Hello,
I am applying to transfer to a few schools. I applied to them the previous year(as a senior in high school). Should I be writing new essays for their commonapp questions/my personal statement? I personally feel that it was my GPA that held me back when I first applied(3.4 applying to Northeastern, WPI, RPI. In college I have a 3.923 right now), rather than the essays.
A, What are my chances of getting into those schools? Northeastern gives merit aid to transfers-should I be getting decent money with a 3.9(They say their most successful students have a 3.3 when transferring)?
B, should I be writing new essays? Do schools compare the new ones and the old ones, or should I use new ones just to be safe?
Thanks!
Last year WPI had 213 transfer applications and admitted 85. They had transfers from Clarkson, Hamilton, MIT, Union and Waterloo, but the largest population came from Quinsigamond Community College where they have an established transfer program. As freshmen applicants are not admitted to specifics programs or departments, the selected major has not played as strong a role in the admission process as it does for a transferring major. If a major is currently experiencing a growing popularity from the already matriculating students, admission to that major may be more difficult.
Yes, a new essay and/or project evidence would be relevant. I doubt admission would be entirely based on your transcript. What have you done this past year? :bz
The common app essay is a different prompt than the freshman application, so yes, you will have to write a new essay. The transfer prompt is more focused on why you want to transfer rather than the personal essays that freshman applications focus on. I think Northeastern offers 10K merit scholarship if you have above a certain GPA (I think 3.5+). At least that is what I was offered.
It is hard to say what your chances are, since you only have one semester’s worth of college grades. A 3.9 GPA is good, but your high school stats will still matter a lot.
The theory is that I will be able to use mid-term grades for my second semester of college or final grades for the second semester on schools that have a deadline that can accommodate that timeframe. Or should I still be submitting my high school grades regardless? My high school transcript isn’t terrible, but it’s not up to the par I want it to be at in regards to applying to schools such as the ones I named. I already have a new common essay written out, the individual essays shouldn’t be too difficult.
I realize I haven’t already stated it, I’m a Civil Engineering major right now, I do not intend to change that.
What I’ve done at Clarkson:
-Student Government(Senator)
-Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Chemical Society, and American General Contractors
-Am currently an Admissions tour guide
-Looking to become a TA for a freshman course, failing that I should be able to get involved with low-level research.
-Humans vs Zombies intern for moderator.
A 3.92 at Clarkson means something. Two Clarkson students successfully transferred to WPI this Fall.
The total number of undergraduate majors in Civil & Environmental Engineering have held steady at about 230 for the past four years. The Architectural Engineering part of the department has doubled in majors during the same time period so they now constitute about 25% of the undergraduate CE student population.
As a brand new economics graduate in 1971, I co-authored a lengthily impact study on a grant from the Federal Highway Administration and the MA Dept of Transportation with the CE department faculty and students. My soon-to-be wife was executive assistant to the lead faculty researcher. It was one of the early WPI MQPs.
It clearly was a successful program for me! Good luck!
:bz
That’s very good to hear! A bit reassuring, but I do still worry about money with WPI, as to the best of my knowledge they do not give merit aid to transfers.
Thank you for the information! Good to hear that it seems to be a decently sized department, that (hopefully) means I can get a spot. Thanks!
Colleges don’t look at the mid semester grade for the second semester other than to check that you aren’t failing anything. They don’t take it too seriously because grades change a lot from the mid semester grade to the final grade. It is obviously better to have a good mid semester report, but even if you have straight A’s, they don’t count it into your GPA. And since transfer decisions usually come out before the semester finishes, your second semester grades won’t have any bearing unless the school decides to wait for them. If you are applying as a sophomore transfer, most schools will require that you send your high school transcript and standardized test scores.
@retiredfarmer how do you know what schools people transferred from to WPI!? Schools don’t usually release that information.
That’s… Discouraging, to say the least. My high school transcript, due to a myriad of factors, is not something I’m proud of. While I’m doing well(Or like to think that) at college, I know I can do better, and thus I am attempting to transfer. I worry that schools will put more weight on my high school grades(which are not where they need to be in order to be accepted to somewhere like Northeastern or WPI) than my college GPA(Which I hope is enough to get me into both of those schools).
I will be able to submit final grades to WPI and RPI as part of my application, however for Northeastern and UMASS Amherst I will be unable to do so.
It seems that engineering schools want a certain amount of lab-based courses taken prior to me applying-as of right now, I have taken one, at the end of the next semester, I will have taken four total. Should I still send midterm grades? Or does it not matter?
@Dontskipthemoose
The WPI website has a wealth of information which is not found on most college websites. This means that important data is actually available to the consumer. They spend a lot of space explaining their complicated and unconventional program.
For this transfer data, go to https://www.wpi.edu/about/facts and select WPI FACT BOOK. They may show more than one year of options, select the latest year available. My data was taken from 2017 Fact book, Enrollment Information dated October 1, 2017. It is a 36 page report. The previous college data was taken from page 19. The 2013 to 2017 “Enrollment by Major” data was taken from page 18. No individual students are identified.
This is not “fake news.” :bz
@retiredfarmer that is seriously so cool. I didn’t by any means accuse it of being fake news. I was just curious because schools usually don’t release information like that. Very great insights regardless.
@Aran888888 you should still send in your midterm report to schools that require and if you have good midterm grades, it can’t hurt to send it regardless of whether they require or not. I wouldn’t get too discouraged. You still have a great first semester gpa, and if you write a good essay, I think you will be a very qualified applicant.