A Transfer Chances Thread: Reach/Match/Safety Cutoffs?

Transfer Students
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<p>So... I'm going to be filling out some transfer applications. I'm looking to be admitted in fall 2009 as a sophomore. A bit about me and my stats:</p>

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<p>So, here's my question. I'm wondering where exactly the reach/match/safety cutoffs would fall for someone with my stats. Reach I would consider to be a school where I would not be a competitive applicant, but could possibly get accepted. Match I would consider where I would be a competitive applicant. Safety I would consider to be where I can be fairly confident that I would get accepted. (a few notes: I am from PA, my emphasis in transfer applications will be on east coast schools, and I will be applying to engineering programs)</p>

<p>Here's a list of schools so my question is a little less vague:</p>

<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Pennsylvania
Columbia University
Cornell University
Johns Hopkins University
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Virginia
Lehigh University
Pennsylvania State University--University Park
University of Pittsburgh
Boston University</p>

<p>Thank you in advance for your input!</p>

<p>[Edit: I forgot to add... I have two letters of recommendation; one should be positive but fairly impersonal, and the second should be positive and much more personal. Also, assume I have solid reasons for wanting to transfer to each of those schools (which, I think at least, is an accurate assumption =P).]</p>

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<p>You are very competitive at all of those schools, but beyond that, it is hard to be more specific.</p>

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<p>some of the less prestigious schools on that list you should be a lock for (lehigh, penn state, bu, u pitt) and are pretty much safeties</p>

<p>colleges like uva, johns hopkins, cornell seem to be a match</p>

<p>for the other ivies and near ivies (upenn, columbia, mit, brown) you should have a shot…but this is where i have to get really picky, because god knows these schools with their 2% acceptance rates are…for the top schools on your list, im not sure if i see that “hook” that really might set you apart from other transfer applicants…i don’t see a burning passion in your app, at least as its been presented, or a set of accomplishments that would really make you stand out for an adcomm…these would be tough reaches…worth applying to them, and who knows maybe you sneak into one of them, but i wouldnt get your hopes too high for these schools…maybe even you held out another year</p>

<p>gl</p>

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<p>1]You should research the transfer rates for the colleges you are interested in, because at many top colleges, the chances of acceptance as a transfer are much lower than what they are as an incoming freshman.
2] if you already applied to any of those colleges, realistically you are probably wasting the application fee to try again so soon, unless you have something new and really compelling to offer that wasn’t on your freshman application. Most top colleges require your HS transcript and your HS counselors recommendation form again as part of your transfer application.</p>

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<p>UVA will also depend on whether you are in-state or OOS.</p>

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<p>I normally don’t post (just lurk) but I had slightly worse hs stats and a 4.0 at a top 20 LAC (worse than a top 15 uni for sure) and got into Penn, Brown, and Cornell. Brown’s admit rate for transfers is going down for this coming year so that’ll be tough but I’d be absolutely shocked if you weren’t admitted to Penn and Cornell among a lot of other schools. I understand you don’t have a standout hook but you have a 4.0 at a top 15 school and that’s ridic. Schools understand that and you’re not slacking: multivariable and linear are the real deal.</p>

<p>Shoot for any school you’d want to go to. You’re as qualified as any other applicant, if not more so.</p>

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<p>I did apply to some of them last year. I was only initially rejected from one school; the others either waitlisted or accepted me. The thing is though, the decisions for freshman admission came without my senior year being completed, which is a lot stronger than my previous years of high school, to say the least. The difference, grade-wise, between then and now is a 3.99 senior year and a 4.00 freshman year. I’m not sure if that is or isn’t a significant addition to my application. </p>

<p>With regards to a ‘hook’, if any… I did not elaborate on my high school extracurriculars, but they actually represent a significant amount of leadership and commitment. The little “system administrator” blurb next to lab manager refers to me actually being one of three people (another student and our CIO) in charge of my school’s IT infrastructure. It’s not quite curing cancer, I think its fairly impressive.</p>

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<p>MIT=impossible</p>

<p>What EC’s are you doing now that you’re in college? That’ll be important to the Ivies.</p>

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<p>I’m a member of a handful of organizations & clubs, and I have a work-study job on campus, but there’s nothing really noteworthy at the moment. I’ve only been at school for a dozen or so weeks; there aren’t really any leadership positions that become available that quickly.</p>

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<p>I realized I misspoke above. I meant to say that if you had been rejected by any of the colleges above then you would probably be wasting your app $$.
The number of transfer acceptances for any given college is also contingent on if they had more freshman admits than they had room for in recent years. Stanford’s transfer admit rate plummeted 2 years ago when they had to scramble to accomodate all the extra freshman coming in. Same thing happened last year. So with this years baby-boomlet spike in freshman applications, it may be hard to give assurance on what your chances are at any given college. Also you should know that colleges are generally not generous with financial aid to transfers. They use most financial aid $ to attract freshman.</p>

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<p>DBJ’s mention of the 2% acceptance rates reminds me another question… Obviously, every college within an Ivy League university is very selective, but the impression I’ve been getting is that admission to the Arts & Sciences college (whatever it is called at each school) is the most insane in terms of admissions. As an engineer, does admission become a little less insane to those schools, or not really?</p>

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<p>oooh i never thought of that…but are you really willing to sacrifice a well rounded college education and focus almost exclusively on engineering for the rest of college? most people aren’t, even people who love their majors, but if you are then you will stand a lot better chance at some of the schools that you mentioned who have seperate engineering programs…i know Fu at Columbia is somewhat easier to get into than the regular program, perhaps look into it</p>

<p>gl</p>

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<p>You should look into Georgia Tech, Michigan, and Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. All 3 are top engineering/science schools and they are much, much easier to get into. They basically ask for a minimum GPA and a list of required courses and if you can meet that, then you’re pretty much in. Do take a very close look at the required courses. I applied to these plus MIT for spring '09 and I got into all of them except for GT because I didn’t precisely meet their required courses…</p>

<p>if you want to do CS/mechanical/electrical/civil/industrial engineering, these three state schools should be on your list. hope this helps!</p>

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<p>PS–MIT needs 3 recommendation letters, 1 from a math/science professor and 2 from other teachers. All must come from college faculty.</p>

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<p>“As an engineer, does admission become a little less insane to those schools, or not really?”
Not really. You would still have an 97-98% chance of being rejected, strictly based on recent stats.</p>

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<p>Weird bot. Dunno what was so attractive about my thread.</p>

<p>Uh…</p>

<p>Chances? =D</p>