3.6 GPA at top-15 LAC; what are my options?

Transfer Students
1

So I’m a freshman at Haverford College and I have decided that I want to consider my options for transferring. My reason for transferring is that I am completely and utterly fed-up with how intellectually-stifling Haverford is. I want a school that encourages true intellectual inquiry and exploration, unconstrained by PC culture taken too far. I want to be around intelligent students, but at the same time not have to feel that I have to walk on eggshells in political or philosophical conversations. I’ve spoken with my uncle about this (who is a tenured professor at UPenn) and he has told me that the environment I described as existing at Haverford is simply not present at UPenn. I applied to Haverford ED, though I realize now that I should have gone with UPenn ED. I like the idea of a small LAC in theory, but in practice it simply doesn’t work for me.

My question is: what colleges should I look into as potential transfer options? I’m not constrained by geography. The only constraint is that I would like to go to a place that has a similar level of academic rigor and reputation as Haverford. I got a 3.6 GPA first semester, which obviously could be better, but what are my options? The ideal school for me would be Penn but that is clearly not a reliable, or even reasonable, consideration given by less-than-noteworthy GPA.

The only schools I have on my list right now are UPenn (almost definitely not going to get accepted) and Emory (not sure of my chances, but definitely higher than at UPenn).

Thanks in advance for any responses; I’m eager for advice!

2

Another school now on my list: UVA

According to the website, the average GPA of transfer students is 3.5, but that seems very low to me. Anyone have an opinions on that?

3

UVA offers guaranteed admission to Virginia Community College kids who have at least a 3.4.

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@arwarw Oh crap, so that would lower down that average significantly. I guess that means the OOS average it might be closer to 3.7 or 3.8, :/.

5

Let me play admissions committee.

You are at Haverford. Why do you want to leave and come to Penn?

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@ClarinetDad16 I want to go to Penn because my goals in college are to expand my intellectual boundaries, to interact with people who possess a variety of different viewpoints. In terms of both the former and latter, I don’t feel like I can achieve them at Haverford. The academic and social environments don’t encourage nor allow for conversations that break the boundaries of what may or may not be considered PC. The atmosphere is also politically homogenous thus not allowing me to expand the bounds of my political knowledge to the fullest extent. I would be prefer to be at a college containing more diverse viewpoints than Haverford and Penn offers that.

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I’ll join @ClarinetDad16 on the mock adcomm:

Finding the range of intellectual discourse at Haverford too narrow for you is why you want to leave Haverford. However there are many colleges and universities with diverse viewpoints: why do you want to come to Penn in particular?

If you like LACs, based on your desire for a place

you might like Bucknell if you want to stay in PA, Washington & Lee in VA or Furman in South Carolina.

(of course, “PC culture” as a phrase has implications of it’s own. Way back when I was in college, being PC was about a (sometimes over the top) effort to recognize the ways that (often unthinking) use of language was implicitly offensive to others, but now saying that something is “PC” seems to be simply a pejorative way of classifying something the speaker disagrees with- but that’s another conversation!).

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Leaving aside whether or not Haverford is extreme in its PC culture, as a member of the quaker consortium, I think it would be prudent for you to actually take a class or two at Penn before holding it up as a more ideal environment for you.

Also, what are your areas of academic interest/potential majors? Hard for people to help you pinpoint schools without discussing what you are interested in studying. Additionally, I would think the political climate at Penn will vary depending on the department of study. Wharton students are less likely to be PC focused than some other areas. What department does your uncle work in?

I also wouldn’t knock your own current GPA as being low as it is above average at Haverford.

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I’d leave the PC comments out of your transfer essays.

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Have you taken full advantage of the Quaker Consortium which allows you to take two courses per semester at Penn as well courses at Bryn Mawr and Swat?

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OP, so basically you are trying to sell Penn Admissions why you are unhappy at Haverford. A school in its consortium.

Let’s try again. Why Penn?
(Try and include a program to pursue that is not at Haverford)

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Haverford is really small - are you mostly going to apply to bigger schools? If so you could talk about that and tie diversity into it somehow.

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@collegemom3717 I’ve looked into Washington and Lee already and it looks like a really solid option. I’ve unfortunately never visited though because I’m from the New York area and I’m not sure that I would be able to visit before transfer apps are due. I’ll look into Bucknell and Furman.

Also, in regards to your comments about PC culture, my reference to things or discourse as being “PC” is not simply a way for me to dismiss ideas I disagree with. I support the basic concept of PC, that being the ideal of being sensitive to a variety of cultural/religious backgrounds and viewpoints. What I’ve experienced at Haverford, though, is an extreme interpretation of how to apply PC that I feel suppresses truly productive dialogue.

@doschicos I’m currently undecided in terms of my academic interests, but psychology and philosophy are probably my biggest considerations right now. My uncle is at Wharton but part of LGST, so he isn’t in the most conservative section of Wharton. He also, however, teaches some classes in the sociology department, so I’d say he has likely been witness to the gamut of Penn’s political discourse.

In regards to your point about taking a Penn class before thinking of transferring, that would require me to postpone everything for at least a year because I already have my class schedule figured out for the next semester (which includes no Penn classes). I’m pretty sure it would be a more ideal environment, though, because of the fact that I’ve visited numerous times, shadowed a student for a day, sat in on several classes, and have heard a ton about it given my familial connection to it (which also includes two other alums). Penn was one of my top choices before I settled on Haverford for ED so I’m well aware of how it would be an improvement over Haverford in the ways I would want it to be.

@intparent Not planning on specifically mentioning the term “PC” in my essays, but I definitely think it would be pertinent to talk about the culture surrounding dialogue that exists at Haverford (which would certainly include at least an indirect reference to PC).

@arwarw I took one class at Bryn Mawr this past semester and am taking two this upcoming semester. I haven’t taken a Penn class yet, but I have enough experience with and circumstantial knowledge of Penn to know that the issues I have with the environment at Haverford are not nearly as present at Penn. Bryn Mawr (and Swarthmore from what I’ve heard) share the same problems that I have with Haverford.

@ClarinetDad16 I appreciate the adcom exercise, but I’m still in the beginning stages of this process and have over two months before Penn’s transfer app is due. In that time, I’m sure I will be able to come up with a convincing reason for transfer (that explains both my discontent at Haverford and desire for Penn specifically). I know quite a bit about what Penn has to offer and that what it offers suits me better than what Haverford does, it’s just a matter of me articulating that in an essay.

@philbegas I’m open to schools of all sizes, but most of my options right now are definitely schools that are much larger.

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If they’re all much larger - make it a talking point. Talk about diversity, campus feel, anything else that correlates to a larger school.

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When you write your transfer essay, they will want to hear more about why you want to transfer to that particular school rather than why you didn’t like your old one. You may also want to consider something like William & Mary, Lafayette, Georgetown, Boston College, Davidson, or UChicago, or USC.

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@shawnspencer that’s not entirely true.

If you’re using the commonapp you do one transfer essay/personal statement that goes to all of them. Some schools have additional “why us?” questions but it’s not always the case.

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@shawnspencer You’re definitely right and I will take that into consideration when writing my essays. William & Mary is on my list already. I’ve visited Lafeyette and BC and didn’t like either that much. I’m definitely willing to take a look at Georgetown, Davidson, UChicago, and USC, though I’m not sure how realistic any of them are, especially UChicago.

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Look at larger publics. So many people breeds diversity of thought.

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Good luck! If you have any questions about William & Mary, let me know. It is where I currently attend. I would describe it as left leaning, but accepting of people with different outlooks and commonly has students that engage in philosophical or intellectual conversations.

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Colleges are not going to jump after undecided transfers.

Hard to answer why school x when you are already at school y and still don’t know what department and what resources you would take advantage of.

Perhaps you are not ready yet to transfer.