Arrrghhhh....desperate...help me out please....

<p>I am now very desperate. The colleges I applied to all rejected me for financial causes. I was not smart enough to choose my safeties properly and I am heading of to a non-competitive college this fall(2007) as a presidential scholar. I am seeking to transfer after the first semester.</p>

<p>I wanted to ask whether the college I attend now will have a huge factor in the admission process for transfer students. I mean whether a 4.0 gpa from a top tier college would carry more weight than a 4.0 gpa from say a non-competitive college.</p>

<p>My SAT's are as follows:
CR-700
Maths-650
Writing-640</p>

<p>My SAT2's are
MAThs level 2-800
Physics-800
Chemistry-760</p>

<p>I have had a ton of EC's at high school and I gradated within the top 5 percentile of my class.</p>

<p>I am eager to transfer to an top tier school that gives financial assistance. Does the college I attend now affect the decision process in any way. Could you help me as to what I should do to impress the adcoms? Should I retake the SAT reasoning again, or will that not matter for transfer students?
Any suggestions or tips should be helpful.</p>

<p>My advice is to re-take the SAT and boost it 100-150 points if you can. Since you'll only have one semester of school, high school grades and SAT scores count. As for strategy for transferring, i would say that you went to your current school for financial reasons but it wasn;t what you were looking for. You want to be around other top students in challenging classes with research opportunities, etc.</p>

<p>You should be a strong candidate if you get a 4.0 next semester. Top schools that tend to be less selective for transfers are: Northwestern, WashU, Georgetown, Michigan, and UNC.</p>

<p>I contacted major universities and colleges and most of them said that financial aid is very limited to transfer students and most did not offer any aid to international transfer students(like me). Could some tell me some schools which could offer aid to international transfers....</p>

<p>Ivy League, Oberlin and Colby are nice on us. But be sure to explicate how your background can contribute to their school!</p>

<p>Adding to slipper's list:</p>

<p>Notre Dame, Emory, Cornell (depending on your major), Rice, USC, etc.</p>

<p>But do these universities/LAC's give aid to students of my type i.e. an international student seeking to transfer from a US university to another US university???
Also I would appreciate gretaly if anyone knows of colleges that do offer finaid to my type of students......</p>

<p>trans_int, that's exactly what I meant by my suggested colleges.</p>

<p>is it better that I stay back, raise my SATs upto the 1500s(out of 1600s), apply ED(considering Tufts,Columbia Fu Foundation) and try to get into there. If I do not get into ED1 I can apply to easier toptier colleges where I would be sure to get in. I know I can easily get a 2200+(and surely 1500+ out of 1600) on the SAT and get into a top notch school.</p>

<p>However, I have to cope up with the loss of another year. That makes it a total of 2 years, as I graduated in september of 2006. I have all my relatives to face and the sheer boredom after applying. Plus I will not have any of my friends left as they will be off the the US this fall to attend the same college I have been accepted to...since my freinds will all be near me, the transferring process might also be easier and so will coping with the US social system(atleast there are several people you know)</p>

<p>Could you give me some advice whether I should stay back another year and apply again as a freshman. Or go to the college, work hard on my essays, recos, SATs and college(I am sure I can get a 4.0 gpa if not 3.8+). I am very much determined to get into a top tier college the next fall whilst transferring.</p>

<p>Also can I apply as a freshman while still studying in the US???
Please help me out. I am desperate.</p>

<p>so many views and so few replies.....help me out please</p>

<p>Trans,</p>

<p>You should avoid trying to transfer into the public universities, as their FA may be completely off-limits to internationals. You should aim for the private colleges/universities.</p>

<p>Next, although I cannot tell from the limited information you gave, your profile might not be competitive for top tier schools even if you did not need financial aid. I'm curious to learn what you define as a "non-competitive college." It's possible that, being an international student, you might not know how the college you will be attending stacks up against others.</p>

<p>Even if you apply for transfer, you're going to have to finish an entire year at your college. (Transfer apps are due in March, I think, with acceptances coming as late as mid-May.) A 4.0 in college will go a long way, but, without exceptional high school stats to go with it, you might find it difficult to find a top tier school to accept you. (BTW, it may not be easy getting a 4.0, depending on what you will be studying and where you are going.)</p>

<p>Since you've already taken a year off, taking another year off isn't going to help your case. I'd say go for the college that clearly sees you as an asset to their student body. You may even love it.</p>

<p>yeah, i dont know if you only were looking at universities, but from what i've experienced and heard from others the privates college route has much more to offer in the way of financial assistance. they also have to try harder to get diversity in their student body, so an international student is actually to your benefit. my suggestions: amherst, williams, macalester, carleton, whitman</p>

<p>I see that you said you intend to transfer after the first semester...please keep in mind that most colleges will only take transfers who have completed at least one full year of college, and many I've found explicitly state that they prefer applicants with two years of work over those with one. You may simply want to see how it goes your first year and then decide what to do.</p>