Chance me for Ivies?

Transfer Students
1

<p>hi, I'm looking to transfer to an ivy-league, and I know I probably don't stand a chance, but I'd like to ask your opinion </p>

<p>on chances for the following schools: (in order of personal preference)
Wellesley
Columbia
UChicago
UPenn</p>

<p>During my High School Years, I switched schools often, so I was not able to really engage in an exceptionally challenging </p>

<p>curriculum filled with AP's and IB's, or take college classes as I would have liked. Instead, I embraced the opportunities </p>

<p>given to me, and spent my time immersed in China picking up a new language, volunteering to teach English in schools, </p>

<p>self-studying guitar and graphic design, and learning traditional Chinese martial arts. </p>

<p>I applied to the following colleges last year:
Brown - Denied
Trinity Coll - waitlisted
Swarthmore - denied
Wesleyan - waitlisted, then denied
UChicago - denied
UPenn - denied
Wellesley - first choice, received "possible" then denied
Scripps - denied
Safetyschools:
Boston University - accepted but financial aid package was not as impressive as DU's
University of Denver - accepted and enrolled</p>

<p>As you might tell, I was very disappointed that I didn't even make it into one of my dream schools, so I determined that I </p>

<p>would use my chance at DU to the best of my advantage, and then apply as a transfer to a school that would hopefully take </p>

<p>me as a sophomore. Crossing my fingers!</p>

<p>Year: Freshman
Institution: University of Denver (mid-size, private university, ranked mid 80's on US NEWS)
Major: International Studies, reason for transfer.
Current GPA: 3.97
Enrolled in University Honors Program</p>

<p>SAT I: 2300 (800 R 750 M 750 W)
SAT II: Chinese w/Lst 750 Math 2 800 US HIST 700
ACT: 32 (Best individual scores) - Englisht 34 Math 34 Reading 34 Science 30 Writing 31
No AP's/IB's b/c attended a distance learning high school for majority of high school career (cringe)</p>

<p>Main reasons for transfer: Would like to pursue an East Asian Studies/Chinese language major, not offered at DU. Pursuit of </p>

<p>a more academically rigorous and intellectually stimulating program in an area of interest.</p>

<p>Fall Qtr Courseload:
Geography 1264 - Global Environmental Change I (Honors Science sequence) - A
Chinese 2100 - Conversation and Composition - A
First Year Seminar: Soundscapes - Music in Multicultural America - A
INTS 1700 - Introduction to International Politics - A-</p>

<p>Winter Qtr Courseload (current):
Chinese 3101 - Advanced Conversation and Composition
Geography 1265 - Global Environmental Change II (Honors Science sequence)
Advanced Writing Seminar (Honors Writing Prerequsite)
Sociology: Understanding Social Life (Honors Social Science)</p>

<p>College EC's:
President of Wushu Club (newly formed)
Member of Asian Student Alliance
Volunteering with Admissions Team (overnight visits, student panel discussions, etc.)
Writing for School Newspaper this quarter
Mandarin self-study
Tutoring (part-time job) in Chinese and ESL
(should I put work study or my intramural Broomball team on my application)</p>

<p>High School EC's: (all independently initiated, since my high school career was rather disjointed)
Wushu/martial arts practice at Taoist UNESCO World Heritage Site Wudang Mountain (extremely rigorous, live-on training - 1 </p>

<p>year total or 8 months/4 months)
12 hr day 7days/wk job teaching TOEFL/SAT english in China
Volunteer teaching/tutoring English in rural Chinese elementary and preschools
Immersed self in rural China, acquired basic fluency and literacy in Mandarin Chinese
Acoustic Guitar self-study
Graphic design self-study
Choir</p>

<p>High School Awards/Recognition:
APIASF Scholarship Recipient
Legacy Scholarship Recipient
National Merit Finalist
Questbridge Finalist
National Society of High School Scholar
National Latin Exam Silver Medal (Magna Cum Laude)</p>

<p>Essay:
Focus on reasons for transfer, and assets of why ____'s EAS/Chinese program matches my passion.</p>

<p>If there are any exceptional colleges that you think would be a good idea to apply to that have a program that matches my </p>

<p>interest, please let me know. I'm looking for a need-blind school with a prestigious Chinese/East Asian Studies program. </p>

<p>Thanks so much in advance!</p>

2

<p>Also, I have a question: is it better to apply ASAP in order to get as much financial aid as possible and to keep up with the incoming freshman applications, or to accumulate more college EC’s, since mine are pretty paltry, and then apply in march?</p>

3

<p>What was your high school GPA? Your SAT scores are really good and your college GPA is also good so that’s a plus. I can’t think of a legitimate reason as to why you didn’t get in top schools expect for the fact that you didn’t have AP/IBs’. How were your essays?
But I would say that you have pretty good chance at all the schools above…but then again I’m not sure why you didn’t get in first time?</p>

4

<p>If you can keep up the gpa for jr. transfer, you stand a better chance. Otherwise cast a wider net, you might be disappointed again.
For Chinese staudies, you can search on cc and there were a lot of suggestions, Middlebury is good, Oberlin is one, Ohio State is another and so on.</p>

5

<p>Please also note that there are less scholarships/fa for transfers than for frosh.</p>

6

<p>@sumitshukla: high school GPA - 3.97 UW, my essay was pretty good, but I was essentially going for a random major interest because I didn’t know what I wanted to do at the time. I think I didn’t get in because admissions officers can tell when you’re faking an essay…this time, i’m just going to write from the heart.</p>

<p>@artloversplus: the problem with applying as a junior is that I want to apply to an honors program and graduate with distinction. and yes, that’s why I’m looking for a need-blind school, is because I want good, decent financial aid.</p>

7

<p>kid you got amazing stats, but those schools don’t take many transfer students
so don’t waste your time applying to them. my advise is apply to top public schools.</p>

8

<p>^ Why so discouraging? Does it hurt to try?</p>

9

<p>Rule of thumb: if you didn’t get in freshman year, you probably won’t get in as a sophomore transfer.</p>

<p>That being said, Columbia (and Chicago and Penn because of a prior rejection) will be difficult.</p>

<p>Your stats are amazing and it’s shocking you didn’t get in your first try. </p>

<p>you have a VERY good shot at Wellesley.</p>

<p>I’m assuming you want to stay in the north or northeast, so you should look at Cornell. Can’t hurt.</p>

10

<p>I think I read on the UPenn site somewhere that sophomore year transfers are discouraged if they applied and were denied the year before as freshmen. Also, I agree with collegedreamin in that there are plenty of great International/East Asian Studies programs in top public schools, which generally have much better admit rate than Ivies as well. If you’re seeking a rigorous East Asian Studies program and want to transfer for sure, you should probably try one of the top public schools as a safety at least.</p>

11

<p>a general rule of thumb is that if your planning on transferring to a school that is ranked better than your own do not apply to Ivies if your actually seriously planning on transferring out of your current school, your best bet is to apply to top public schools and to stay away from the Ivies</p>

12

<p>Thanks everyone for the replies!</p>

<p>I was considering applying to UWashington, or some top public school, but I don’t want to pay outrageous fees. I live in Colorado, and our public schools here aren’t that great.</p>

13

<p>UPenn is not need-blind I think…try some need-blind schools like Dartmouth</p>

14

<p>^Penn is definitely need-blind for U.S. citizens. I’m not 100% sure about international students, though.</p>

15

<p>^I am most definitely a US Citizen. =)</p>

<p>And I am trying to look at some liberal arts colleges as well, but I’m seriously starting to doubt if I couldn’t get into Swarthmore, Wellesley, Trinity, or Scripps if I’ll be able to get into any other most selective liberal arts college</p>

16

<p>Oh, I forgot to mention in my profile:</p>

<p>I’m sixteen.</p>

17

<p>Your stats are amazing. I would say you get a solid shot.</p>

18

<p>^Thank you!</p>

19

<p>If so, You might want to think out of the box and apply for Beijing U, NTU or HKU anyway. They are more affordable than Wellesley for sure. And FA is available there as well.</p>

<p>BTW, do not write Chinese in the posts, they might be deleted.</p>

20

<p>In addition, to cast a wider net, you should include T50 or even T100 schools as financial safety.</p>

<p>Here is a school ranked 180 in New York City that will be gladly give you a full ride as a transfer.</p>

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