Chance Me: Hamilton, Brown, NYU Gallatin, Wesleyan, Vanderbilt, GWU

Transfer Students
1

Title. My reason for transferring is fairly compelling. Although I do have several social reasons for transferring, I opted to not include those elements and remain entirely academic and curriculum based. As you might have noted, 4 of the 6 schools I applied to have an open curriculum – this is something I’ve come to highly value. I’m currently attending ASU.

Major: Global Studies (really it’s International Relations, but…)
College GPA: 3.9
Major GPA: 4.0
HS GPA: 3.64 (3.61 UW)
ACT: 31

For my extracurriculars, I used the space I had available to write mini-essays that serve as vignettes into my personality/outlook a bit more. For example, I framed me founding a charity club with the urbanization and displacement in my hometown.

EC: Was founder/president of a charity club, Debate team, Department of State Intern, DNC Presidential Candidate Summer Seminars, Part-time for startup, Artist (animation, drawing, and watercolor), Filmmaker, Writer (short stories, novelist, poetry, etc).

Awards: Principal’s List (only including this because it highlights how I improve grade-wise in high school), Dean’s List, NHS, CSF (California Honor’s Society), Eagle Scout, Algebra Student of the Year, English Student of the Year, NSCS.

Recommendations: I’ll be a sophomore transfer, which puts me in a tough spot. I have one professor who can write me a good recommendation, but most of my other classes have been fairly large. I don’t really know what I’m to do – I’m meeting with my adviser in a few days.

I haven’t written all my essays yet, but I’ve finished my main ‘Why I Want to Transfer’ essay. I think it’s fairly solid, I’m a good writer so it’s probably an 8.5ish without too much editing.

Any thoughts? I’m fairly nervous about this whole process because it feels like I’ve compromised academically so much in this year. Hearing my friend talk about how difficult his Yale writing class is really got to me. I’ve had some great professors, but could thoroughly use more rigorous academics. I’m thinking of completing the entire Columbia Core Curriculum’s readings in a summer to prepare for next year. That being said, if I get in nowhere (Ideally Hamilton, NYU Gallatin, Brown, or Wesleyan for the open curriculum), it’d be quite the conundrum.

If anyone recommends other schools, I’d be interested! I’d prefer schools that don’t require two years of foreign language, as that’s the reason I both struggled in high school and missed a 4.0 (B+ in French). I probably intend to go to grad school, so having foreign language classes tank my GPA doesn’t exactly sound ideal…

2

URochester might interest you, open curriculum.

3

Based on your UI I’d assume you’re a student/alum at UR. What’s the student life/academic rigor like there? Thanks.

4

You have written one of the more interesting original posts that have appeared in a while, mostly because you have engagingly conveyed your intent on getting an education. As long as you maintain this sincerity, I think you will achieve good results from your applications. Since you have listed some of the most selective colleges in the country among your desired destinations, I think you will have to wait and see which specific schools offer you admission.

For an academically rigorous potential addition, research Grinnell.

If you do pursue Colombia’s reading list, I recommend you emphasize selections from Contemporary Civilization and Literature Humanities.

Best of luck.

5

Thanks for the kind words! I was looking into mostly focusing on the Lit Hum and Contemporary Civilizations sections, as they were the ones that both have the most online information for and fit most within my interests. Some of the others (especially the science course) only have a book or two in the syllabus, others none at all. I was looking at Grinnell, but their transfer admission rate is less than 4%. I also was interested in Bates College – which is similarly unfriendly to transfers. Oh well, just as transfer students can take advantage of Vanderbilt and BU, they’ll be disadvantaged elsewhere.

6

Regarding Grinnell’s acceptance rate for transfers, please be sure you’ve found a reliable source. The rate I found from Grinnell’s Common Data Set is somewhat outdated, but reasonably accommodating (29%, 45/157). I recommend you verify any unofficial sources that may have appeared online directly through Grinnell.

In general, however, I agree that it makes sense to apply to colleges that have indicated through their practices that they are receptive to transfer applicants on a level at least equivalent to that for first-year applicants.

If you would like another school to research, look into Haverford (19% transfer acceptance rate).

(Re #3, Colombia → Columbia!)

7

Vassar, too, might align with your interests.

Btw, with respect to languages, consider whether you might be better suited to something foundational such as Greek or Latin (whether required or not).

8

Can you afford to go to these schools? If you’re depending on your parents to co-sign large amounts of debt over to you, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. You have an excellent GPA. You’d be far better off applying to one of these schools for a masters program. That would be worth far more than a bachelors.

9

My situation as to why I’m at ASU is fairly complicated, but I’m OOS. I don’t feel like going into too much detail in this.

That being said, the costs shouldn’t be substantially high, but it does depend on how much aid I receive. NYU or Hamilton could be very expensive, whereas schools that give full aid like Brown and Wesleyan could be affordable. The Global Studies program is also not as specialized as I’d like, differing from International Relations in more ways than I had initially thought (my research told me it was just a semantic difference). Hypothetically, I could apply to Barrett (my reasoning for not initially is also complicated, and ties to why I’m at ASU), most certainly get in, and really try to get the most out of it – but as an OOS I don’t know why I should compromise as such.

I also disagree with the notion that a masters weighs more than a bachelors, considering I’m a humanities major that doesn’t have an immediate interest in teaching. All that being said, I don’t know if I could justify remaining another three years. I do understand that if I maintain my GPA at ASU and get a lower GPA at another school, it could hurt my grad school chances. I don’t think that will be much of a problem, because (aside from the obvious Humanities classes not being as difficult) if I’m all the more engaged in my academics any additional rigor won’t negatively affect me.

10

My issue with languages isn’t the languages themselves; I quite simply cannot learn them in a classroom setting. I’m quite positive that if I was in an immersion program there would be no issue. I’m thinking of moving to the EU someday (I’ll have Italian citizenship within a year or so), so I’d really love to learn French, Italian and German to competency as a starting point.

11

Note that Hamilton meets full demonstrated financial need for transfer — actually, all — students, @nibbie.

12

Regarding the classroom study of languages, some of your frustration might be the result of expecting too much, too soon. As a suggestion, you should believe that you can — through time, effort and interest — learn vocabulary, grammar and structure through formal courses, which can later form the basis for an immersive experience.

13

My daughter transferred to NYU Gallatin after her freshman year and had very similar stats to you. She too wanted an open curriculum (and to be done with languages and STEM classes). She also really wanted to be in NYC. She only applied to NYU and The New School. She is thriving at NYU and has no regrets about transferring. Message me if I can answer any other questions about her experience.

14

That might be true for freshmen, but the FAQ says they only give limited aid to transfers.

15

Thank you!

16

I understand why you would interpret Hamilton’s wording this way, but I think they work within a limited budget to provide full need-based financial assistance to all transfer students that they are able to accept under this constraint. That’s my understanding, at least, though you will want to verify this directly through Hamilton as you proceed.

17

Yes you’re right; after doing further research I found a clarification that was worded less ambiguously.

18

I’m going to apply to Haverford and Grinnell now. I’ve noticed you’re fairly active on threads helping students, so I’d like to give you some info on Grinnell’s transfer data (I got in contact with the head of the transfer department). The 2016-2017 school year admitted around 27%, while last year they admitted 3%. This year onward, they’re looking to strengthen their transfer program, positioning it similarly to how it was in 2016-2017. Thanks for your help!

19

You did exactly what I’d hoped you would do, @nibbie. You took suggestions from your thread here, then researched them through further sources. By adding two schools, I think you increased your chances of being able to choose from within a favorable scenario in a few months. Moreover, your report back was highly informative for others.

Wishing you the best of luck. I hope you keep us updated.

20

Apparently two cousins from my mom’s side attended Grinnell – who knew! I’ll update when I either have more information that could serve helpful, or I have a general idea of where I’ll be at. Bates never responded to the email I sent over a month ago, which isn’t a good sign even if they were more accepting of transfer students.