Be Honest: Chance a Transfer Student

<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:<br>
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>

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

<p>I know it's soooo long, lol, but please?</p>

<p>Anybody?
10char</p>

<p>Bump...AGAIN.</p>

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

<p>Your profile looks very good, but the problem is that small LACs typically have very little room for transfer students. You should look up the transfer acceptance rates for all those colleges, and decide whether you need to add some choices that are more transfer-friendly. Midsize to large universities, except Ivies, have higher rates.</p>

<p>The problem is that I don't really like the feel of medium or big universities. So that makes things more difficult. Do you know of any like you're talking about that offer more of a sense of community, really good teacher-student relations, and opportunities for leadership on campus? I just find those kinds of things lacking at that kind of school, unfortunately.</p>

<p>I have looked up rates on Collegeboard, and Smith's, Mt. Holyoke's, and Hampshire's aren't awful, around 40%, but I looked up a few more last night and realized that Haverford, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr do not accept very many applicants at all. So I think I will definitely take Haverford off but leave Wellesley and Bryn Mawr on, since they're free and I like them a lot. I need to do more research on co-ed schools and try to figure out some matches for me. I'm also worried about Agnes Scott, which I assumed would be a safety, but they only accept 35% of transfer applicants. Would this make it a match or even a reach? I really don't understand how to determine it for transfer admins.</p>

<p>You're right, it's hard to find the kind of atmosphere that you're looking for at a university. You could maybe look into Washington University (St.L.)
Luckily, a 40% acceptance rate should put you in the game since your stats are good. (Though as you point out, who knows?) Bear in mind that Hampshire is an alternative-type school, not to everyone's taste. But it's in an excellent consortium and I bet you would get in.</p>

<p>Ok, I'll look into that. I actually kind of like the idea of an alternative school for Hampshire, but I want to visit before I decide.</p>

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

<p>you don't happen to go to either Anderson, Erskine, or Coker do you?</p>

<p>No, I go to Presbyterian.</p>