Brown Fall 2017 Transfer Chances...Will Chance Back!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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Hi all!

I’m currently a sophomore Journalism and Political Science student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and I’ll be applying to Brown with the intention to enter in Fall 2017.

The open curriculum is dope, for sure, and I feel limited in my studies even though I came into college with few general eds due to AP credit, but what’s really driving me to transfer is Brown’s wide breadth of humanities courses, its multidisciplinary concentrations (international relations, comparative literature), and its diverse community of people.

I’m looking at any place that has strong interdisciplinary concentrations: Wesleyan, Middlebury, Grinnell, and the like.

Okay, so here it goes:

College GPA: 3.9
All As except 4 A- and 1 B

High school GPA: 3.5 (over 10 AP courses)

ACT: 31 (Highest individual), 32 (Superscore)

Course load: I’m in the honors college, and I’ve taken 9 honors courses since I’ve been here. I’ve already completed what’s required for my honors certificate (20 credits). Everything else has been upper level besides my required journalism coursework that definitely will not transfer.

Honors:

Walter Williams Scholar: Mizzou’s highest journalism scholarship, usually reserved for students with 33 ACT or higher, but they gave it to me for outstanding work in other areas.
Dean’s List all semesters
National Merit Commended
AP Scholar w/ Distinction

Extracurriculars:

–Amigos de las Americas - Volunteer in Perez, Zeledon Costa Rica in high school, and Project Supervisor this last summer in Oaxaca and Merida, Mexico. I supervised 8 high school volunteers this summer, acting as their first contact for health emergencies as well as comfort during a tough and immersive experience. I am fluent in Spanish.

–ASH Scholars Research - Honors college research scholar for a linguistics team. I work with professors on documenting eastern Kenyan languages. Highly selective group with 4,000 dollars worth of scholarships associated with acceptance.

–AMA Torres del Paine - Researcher at a national park in the Patagonia region of Chile, taking censuses of local bird and bee populations and entering data on them. I also did park maintenance and kitchen work.

–Campaign Fellow Chris Koster for Governor Campaign - I worked from abroad on a local governor campaign in Missouri. I worked in both Kansas City and Columbia, Missouri. Campaign fellows are slightly higher than your regular intern.

–Kinder Scholars - I was selected to go to Washington DC this summer with the university on an internship, service-learning, and class trip. I will be doing an internship in DC concurrently with a political science course on Beltway politics, but if I transfer, I will not be able to do this.

–Alumni Association Student Board - Current member of the selectvie AASB, which facilitates school traditions like Freshman welcome and Senior Send-Off, and awards the highest honor on campus the “Mizzou 39”

–Camp T/F Counselor - Counselor of local high school students that leads them through the True/False Documentary Film festival in Columbia. I lead 8 students with a co-counselor and facilitate discussions on the films we see.

–Tutoring - I tutor ESL students at the local library. I record English readings of children’s books for them to take home and practice with.

–Comedy Wars - Mizzou’s premier improv comedy troupe, highly selective, six-month audition process.

–MU Improv - New Student Coordinator with the all-inclusive improv team that teaches improv lessons each week.

–MU Battlewhale - Involved in a sketch comedy writing and performance group that does 4 shows each semester.

–KCOU Radio Anchor - Hosted the drivetime news show “The Pulse” twice a week.

–The Artifacts - Published paper in the Undergraduate Journal of Writing.

There are other small things but I’m not sure if I remember them all or if they’re relevant.

Let me know!

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Bumpity bump

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There’s good news and bad news. Here’s the unfortunate truth. It is harder to get into an Ivy as a transfer than as a freshman. What that means is that it is unlikely that you get in (which isn’t to say you aren’t qualified. Just that no matter your qualifications, it is pretty hard to transfer in). Here’s the good news. You are extremely qualified in the areas that matter for transfers. You have a good college GPA, good reasons for wanting to transfer, and a clear and demonstrated passion for your major. The weaker stuff in your application like your ACT and HS grades don’t really matter for transfer admission. Altogether, I would say it is a tossup. Definitely apply, because I could see you getting rejected, but I could also see you get in.

Don’t get overly attached to Brown, and pick a couple other reach schools to apply for a transfer if you have it in you.

I hope you get in, and good luck!

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No advice, just saying hi to a fellow Amigos volunteer! Amigos was one of the best experiences of my life. I was in Guanajuato back in 2008.

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Hey there! Amigos is incredible for sure! Changed my life for the better! Amigos4Lyfe!

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As a transfer student at Brown, I may be able to provide some insight. I would say your strengths are your reasons for transferring, college GPA, and campus involvement. But with that said, your ECs are a little all over the place / inconsistent. Being a leader in one or two clubs is better than being a member of 5+ clubs. Highlight leadership and try to convey a theme/clear passion. In terms of weaknesses, you might have an uphill battle coming from your current institution. Most transfer students come from top liberal arts colleges, top 30 universities, and even other ivies. But there are some from other institutions and even community colleges so anything is possible as long as you have very strong essays. And here’s the last kicker – transfer admission is NOT need-blind. That could be a leg up or down, depending on your situation. Feel free to reach out with any other questions and best of luck.

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@transferlol

Hey! Thank you for the reply! I have a couple questions.

1.) You mentioned my ECs being all over the place and I agree. Do you think it would help to only mention a few select activities on my app? All of the ones listed here of course do not fit on the CA, but I still have it filled with 10 activities that I view to be most relevant.

2.) Do you think applying for financial aid would hurt my chances even if I don’t have high need? Would need small aid to attend, but wouldn’t call myself “high need”

And, thanks for reaching out! Brown is definitely one of my top choices. It’s difficult because my wide-ranging ECs reflect my want for a more interdiscplinary education. I truly do love exploring various fields and exposing myself to new things, so I plan to highlight that.

I’ll be in touch

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  1. Choose your best ECs (e.g., ones where you had a leadership position) and ones that convey a consistent message. So, if the theme of your application is that you have wide-ranging interests (which would be best served at a place like Brown) I would mention in your essays how your eclectic campus involvement reflects this or led you to this realization. In short, make sure your application tells a clear story that reveals why Brown and where you would fit in on campus.

  2. If aid will affect your ability/decision to attend Brown or not, then I would definitely apply. I am not sure how applying for aid affects chances, but I do know that transfer-aid is rather limited. But with that said, some transfers do receive aid. I think that not needing aid gives you a boost… BUT keep in mind that whatever you select on your application is permanent. If you don’t apply for aid now, you can never receive aid while at Brown. This is a tough decision, so think about how you would feel in both outcomes (e.g., receiving acceptance and potentially not being able to afford it).

Best of luck!

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Brown, though comparatively more transfer-friendly than the HYC triad, is still an Ivy league school and remarkably competitive to enter as a transfer student. To further this, there isn’t necessarily a “type” of high-caliber student who is more likely to get in than another. Brown has a plethora of qualified candidates, yourself included, to choose from. Consequently, admissions tend to be sporadic and in favor of students who fit the needs or desires of the university. This obviously changes from term to term. Chancing someone with this reality is fairly difficult. Despite this, I think you have an interesting story that is capable of inspiring some well-written essays. If done right I think you could leave an impression on their ADCOMs.

I’m applying for Fall Transfer as well. Truthfully, I’m quite content at my current school (Georgia State University, Atlanta); however, being an opportunist who is cognizant of Brown’s fantastic architect of your own education program, I find no harm in putting forth the effort to apply to a far-stretch school. Of course I am not betting all of my chips on a single school- I’m also applying to Georgia Tech, Emory, and Swarthmore.

For the sake of the thread and documentation of my decision for future applicants, I’ll post my information as well:

Georgia State University
Major: Neuroscience, Chemistry Minor
College GPA: 4.22 through 54 semester hours - 70 at the end of Spring term - (4.00 unweighted) . Georgia State operates on a +/- system and awards a 4.30 for an A+. I have 40 hours of A+ work -including GenChem 1/2, Biology 1/2, Calculus 1/2, and Orgo 1- and 14 hours of A’s.
President’s list in 4 consecutive semesters.

High School GPA: 3.05
ACT: 30

High school performance certainly isn’t ignored, but with my number of hours it probably won’t play near as large a factor in my decision as LORs, ECs, and essays. My high school performance is going to be addressed in my most personal essay (PM me if you’re interested in knowing how).

Extracurricular activites:

  • Co-founder and treasurer/ fundraising chair of my school’s chapter of Global Brigades. Several friends and myself took a Perspectives course during our first semester and had a lecture on the horrendous state of healthcare in central South America. We found our university didn’t have an organization focused on providing sustainable access to medical care, so we started our own chapter of a national organization that did. We spent all of a year struggling to recruit enough volunteers and raise funds for our box of medical supplies (I was donating paychecks from an off-campus job at one point). We made it to Honduras by the hair on our necks and treated 578 people in 3 days. From the success we’ve grown from 13 volunteers to 35 this year, and are going back to Honduras this May.
  • Co-founder of Active Minds at GSU, a non-profit organization promoting mental health and suicide awareness to university students.
  • Inductee of Nu Ro Sci- a Neuroscience Honors Society
  • Volunteer at a local high-volume homeless shelter
  • Supplemental Instruction leader for General Chemistry I
  • Academic and Scholarship Chairman for my fraternity
  • Will be doing research with a professor this Spring and am applying for a summer research program at my university.

The asterisk activities are ones that I would immediately involve myself in in Providence. I’m involved in several other small organizations (RHAA, SAA, AMSA), but the ECs above are the ones in which I’m most involved and I don’t plan to look complacent by accentuating my application with filler activities. My submission will be as genuine as I am.

I believe my essays will be the most competitive part of my application. Though I don’t care to expound on my topics in the thread (PM me), I’ll be tying together the impact of my asterisk ECs with fixing my relationship with my father and finding a strong, pulling curiosity towards my studies.

Two good LORs from professors in Chemistry and English departments whom I’m close with.

Again, I’m not spiteful of the last two years at my current university and accept the statistical probability of admission as unfavorable. But the opportunities for personal and intellectual growth are too great to ignore. Remember, Mizzouboy, that achievement comes from the individual not the university. I wish you good luck!!

My apologies for the long post- best of luck to all those applying for admissions this Fall!

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definitely worth a try. your GPA and ECs are good and you just need to think about how to organize your ECs to make them solid series.

btw I am also thinking of transferring, pls chance me thxxxx a lot.
personal info: female/intl student/female
Current school: freshman in nyu-undecided (applying for econ)
gpa:3.925
sat:2240
high school gpa UW: ~3.7
college EC: 1 on campus job(student asst)/1 cultural club(e-board)/1 unpaid internship in an NGO/1 community service
high school and post graduate EC:
-vice president of a community service club
-intern in a local business company
-research experience on language and culture
-oversea volunteer
-parttime teaching asst

im worried about my recommendations coz I did not do well in networking with my profs in the 1st semester;(… can anyone give me some advice ?

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@neurochemnerd

Your chances seem good! High school GPA is low, sure, but I think you’re right that it won’t matter as much. I don’t think you need to address it in your essay? But if you have a good reason sure. It just might seem like your desperate in trying to justify it; you might just want to ignore the bad and emphasize the good?

What’s really good though is connecting your current activities to those you would be involved in once you arrive in Providence. But what I’m missing is how Brown specifically allows you to approach these things. How would your education look different at Brown? Are you still going to study Neuroscience there? Is there a specific concentration that draws you to Brown?

Thanks for the chance! Good luck this Fall!

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@aurora030

Great GPA and stats. Not too many extracurriculars though, and I’m not seeing a clear reasoning behind your transfer app.

Your high school ECs are good though, and those will be considered. For professor connections, maybe you can take another class with a professor from your first semester? One you especially liked? Professors do notice students that follow them and consistently participate in class so that could help.

Otherwise, is there an advisor or club moderator that could add flare to your recs where professors don’t?

Thanks for the chance and good luck!