Hey all,
I’m currently a sophomore at a top five public university per the US News ranking (Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, Michigan and UNC Chapel Hill) with a around a 3.7 GPA (depending on my final grades this semester it will be somewhere between 3.68 and 3.72). This puts me around the top 25% of my class. I know that many prospective transfer applicants have more impressive GPAs, but I was wondering if the standing and nature (public, tough grading) of my current institution will carry some weight in the admissions process.
For what it’s worth I’ve taken rigorous courses, mainly upper level ones in economics, politics and history. Grading is generally tough at my institution, the average GPA usually ranges around high 3.1s to high 3.2s for a given class year.
I’m potentially looking into transferring out, it has to do with me wanting to meet a a more diverse group (more geographic and background diversity) of people and ending my college career at a smaller university (or at least one with a better student/faculty ratio) where I could benefit from smaller classes and more personal attention from professors.
Anyway, I was wondering if people who have some experience could tell me someone with my background would have a decent shot at transferring to schools such as: Columbia, Penn, USC, Middlebury, Williams, Duke, Georgetown, Cornell and/or Dartmouth.
I know a lot of other factors will come into play, but I’m positive I can get solid recommendations from professors and my advisor and my SAT score was 2150+, so I don’t believe that either one should present an issue.
I would really appreciate any comments/advice from anyone with transfer experience/insight who can provide me with some insight into my prospects.