Being realistic?: Chances of transferring to LAC like Reed, Oberlin, Vassar, or others (Repost)

Colleges & Universities A-Z Vassar College
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<p>A brief introduction about my transferring situation and educational history. I moved to the States five years ago as a junior in high school, then went to a community college in SOCAL for three years. This year is my third year and will stay here for another year. The reason why I will stay here for four years is not because I was a part-time student, but because of switching majors and doing prerequisites. I did a lot of art studio classes in high school, current community college, and two art studio classes in Pasadena City College and Art Center at Night Program, respectively in order to prepare for a portfolio to apply as an Industrial Design major. However, even though pursuing a career in Industrial Design is still my goal, I acknowledged the type of post-educational system called liberal arts college that has to offer in the States since I started to learn more about the American college system in community college. Most importantly, many of my values and life philosophies are similar to or the same as that of the liberal arts colleges'.</p>

<p>Although I am still confronted with the language barrier, and I will be facing more language and academic challenges I, after one year of consideration, am eager to take on more obstacles. I believe in the training of being a critical global citizen and a creative un-learner given at a LAC. I have been pushing myself out of my comfort zone and keeping my pace to take more academically challenged courses and to do extra curricular activities in order for me to prepare for a four-year rigorous college experience.</p>

<p>Academic:
Majors: Art History, Philosophy
Honors program certificate: completed 15 Honors classes units within 1 year
GPA: 3.62 (Including 24 Honors classes units)
Because my career goal is to become an Industrial Designer, I took a number of art studio classes in high school, my current community college, and another community college, and a night program of a private art college.</p>

<p>Leadership Skills:
 Founder and External President of the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network Chapter on campus 09/2014 – Present
 Art Club President 09/2014 – Present
 Community College Mentoring Program 04/2014 – Present
• Maintain a close relationship with a mentee through sharing my college and spiritual experiences
• Communicate with a mentee on a monthly base about his or her academic and social life and share knowledge of college resources
• Understand a mentee's obstacles in life and give personal guidance or direct him or her to seek professional guidance that college has to offer
• Attend training sessions and commit to improve incoming students’ success
 Community College LEAD Program 08/2011 – 06/2012
• Certificates: earned both in Personal and Organizational Leadership upon completion of required hours
• Finished the program within two consecutive academic semesters
 Pacific Clinics CATALYST! 10/2010 – 05/2011
• Leadership training program for High school students
• Accomplished 31 community service hours
• Engaged in group exercises that involve team collaboration and team communication skills
• Searched for volunteer opportunities and started volunteer project as a team member</p>

<p>Volunteer Experience:
 Online Student Resources Intern 10/2014 – Present
• Research student resources available on other existing college access program websites (Ex: links to SAT prep, scholarships, college board, etc.)
• Establish list of most common resources available
• Meet with Promise Scholars Coordinator and identify which resources to include on the Promise Scholars website
• Create listing of resources
• Upload resources to Promise Scholars website
 Non-profit organization which preserves historically significant homes and buildings of a city 01/2013 – Present
Volunteer Internship – 3 - 4 hours per week
• Organize historical document according to subject matter
• Create inventories regarding the history and historical architecture
• Help set up booths for varies events
 Book shop 03/2012 – Present
Cashier and Book shelver – 3 hours per week
• Promoted the Prison Library Project to customers in the community
• Categorized books on book shelves according to subject matter
 Dwell on Design, Los Angeles, CA 2014
• Volunteered 8 hours in two days for this three-day event
• Monitored the products at the convention center and answered visitors’ questions regarding the show
 Spring Intern – Completion of 29 hours 03/2014 – 06/2014
• Assisted high school students and parents filing Federal Student Aid application (FAFSA)
• Inputted data entry from college visit surveys and created an Excel spreadsheet and bar charts
• Helped set up booth for 8th grade College Parent Information Night
• Participated in 5th grade College Letter Campaign where personally addressed 5th graders’ college questions</p>

<p>Honors/Recognitions:
 Building Bridges, Honors Transfer Council of California 2014
• Selected to publish abstract “Enhancing the Quality of Interactions between People and Products: The Solution to the Problem of Unsustainability in Product Design”
• 1 of 75 to be accepted to publish abstract with close to 300 who presented at the conference
 Exemplary Achievement Scholarship, HTCC, Irvine, CA 04/05/2014
• Nominated by the honors program director and won a $250 prize
 Honors Transfer Council of California (HTCC), Yearly symposium 04/05/2014
• Selected to present research paper “Enhancing the Quality of Interactions between People and Products: The Solution to the Problem of Unsustainability in Product Design”
 Building Bridges, Honors Transfer Council of California 2013
• Published research paper abstract “Will Americans Own the Knowledge Economy? A Discussion of the Challenge of American Education” in Building Bridges, 2013: Selected Abstracts of the HTCC Research Conference
 Writers’ Day Awards at my community college 05/2013
• Second Place Award for Critical Essay: “A Fallacious Argument about Cartesian Dualism” - $100 prize
 Research Conference at a Graduate University 01/25/2013
• Selected to present research paper “Will Americans Own the Knowledge Economy?” at a graduate school
 Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research, Yearly symposium 11/17/2012
• Selected to present research paper “Will Americans Own the Knowledge Economy?”</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Three one month entry-level work experiences for my summer breaks.
07/2014 – 08/2014
07/2011 – 08/2011
08/2010 – 09/2010</p>

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<p>What year would you be applying to enter?
Fall 2015</p>

<p>None of these schools take a huge number of transfers, but most of the places that do exist will be for second year.
Yes, I understand that. And I also understand that I will most likely to be a Sophomore or first semester Junior status.</p>

<p>Do you have any financial constraints?
Yes, I have. In fact, my Estimated Family Contribution (EFG) is $64.00, according to the FAFSA SAR Summarizes 2014-2015.</p>

<p>More profile about me:
I am not an underrepresented minority. I am Asian. I am looking into competitive LACs for the sake of having intellectual conversations and a student body that appreciates the art of multidisciplinary. I am not very social. I am the kind of person who rather have a group of closed friends. I like all kinds of sports, music (Jazz, Bossa Nova, and electronic), and traveling. I do not have a long list of EA because I like to stick with one and find the meanings of the things that I do. I do not hold many leadership positions because I am more focusing on making every seemingly little task more meaningful to me - such as shelving books. I even dislike introducing myself as Co-President of blah blah club, and sometimes I felt that not bragging about myself might put me at a disadvantage in terms of the admissions.</p>

<p>I am also very intrigued by and well aware of current issues ranging from political to cultural to religious and to economic topics. I firmly believe that multidisciplinary learning is the future, and creative and effective solutions deeply involved interdisciplinary thinking. Cultivation of interdisciplinary ability not only is my philosophy in higher education, but is also what I have been striving for through educational system and self-education.
This is my first time posting here. And please let me know if I give detailed personal information in my resume.</p>

<p>Thank you in advance for your patience reading it. </p>

3

<p>Your volunteerism is strong as are your leadership skills. Your GPA is a tad low for some of these top colleges I think. My initial reaction is that Oberlin and Vassar may be out of reach but that Reed could happen. Good luck to you.</p>