences in making short films and a film studies class i’m taking now
-what do you think your chances are:
SAT breakdown: 800/800/700
SAT 2 scores: Math II 800, Jap 680, World History 680
High school GPA: around 3.7
current grades: not through with my first semester in high school but quite confident i can get a least 3.8 GPA
What i lack right now is ECs. I do regular volunteer work (teaching ESL) and I’m in several organizations, but not extremely involved. I think the lack of diversity here does hinder many students from getting involved in a lot of activities, especially leadership positions, and I’m having a hard time trying to find something to proof what I can do and what I’m passionate about. I’m really desperate on transferring however, so I’m going to keep searching for involvement opportunities and get to know my professors better while trying to keep my grades up!
Can anyone who has transferred to Brown and Columbia offer some advice? Are there any specific preference for these schools? Any values they hold dear and prefer to see in prospective transfers?</p>

<p>Hey BagelsnLatte,</p>

<p>I’m kinda in the situation as you! Except you want columbia and brown, and I want mainly NYU haha. I was considering columbia, but i’ve heard/read a alot about it being a school with a huge focus on graduate education, such that majority of the students are actually graduate students. I plan on hopefully doing my undergraduate in NYU, before graduate school in columbia! I’m a business administration and premed major too and columbia doesnt offer undergrad business school either!</p>

<p>Hope this helped</p>

<p>Transferring Fall 2011

  • Where do you want to transfer to
    I am thinking George Washington or American, Georgetown if the stars are aligned…
  • Why you want to transfer (both the pull factors from transfer goals and push factors from the home school, so like size of school, academic opportunities, social scene, student life, etc)
    Well the school I am at, (Private, Catholic university in Chicago) doesn’t have the academic environment I thought it would have. Many of the students simply…don’t care about school. I also want a better known school with rigorous Political Science & International Relations departments; the school I am going to is talking about scaling those two down. Here there is no political environment at all, which is something I miss very much about DC.
  • Desired major/goals (med, law, grad school and such)
    Planning on going to law school, hopefully Georgetown <em>crosses fingers</em>
  • What do you think your chances are (and some stats if you’re comfortable?)
    I had terrible HS grades, and average test scores. My grades in college are pretty good (3.6+) from what I have seen, but this is only the first quarter out of 3 (we are on the quarter system) so I still have to pull them up. I have been part of Model United Nations for 5 years, received a scholarship for it an am now participating as an officer in CIMUN, one of the best college run conferences in the country. I am a member of Young Dems, Black Student Union, and I will be interning on a city mayoral race for a widely known elected official. I travel often, and my father went to American.
    I will probably have a harder time with GW if I do not get my grades up, but I think I am fine for AU.</p>

<p>Correction* I meant to say my grades are good for what I know. It has only been the first quarter so they haven’t released GPAs yet.</p>