Chance/Advice for Yale, Swarthmore, U Chicago

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi! I'm currently a sophomore at NYU, and am really not enjoying my experience here, academically or socially. I had never considered Yale, Swarthmore, or U Chicago while in high school. Since visiting friends at Yale, attending some events there, and reading more about the school, I've become more than smitten with it. Swarthmore and U Chicago have also really interested me since talking to friends at both schools. So, I was looking to see if anyone had advice about how to improve my chances of acceptance, or if anyone wanted to share some advice about navigating the transfer process. And also, how you think my chances stand now. Thanks!</p>

<p>Current School: New York University
Current Year: Sophomore
Target Schools: Yale, Swarthmore, University of Chicago
College GPA: 4.0
SAT: 2310 (CR: 800, M: 720, W: 790)
APs: 14 AP Exams (twelve 5s, two 4s)
High School GPA: 94.3
High School Rank: 56/578</p>

<p>College Extracurriculars: Policy Debate Team (Treasurer), Teach debate and public speaking skills in a major NYC prison, Roosevelt Institute, College Democrats</p>

<p>Work Experience: Coach top-10 high school debate team, Founded (and am vice-president of) a nonprofit organization that provides free debate education to students at economically struggling schools, lecture at multiple summer debate institutes, summer internship at congressman’s office, summer internship at marketing agency</p>

<p>High School Extracurriculars: Debate Team (Captain), Literary Magazine, Mu Alpha Theta Math Honors Society, National Honor Society</p>

<p>College Awards: Dean’s List, University Leadership Honors Course, Degree of Distinction - National Forensic League (Coach), Merit Scholarship</p>

<p>High School Awards: National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Award in Writing, National Merit Finalist, Degree of Outstanding Distinction - National Forensic League (Competitor), AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>Recommendations: One is amazing (the professor has told me I am his best student ever, across multiple universities), and the other is very good.</p>

<p>Essays: My essays for why I want to transfer (especially for Yale) are excellent. My personal essays are less superb— I’m not very good at writing really personal papers. They’re not bad... they’re just not amazing. I’m continuing to work on improving them.</p>

2

<p>You have great stats and no doubt good chances. I’m just curious as to what your major might be?</p>

3

<p>You stand extraordinarily better chances at getting into UChicago and Swarthmore. Reason being of course is that both of these schools accept ~25% of transfer applicants. Compare this to the 2% acceptance rate at Yale and it’s quite obvious where you will most likely be accepted. Your stats are all on par, so that’s not a problem. If you really dislike NYU, you may want to consider schools where you will be almost guaranteed acceptance to transfer. Schools that come to mind with 30%-50% transfer acceptance:
Emory
Vanderbilt
U Michigan</p>

4

<p>@IndieRockNRoll Philosophy, Politics, or PPE. I’m majoring in a liberal arts program at NYU and minoring in philosophy.</p>

<p>@NYU2013 I don’t really want to go to a huge state school like Michigan. As for Vanderbilt and Emory… I considered both in high school. Vanderbilt was really popular with my high school and never really appealed to me. Emory, however, I would definitely consider.</p>

<p>Also, I know Yale’s acceptance rates are exceptionally low. I just don’t know what I can do at this point to improve my chances of acceptance. I’ve spent a lot of weekends hanging out at Yale, and I just feel so much more at home there than any other school at which I’ve spent time. I just don’t know how to convey to Yale my feeling of connection to the school in their tiny “why Yale” essay. I just talk (briefly) about visiting and going to events and feeling actively welcomed, and liking the community of the res colleges and the academic spirit… but it still feels so much more generic than a longer essay would be.</p>

<p>Next semester, however, I am taking a course taught by the former Dean of Yale Law School (and a current professor at Yale and YLS taking a semester leave). I’m extremely excited… and while I don’t know how much influence YLS has over Yale… but that recommendation letter couldn’t hurt if I become close with him.</p>