Another annoying chances thread...

Transfer Students
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<p>(cross posted on the Chances board)</p>

<p>Hey, I am looking at transferring to these schools, but I'm really not sure which ones are safeties, matches, reaches, etc. What are my chances? Feel free to be brutally honest.</p>

<p>Smith College (dream school...)
Mount Holyoke College
Wellesley College
Bryn Mawr College
Hampshire College
Haverford College
Sarah Lawrence College
Agnes Scott College (I really don't want to go here, so I might not even apply, but it is free and I think I'll probably get in...)</p>

<p>If it seems like I'm short on any one category, feel free to suggest other schools with the same feel that would be appropriate.</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>White female from South Carolina
Family Income: low, $25-30K/year, with my own earnings included
Transferring as: a junior</p>

<p>College: small, virtually unheard of LAC in South Carolina (but it is a Tier 1 school)
Current year: sophomore
College GPA: 3.89 (should be about the same after the end of this semester)
Major: History
Minor: unsure, interested in Education, Psychology, and Political Science
Career goals: unsure, considering library science</p>

<p>Course load/Rigor of Courses Taken: I took 15 hours 1st semester frosh year, 16 2nd semester, 18 this semester, and I'm taking 15 next semester. I have taken almost all of my GenEd requirements for my current school, counting in 20 hours of AP credits. I have tried to taken more rigorous classes (i.e. Chinese for 3 semesters and 1 Maymester, and quite a few upper level classes from several different disciplines). This semester I took: History of the South (300 level, major elective), American History I (200 level, major requirement), Child Psychology (200 level), Introduction to Political Science (200 level), Introduction to Education (200 level), and Intermediate Chinese II (200 level). I am making at least a B+/A- in all, and A's in most.</p>

<p>College Awards: on full scholarship that covers tuition, room, and board (but not fees), statewide private scholarship that covers 1/2 of college expenses, Dean's List for the past two semesters</p>

<p>College EC's:
College Democrats (president this year, secretary last year): worked very hard to register voters this year, planned events open to entire campus to watch
presidential/vice-presidential debates, worked with local area coordinator for the Obama campaign, weekly meetings before election, biweekly meetings afterward
Newspaper Staff (World Section Editor, Layout staff): write an article about once every two weeks, read over/edit articles for the World section, spend many long hours doing layout for each issue (average of 15 hrs/issue)
Students for Environmental Education (secretary, Recycling Committee): attend weekly meetings to discuss ideas to educate students on environmental issues and how to make the campus more green, spend 30 minutes a week collecting school's recycling from several dorms
Academic Affairs Committee: a student committee that meets with the provost, student voice in deciding various policies and changes the school would like to make, students can bring up issues of concern, committee has a role in hiring new professors
Spectrum: Gay/Straight Alliance, meet weekly-ish to discuss related issues, group plans monthly-ish events (films, speakers, etc.)
Chinese Scholar: took beginning and intermediate Chinese classes, studied abroad in China for 5 weeks last summer with a stipend from my college
Freshman Honors Seminar (last year): top 15 freshmen, met with the provost monthly, discussed international issues and two books
International Dorm resident: not sure if this counts as an EC, but I live with an international student, groups of residents are required to plan 3 events per year to educate the campus on international issues
Work study in the library: work a few hours a week at the circulation desk, work a couple hours for the reference desk doing various projects, shelf books</p>

<p>High School:
GPA: 3.9ish UW, 4.95 W
Rank: 2/275ish
SAT: 740 M, 670 V, 660 W
SAT II: 740 Math I, 640 US Hist
AP's: Junior year-3 English Lang (worst teacher EVER), 5 Calculus AB; Senior year-5 Biology, 4 English Lit (school only offered a few AP's)
Rigor of Curriculum: hardest possible, mostly honors with the few AP's my school had, a few CP classes required for diploma or for activities (Flagline and Yearbook), took French and Latin
High School Awards: nothing special, NM Commended, AP Scholar, Rotary Club Student of the Month, schoolwide academic honor society</p>

<p>High School EC's (I'm only going to put the ones from 11th and 12th because that's all the Common Application covers):
Yearbook Staff (Editor-in-chief, Student Life Editor the year before): worked around 15 hours a week all year, basically consumed my life
Student Government (Senate Member): met twice a month to discuss school-related issues
School Theater Production (cast member): played a small role in a school play, practiced for about 10-12 hours/week for about 6 weeks</p>

<p>Work Experience: worked at CVS Pharmacy for the past two summers as a cashier and photo lab technician</p>

<p>Essays: have no idea, will write over Christmas break, should be pretty good to excellent
Professor Recs: should be good, but I don't think they'll be exceptional; first one is from a History professor with whom I've taken 2 classes and I will take another next semester, made A's in both classes I've taken so far, participate often, get good grades on papers; not sure who I'll get the second one from though (too many choices, but they're all just ok options)</p>

<p>I'm mostly worried that my EC's are kind of scattery, and they're all on-campus activities. There's just not too much to do here though (few clubs and completely rundown town).</p>

<p>So what do you think?</p>

<p>(By the way, if you read all that, you deserve a prize. That was sooooo super long. Sorry.)</p>

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<p>haha, its such a long thread! I will give you comments later cuz I'm gonna have my dinner now. ;)
four of my target schools are on your list! what a coincidence!
and btw, ASC doesnt suck; it has co-ed program with Emory.(although I wont apply it due to some personal reasons, it's worth to try)</p>

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<p>Thanks is advance, gobackto2005. Haha, it is very long, sorry. Which ones are you applying to?</p>

<p>I like ASC's location, as it's a lot closer to my home (3 hours' drive) than the other school's I'm looking at. But just from reading the Princeton Review, student reviews, and their website and watching their tour video, I get the image that they tend to be sort of catty and more of the Southern belle/sorority type, which I'm trying to get away from. It also seems like they don't have their own fun; they just go to the other area colleges on the weekend to party. And it's a little on the small side for my tastes. I could be completely wrong though. So I dunno. I'll probably go visit though, just to see, since it's so near me.</p>

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<p>kk, i just grab my dinner in front of the computer and read your really long thread!
Your college ECs are stellar!!!(lord lord, my ECs are nothing in comparison with yours, and fortunately I am a sophomore standing so that we wont in the same pool, lol) But I do think you should choose some of them you think are the most impressive and related to the application. If I am the AO, after seeing your ECs, I might think you are a super woman but I dont know what you emphasis is.(I guess it's political activites, right?)
And since you are a junior standing, what you've done is enough. Your academic background is quite solid!
For matches, just a suggestion, I dont think the schools you are gonna apply share a common characteristics(I mean Hampshire College is unique enough but deft. not same to the women colleges you are gonna apply.)
I think, to you, the safties are: Hampshire, ASC
reaches are: Smith,MoHo,BMC,haverford,Sarah Lawrence College(it's not that prestigious but it's hard to get in),
for wellesley, you have a shot!</p>

<p>Good Luck! :D</p>

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<p>I'm gonna apply the four women colleges except ASC lol~
I love Smith so much that I'm gonna visit it next month! =))
women college rocks!</p>

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<p>I think prinston review is precise but I dont trust student review that much. I recommend you to search colleges and find reviews on U N I G O;) (what's wrong with the forum? I cant type the exact website address :( )</p>

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<p>For some reason, it stars out students review too. Maybe they don't want us to advertise them?</p>

<p>So do you think I should leave off some of the EC's on my app that aren't so important/don't relate, or just try to emphasize the important ones? (And yes, my focus is on political activities. :) But I'm also interested in international issues as well.) I guess I'll try to connect them by working my focus/interests into my essays, and how the colleges could benefit me in that sense...(just brainstorming here)</p>

<p>Yeah, I haven't really investigated the co-ed colleges so much, so those may change a bit if I figure out they wouldn't fit me. But I really, really, really want to go to one of the women's colleges. Oooh, I want to go to Smith so much too. Maybe their admissions people are just amazing at convincing people, I don't know, but I'm sold off of the website and what I've heard from people on here, etc. I'm going to fly up and visit over my spring break, because it's so far away/expensive and I can't miss classes. Let me know what you think when you go! Oh, and have you visited any of the other women's colleges? What did you think of them?</p>

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<p>Sure I will let you know! I am going to visit Bryn Mawr Before Christmas (but beyond the final, lol, and the same to you, I can visit none of them during the semester time cuz I cant miss class!). For Smith, I am going to visit in Jan.(have scheduled it already:) )
As far as I know, the IR(int'l relation) in MoHo and Wellesley are the best.</p>

<p>I think it would be nice if you take off something not related to politics and IR.E.G. "Spectrum: Gay/Straight Alliance, meet weekly-ish to discuss related issues, group plans monthly-ish events (films, speakers, etc.)" It is enough show your academic achievement through your grades, SAT, and rec. "International Dorm resident" you could compose an impressive essay with some your dorm experience. ;)</p>

<p>Hope that helps! Best of luck for US!</p>

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<p>Any other opinions?</p>

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<p>bumpity bump...</p>

<p>Where is dufflebagjesus when I need him (her?)?</p>

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<p>bump
10char</p>

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<p>bump again</p>

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<p>Damn, stats. like this make me fear just applying to Smith and MoHo.</p>

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<p>I'm confused, YeYe, are you already at Mt. Holyoke? Thanks for the compliment on the stats though. :)</p>

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<p>No problemo, yourfire. I was admitted into MoHo yesterday as a Spring transfer applicant.</p>

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<p>Congratulations! If you don't mind sharing, what were your stats like?</p>

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<p>Congrats YeYe, would u plz share ur experience? :D
yourfire, I will visit Bryn Mawr next Monday, I'll update some pic and personal experience after visiting, I will let u know! Best of luck on your finals. I'm gonna go back to study!</p>

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<p>HIM! HIM! im right here, i was just initially deterred by the length of your post...im lazy like that yo</p>

<p>anyways</p>

<p>i dont think ive said this before on here, but if youre interested in the prestige/level of education that you'll get at a transfer school, i would strongly encourage you to apply to some more selective (to be blunt, better) schools</p>

<p>the schools that you mentioned are certainly very, very respectable institutions (ive never heard of the last one, however) and you are a virtual lock for almost all of them, i think...no reason to think you wouldnt be a competitive applicant to almost any school in the country, sans some of the ives</p>

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<p>Thanks, dufflebagjesus, for your encouragement! I was wondering if you'd even see that comment! Sorry, it was a REALLY long post. </p>

<p>I also forgot to include my teensy little hooks in my original post: Mainly, I'm a first generation college student. Also there's my SC residency, good for geographic diversity. I'm low income, good for economic diversity (but this could be bad because of any need aware financial aid stuff).</p>

<p>But yeah, I've revised half of this list now anyways, haha. I've decided that I'll be happier with the options in the Northeast/Mid-atlantic/Midwest, so I have pretty much eliminated all Southern schools. (I'm going to freeze to death next year--oh well.)</p>

<p>(In order of preference)</p>

<p>Definitely will apply to:
Smith
Carleton
Wellesley
Mt. Holyoke</p>

<p>Probably will apply to:
Oberlin
Kenyon</p>

<p>Maybe will apply to:
Grinnell
Macalester
Vassar
St. Olaf</p>

<p>Considering, but unlikely that I'll apply to:
Brown (I don't think they even give financial aid to transfers, do they? most likely not getting in)
Yale (I'd never get in, haha)
Cornell U (another haha)
Beloit
Haverford
Sarah Lawrence
Cornell C
Bryn Mawr
Swarthmore
Georgetown
Emory
William and Mary
Rice</p>

<p>And I still have to find a safety I like where I'm not downgrading...I'm thinking maybe Lawrence University and/or American University. And I also want to pick a school in state as a financial safety (I have a private scholarship and a state-awarded scholarship that would transfer with me), but I hate pretty much everything here, so yeah.</p>

<p>So yeah, guys, especially dufflebagjesus, what do you think of the new list, mostly just the first three categories? Thanks!</p>

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<p>I think you should apply to Cornell U. You would fall under the new finaid policy that eliminated the EFC entirely for households with <60,000 income. CAS at Cornell is difficult, but you have great stats and probably as good a shot as anyone. You would have a great shot at Emory, Rice, and Vanderbilt (in fact I'd be somewhat surprised if you didn't get in 2 of the 3) if you want to stay in the south, but Duke is really difficult. Not sure on Rice and Vandy, but I believe Emory has great FinAid. Not a fan of LAC's (too small for me!) and don't know much about them, so can't really help you there. Best of Luck!</p>