Hello everyone! I am a student in one of the best engineering colleges of India (Top 5 or so). I am planning to transfer after first year of my college to complete my under-graduation from US. I gave SATs, TOEFL and SAT Subject Tests in my current college city.
Since this has been the first semester of college, a transition has been difficult on me. Moreover, I was busy crafting my applications in first semester and submitted my applications quite early (Of course I have submitted all transcripts). As such, got a bad first semester GPA (Think Cs and Bs in all courses, majority Bs) and am working hard towards improving my GPA in second semester and am sure I will improve it (As in almost all courses).
Since I am transferring this early in College, would the colleges mainly consider my high school scores and activites? I am working hard on my GPA in second semester and will definitely raise the bar to my usual high school level.
Main question is would the colleges consider that my first semester was sort of my negligence (was preparing applications and giving exams), bad luck and consider I am a good student, on basis of overall profile, essays and provided I make genuine improvements in this semester. Could a conditional admission be imposed on me? Could they tell me that they’d admit me only if I get a good GPA in second semester to atone for my previous semester?
I am a genuinely hard-working student but am extremely anxious and I desperately want to transfer my college because of authentic reasons. My dream school is Cornell and have applied to 6 schools in total (Cornell, USC, UMich Ann Arbor, UIUC, NYU, UW Seattle).
I am listing some of my credentials here. Maybe they would help:
- Straight As in all high school courses, including CS (Highest possible grades in every course)
- A score of 1450/1600 on my SAT
- TOEFL score of 110/120
- 800 in Math 1 and Math 2 and 770 in Chemistry
- Great extra-curriculurs, with me acing many super competitive national level entrance exams in India
- Cleared chemistry and physics olympiads (national level)
- Straight As in all courses every year till high school
- A lot of charity and social service since childhood (Didn't do it for applications)
I am extremely anxious and am toiling to pick up my GPA so that credits could transfer and they make a nice impression.
Do I have a shot at transfer? Could I get an acceptance letter from at least one university applied? I want to major in Computer Science.
PS Excuse me for this long post. Everything I could think of now has been poured out here. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Since you are transferring early they may probably look at your high school stats. But it looks like your high school stats are very good so you don’t have to worry. It really depends on what college in the U.S you want to transfer to. Some may be hard to get in while others are easy to get in. If you’re thinking of Harvard or Yale University, something in the ivy league field then you can give it a shot. It seems like you have a chance. I am a transfer student in the U.S too, right now I go to a community college and plan to transfer to a school in my city (Boston). I am thinking of schools like Boston University or Northeastern, it’s hard to get into but good stats will help me. I think you should make a list of schools to apply to first, because it depends on how hard it is to get in.
(PS: you should consider Boston university or northeastern, both of which are in Boston. They really focus on international applicants and Boston is a great area for academics!)
Thanks shenaiya! Surely I will consider them. Thanks a lot for a clear answer. I wish you good luck and all the best for future. 
They’ll mostly look at your high school record .
However being a college student now means you won’t have access to financial aid/scholarships, does your family have enough funds for you?
Yes! My family would manage the funds. But, Cornell has the TATA scholarship for Indian Undergraduates with preference given to Colleges of Engineering and Arts and Sciences. That scholarship is need based and covers a lot of costs and is irrespective of freshmen or transfer status. That’s why I prefer Cornell out of the bunch.
How do your marks compare to your cohort? If you are in the top group, then I agree with the others. But, if your marks are middling (or worse) for your program, then I think they are mistaken: universities use high school records as indicators of how they will handle college work, but how you handle actual college work is obviously more relevant. Great high school stats will not trump poor college marks, which is why it matters where you are in your year: if Bs and some Cs puts you in the top 10% of your group that’s one thing; if it puts you in the middle that’s another. On top of that, you have to consider raw numbers: Cornell has a 98.7% retention rate, which means that not many spots open up; for engineering the transfer acceptance rate is about 10%. Finally, if your family can actually pay your way you will not be eligible for the TaTa scholarships: you have to be eligible for need-based aid to qualify.
I don’t love chancing to start with, and even less once the applications are in- b/c there is nothing you can do about it. However, if you are really serious about transferring (and I think there are still places accepting transfer applications) I would recommend checking out a few places that are a little bit less competitive.