Anyone else disgruntled with their transfer outcome? (Share your story)

Transfer Students
1

<p>Personally, I'm really upset with myself. I feel like I've wasted 2 years of my life.
I wanted to transfer because it was my dream to get into a school I couldn't have gotten into out of HS on the basis of 2 strong years of college work.... but in the end, I'm ending up at a school I should have gotten into out of HS, but was wait listed from for some odd reason.</p>

<p>I'm really upset because I did take quality courses and I went to a solid Tier 1 Liberal Arts College for my first year of school and ended up at a community college for my 2nd year(because I assumed I'd get a good enough financial aid package to go back to my first school, which didn't happen)</p>

<p>The funny thing is that I tried to make myself competitive in the transfer process by taking courses across the liberal arts curriculum and even took General Chemistry I, which is the only reason I had a 3.83 cumulative GPA at my community college for this school year as opposed to a 4.0
And now the chemistry class is going to HURT me because the school I'm going to requires that you take 2 lab sciences, but if you take Gen. Chem I, you have to finish the sequence and take Gen Chem II. If I got a B- in Gen. Chem I and struggled with it towards the end, I know I'm going to struggle to maintain a C average in Gen Chem II. </p>

<p>I just can't believe this. I'm so distraught right now. I never wanted to end up at community college because I knew the perception would end up killing my chances to transfer. (I was planning to transfer from my first school after 2 years)
If I'm not competitive enough to get into a top 30 school now... How am I going to be competitive for a top grad school when I have that 1 year of CC work I have to send in. </p>

<p>I'm so mad that my dreams have been crushed. I really didn't expect to get rejected by every single one of my schools. </p>

<p>Rejected by Northwestern, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Boston College. I can understand those, I would have needed a 4.0 and even then they don't want to take someone like me because my class rank and SAT scores would hurt their US News ranking. Rejected by Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, UCLA. Those I have a much harder time understanding, I can guess that it was community college. </p>

<p>I can't help it, I'm poor and I don't have any help from anyone. I saw myself into college and through the transfer process on my own. My CC only offers 100 and 200 level courses. I got into so many arguments with counselors to get signed into higher level courses without taking their pre-requisite courses even though I knew some of them wouldn't transfer. I just wanted to prove I could take high level courses and get A's in them.</p>

<p>I think another thing that hurt me is that I got a C+ in Pre-Calculus my senior year of HS and have avoided taking any kind of mathematics (except for a college math class I got an A in that dealt with logic, number theory, etc)
I can't help it if I'm terrible at Math! I'm an English major. I'd much rather take a programming class or some other computer science class to fulfill a Math requirement. But I'm sure other applicants have taken Calculus or higher, which probably made me look even more inferior to the ad coms. </p>

<p>I feel like such a failure. I guess people here were right. An average HS record and slightly above average SAT scores with a high college GPA tainted by 1 year of community college can only get you into the top state schools. =/</p>

<p>Well thanks for reading this. I'm really hurt and I'll just have to keep working hard at my new school. My love for the top schools has now turned into a feeling of disdain. They proved to me that if they had to choose between an underprivileged minority transfer with a strong need to transfer and another transfer whose already at a top 30 or so school (and therefore really doesn't even need to transfer) and has a comparable college record, they'd choose the top 30 transfer without a second thought because they assume that student has a better chance of doing well at their school. Hah, whatever. </p>

<p>If I could do this whole thing over again, I would have applied to Wake Forest as a reach (because I'm obviously not good enough for a top 30 school because of my slightly above average HS record), Pepperdine and Fordham. And maybe to some state schools like Wisconsin and Minnesota which might have been able to give me good FA considering I'm as poor as you can get. </p>

<p>So, I have a pretty big chip on my shoulder. Even bigger than when I graduated from HS and was rejected by NYU and Fordham.</p>

2

<p>use your voice. I would write to these schools and address your concerns. Why don’t you apply to a state school graduate in 4 years, and go to whatever university you want to for grad school. To be honest, it really does not matter where you go for undergrad unless you want to be a top contender for best researcher in your field. Whatever, it is just a school! I’m probably going to get rejected from Northwestern too mate. Come with me to University of Arizona! Stop stressing over this; don’t ever use the word should in your vocabulary either (regarding your setbacks in hs, etc) because it is a projection of an idealized self (not your real self)</p>

<p>Remember, you can’t correct your mistakes in hs and college. Learn from them. No one cares what you did yesterday, a week ago, last year, etc. People care how you are going to succeed today.</p>

<p>Just my 2 cents of inspiration to you!</p>

3

<p>I just wanted to challenge the idea that a transfer applicant like myself couldn’t transfer up to a top school, but it looks like I came up short.
Fordham is a great school, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it there and I’m really looking forward to going to class in September. But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to lie to myself and pretend that it’s where I really wanted to be.</p>

4

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<p>Was CC Gen. Chem really that hard for you? If so, why did you sign up for a math based science course? Some of us have to take 3 lab sciences a semester and still maintain a GPA…</p>

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<p>Really? The minority card? Why do people automatically assume that pulling out that card is going to get them into wherever they want? </p>

<p>You still have a good GPA, and with the amount of credits you have I seriously doubt any university considers your HS stats. It sounds like the reason you did not get into your schools has more to do with the rest of your application (essays, EC’s, professor rec’s)</p>

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<p>If you plan on going to grad school then why do you even care about moving up to a “top 30” school? Go to a state school, keep your GPA up, study for whatever graduate school test you plan on taking, actually make friends with a professor, and play the cards that you have in your hand – not the ones up your sleeves – trust me, they are not that bad.</p>

5

<p>I was really, really disappointed with my rejection from Cornell. I had a 4.0, all of the prereqs completed, really great recs (I got to read one), good ECs, really focused and specific essays… it stings to see that your best isn’t good enough. The worst part is that Cornell was my first choice and the first decision I received; I’m afraid it’s foreshadowing more rejections to come. </p>

<p>Still waiting on schools like Georgetown, NYU, Brown, and Amherst. Luckily though I was recently accepted to a decent school (Lehigh) so I know that I have a place to go in the fall.</p>

6

<p>Transferstudent2: Maybe your SAT score wasn’t high enough or your schedule wasn’t as rigorous?</p>

7

<p>I’ve been at a CC for a year and a half and have been accepted by NYU, UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, USC and waitlisted at Stanford. You can do it, just don’t give up.</p>

8

<p>The unfortunate reality is that colleges are looking for full pay students right now. Needing financial aid is something that is outside your control. Northwestern wouldn’t have given you financial aid for your first year anyways.</p>

9

<p>I really don’t think community college counts against you, I stayed at a cc two years straight out of high school and just got into NYU, UCLA, UC Berkeley and I’m waiting for Brown and Johns Hopkins to send me letters. You can transfer to a great school out of cc! It’s not like admissions officers look at your record and go “oh, community college, no way he can come here!”</p>

10

<p>mdtransfer, I don’t know how to quote you properly so I’ll respond to a couple of your comments.
First of all, you don’t have to refer to the class as “CC Gen Chem”. General Chemistry is General Chemistry no matter where you take it. And I already mentioned that the reason I took it instead of Biology or Environmental Science was because I thought it would look more impressive and would hide my mathematics shortcomings if I got a good grade. I really hope it isn’t an issue with Fordham. If they can’t make an exception (for their science sequence policy), I’ll just take 2 lab sciences there and try to forget that I made a big mistake wasting my time with Gen Chem. </p>

<p>And I wasn’t playing the minority card. Seems like you’re the one who wants to complain about that. I was just saying that the top schools would choose a student from an equally reputable school who has everything going for them over a student who has taken community colleges who also has everything going for them (including URM Status) without even thinking twice, because they’ll think the person who’s coming from a similar school will have a much better chance to succeed at their school.</p>

11

<p>What were your SAT’s? Did you have any significant EC’s?</p>

12

<p>I think you are looking for someone to blame in a process that is fairly capricious and faceless. I also think you are leaping to unsupportable broad statements that are ironically just getting in the way of you just moving beyond this whole process.</p>

<p>I don’t believe that top schools select transfer students based on the criteria you base below (take from top schools before CC students). Realize that just as likely, you were put in a bucket and compared with OTHER CC students and just came up a teensy bit short. Or, just as likely, the college decided to take some extra full-pays who needed zero financial aid, or at least a lot less than you would need. Or just as likely, they wanted to fill some seats in their (for example) their Basketweaving major rather than your major. Or, just as likely, they wanted geographic diversity and picked someone from Georgia rather than from your home state. Or just as likely, they liked someone else’s quirky essay better than your essay. Or just as likely, they had #### spots for only ## transfers - and even though they knew you could succeed at their college they ran out of spots because, well, at the end of the day they will absolutely disappoint ## of hopefuls.</p>

<p>“I was just saying that the top schools would choose a student from an equally reputable school who has everything going for them over a student who has taken community colleges who also has everything going for them (including URM Status) without even thinking twice, because they’ll think the person who’s coming from a similar school will have a much better chance to succeed at their school.”</p>

<p>High school is now a thing of the distant past. The transfer rejections the same. Go and do great things at your transfer school and doors will open up for you.</p>

13

<p>Dreamingbig: Can you list out your ECs, Essays, and Prof. Recommendations?</p>

14

<p>DB, I’m sorry that you’re disappointed and know that you’ve worked hard. But to start with you need to face some realities, for instance:</p>

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<p>Wagner College is not a Tier 1 LAC, it is not listed on the USN&WR LAC rankings which go through Tier 4:</p>

<p>[Liberal</a> Arts Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/liberal-arts-rankings/]Liberal”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/liberal-arts-rankings/)</p>

<p>It is classified by USN & WR as Tier 1 for: Universities-Masters, North:</p>

<p>[Master’s</a> Universities (North) Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/masters-universities-north-rankings]Master’s”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/masters-universities-north-rankings)</p>

<p>And there was a fair amount of input, some as early as last fall and all before application deadlines, that most of your colleges were reaches and that UCs were very difficult to get into and not a good choice financially for OOS students:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/770580-came-down-my-final-couple-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/770580-came-down-my-final-couple-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/787894-public-ivies-vs-top-private-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/787894-public-ivies-vs-top-private-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/852159-what-best-school-i-can-get-into-what-do-i-have-do.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/852159-what-best-school-i-can-get-into-what-do-i-have-do.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And these are only a sample of threads that I recall because I posted on them.</p>

<p>Do you have grounds to be disheartened? Yes, perhaps. But disgruntle? I’m not so sure.</p>

15

<p>I completely agree with you entomom.</p>

16

<p>I got rejected from Univ of Texas :(</p>

<p>this is my story (i posted in other thread in this site)
i went to a private univ in ny in 2003. i took summer classes there got A. during my first official semester i dealt with some personal as well as medical issues. i stopped going to class regularly and ended up failing most of my finals. i ended up with a 1.2 GPA that semester. It wasn’t a big deal because from what I understood, I could retake those classes next semester and they would drop my failed grades. Unfortunately, I had to drop out of school to focus on family issue.</p>

<p>i ended up in enrolling in a community college and decided to change my major. i tried to do bio but i ended up getting a C in that class. Anyways, I went there for 3 semesters and ended up with getting 4.0 for 2 of those semesters and like a 3 one semester.</p>

<p>I dropped out again to focus on family again. I worked for few years, moved to Austin because i wanted to finish up my school and I really liked the idea of going to Univ of Texas (UT). I moved here, started up my own business, established myself here and finally started having a stable life. I enrolled in a community college here and had a 4.0 in 2 semesters. I took the hardest courses they offered, and most of my class mates were UT students who can take CC classes cause its cheaper.</p>

<p>I applied to UT and they rejected me because my cumulative GPA of those 3 colleges came out to a 3.19. This is really disheartening because I worked hard, had extenuating circumstances, worked 80+ hours a week, supported my family and still did pretty well with what I had.</p>

<p>Worst part is that I am really attached to the school because I pretty much live right on campus, all my friends go there, and I have UT pride (even though I don’t go there). So, that’s pretty much it.</p>

17

<p>I actually see where you’re coming from. Transfers really do get an awful deal – I was lucky and ecstatic when I got into my first choice, but I am seeing people more deserving than myself being rejected left and right. </p>

<p>There are three ladies at my CC who have been extraordinarily shiested; one had the GPA of 3.9[4?], another is student body president and straight-A student, and the last is president of the school’s main club, and also gets very good grades.</p>

<p>Colleges sometimes let gold slip through their fingertips, usually because there is simply not enough time or space, because transfers are the last priority. </p>

<p>I am sorry for your dilemma. That really, really sucks.
I am sure you still have some schools to wait for – and something great will come your way, I’m sure. Best of luck… I do believe everything happens for a reason.</p>

<p>I was rejected from all my schools (including all safeties but one) when I graduated from high school, and I was miserable at that school and stayed a really short time. But, I came home, went to a CC, and now I am transferring to my dream school. Something good will come your way and your ****ty situation will end eventually. </p>

<p>I’m not sure if I helped of if you care, but I really do wish you the best. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>