<p>Hello all, I'm thinking of transferring out of Binghamton University, but the problem is that my GPA my first year is 3.16. I'm from Bolivia, and I wasn't really prepared for how hard college work would be, so that's why it's rather low. My SAT scores are 710CR, 490M (yes, terrible), and 600W. I'm going to try my absolute best to get 4.0 the next two semesters of my sophomore year, but I dunno if that'll change anything. That and maybe retake my SAT if possible.</p>
<p>My highschool extracurriculars are pretty good (won several medals in basketball, soccer, track and field, won writing contests in school, and got third place in two National spelling bee contests, was president of the Ecology club), and my college extracurriculars are subpar (member of the Anime and the pre-vet club, practicing Taekwondo, and I'm volunteering over the summer in Bolivia at a vet clinic, and will do so in Chile as well. Possibly volunteer at a hospital as well).</p>
<p>The problem is the school I want to transfer to...is Northwestern University. I think I screwed up my GPA to the point of no return for this school, and it saddens me because I really want to go there. </p>
<p>My question is...what can I do to have even the slimmest chance to get accepted there? Is there anything I can do, or is it a hopeless cause? And if not Northwestern University, can I get into other competetive schools?</p>
<p>you are absolutely not a hopeless cause. yes, you will encounter many transfers on this forum who have high GPAs but there are also stories of people with 2.9s getting into Barnard! You have to have faith in yourself, BurntFlower. Your ECs aren’t bad either. Does Northwestern have a good animal sciences/husbandry program? Maybe that could be your hook since you are in the pre-vet club and volunteering at a vet clinic.</p>
<p>To compensate for a less competitive GPA, write amazing essays. Write the best essay you’ve ever written then make it even better. Make a solid case for WHY you want to transfer and why you want to transfer to that school! </p>
<p>If Northwestern is your dream, then convince them that in your essays and you’ll have a shot :)</p>
<p>Thank you sofy for replying to my post! I admit it’s rather daunting to see everybody with perfect GPAs and SATs here compared to my below-average grades. My question is, do I have to retake the SAT again and also take SAT II? </p>
<p>Oh yeah, I’m going to work my butt off writing those essays and write why I want to get into Northwestern University. </p>
<p>I think most universities discourage transfers from taking the SATs again. I’m not 100% on that one though. Your gpa is low, considering that you want to transfer into such a prestigious university, but all hope isn’t lost. Assuming that you’ve earned 30 credits at this point, you can bring it up to a 3.58 if you make straight A’s for the next 2 semesters while taking 15 credits each semester. You may also want to choose some more universities to apply to, even though you may have your heart set on Northwestern. I’d say work to your strengths and apply to a school which no longer requests SAT scores after a certain number of credits since you’ve stated that you aren’t happy with the score that you made. More ECs wouldn’t hurt either (not saying that what you currently have is bad.)</p>
<p>Sob stories are pretty bad, but the people giving false hope are even worse. Retake your SATs if you want to, but after 2 years, they won’t have as much weight. I think your GPA is pretty bad for a transfer to NU. NU is very transfer-friendly, but a 3.5-3.6 from Binghamton probably won’t cut it. You should apply to some safeties and some other transfer-friendly schools just in case. Sorry to slam you but it’s imperative that you approach the situation with some perspective. Good luck.</p>
<p>east89: Thank you very much for your reply. I think I’ll also apply to some other schools though I don’t know other schools I want to go to) and try to get more ECs. Your post was pretty informative and helpful for me.</p>
<p>Treebounders: Okay, thank you for your reply. I already know it’s a long shot, but I’ll try my best.</p>
<p>Are you an international student, or are you a permanent resident? Do you need financial aid? Transferring is very difficult for international students who need financial aid. If that is your situation, you need to do much more than just raise your GPA. You have to do research on the financial aid situation at the schools you are considering. There is a long thread on Financial Aid for International students at the Financial Aid forum. Read through that, and see if there is anything that will help you out.</p>
But thank you anyway!</p>