Are transfer admission criteria different or harder than those for freshmen?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>I am going into my freshman year at Penn State majoring in Biology. I applied to Harvard and was rejected. My suspicion is that my high school GPA was the main reason I did not get in; it wasn't really bad, but it wasn't something that would impress Harvard or the other Ivies either. While I'm not at all unhappy at this point with where I am going, Harvard was and still is my dream school. I did SSP last year and would love to return whether for undergrad as a transfer or for medical school.</p>

<p>As small as the chances of success are, I am planning on trying to transfer for my junior year since I am under the impression that that will make my high school record a far less important consideration. I'm sort of curious about the admissions criteria for transfers. After going through freshman admission applications I kind of feel like I at least have an idea of who gets in, even if it's more ancedotal, like from CC, than statistically valid.</p>

<p>What kind of ECs do successful transfer candidates have? Provided that someone has stellar grades in college, are national awards and the like the norm? Yes, in freshman admissions, Intel finalists and other students with that sort of standout accomplishment have a very large edge, but people do get into Harvard as freshmen (even if they are middle or upper class and not URM/legacy/recruited) by "only" having spectacular grades and demonstrated involvement/leadership within their community in an area they are passionate about. Do mere mortals like that get in as transfers too, or does the wider range of activities and opportunities available in college mean that nearly all successful transfer admits do have some very unique "story" or hook?</p>

<p>What else is important for transfer admission at Harvard or a similarly competitive school? Before someone says it: I'm not planning to design my activities around what a school "wants" or otherwise spend the next two years doing things I don't truly want to as a way of scheming to get in somewhere. I am simply curious what accomplishments/stats/whatever are typical of a successful transfer admit.</p>

2

<p>Check Harvard's admissions site for transfer info. </p>

<p>Hard as it is to get into Harvard as a freshman, it's much harder getting in as a transfer. There are very few spaces available.</p>

3

<p>Hi, david06. I will be entering Harvard this fall as a transfer student, and I found the transfer section of this board to be very helpful. I think that if you read some of the past Harvard threads on the transfer board, you will find some answers to your questions and have the transfer process clarified.</p>

4

<p>Confetti,
I assume that the fact that you created your own film major at Tufts and then interned at Cannes made you stand out in the transfer pool. Doing those things indicated passion, talent and leadersehip.</p>