Transferring from a community college.
A little over 60 units completed.
4.0 GPA in college
No test scores (and I have confirmation from these schools that they are not required in this situation).
Working full time in a management position throughout college.
Peer Assisted Learning Specialist
Teacher’s Assistant (five classes)
Tutor (English, History, Geology)
Volunteer/Service Work: Animal Shelter Volunteer - 4 years
Honors and Awards: Phi Theta Kappa
Colleges of Interest:
College: Smith College, Choice #: 1 Status: Applied/Pending
College: Amherst College, Choice #: 2 Status: Applied/Pending
College: Wellesley College, Choice #: 3 Status: Applied/Pending
College: Dartmouth College, Choice #: 4 Status: Applied/Pending
College: Scripps College, Choice #: 5 Status: Applied/Pending
College: Mills College, Choice #: 6 Status: Applied/Pending
College: University of Mary Washington, Choice #: 7 Status: Applied/Pending
College: University of California-Los Angeles, Choice #: 8 Status: Applied/Pending
College: University of California, Davis, Choice #: 9 Status: Applied/Pending
College: University of California-Santa Barbara, Choice #: 10 Status: Accepted
I honestly have no idea how transfer admissions work, but based on your stats and EC’s, I think you have a great chance of getting accepted into one of your top 4 schools.
For the Ivy and the LACs mentioned, the accepted number of transfer is also tethered to annual attrition. As attrition is in the low single digits, it also makes for a fairly competitive environment. That said, you have a better than fair chance at your first 5 schools, relative to other applicants.
Your chances will be lowest at Amherst and Dartmouth where you will be competing with both men and women for comparatively few spots. A lot of the applicants will be from schools with lesser reputations who are looking to “transfer up” from their current institution because its departments aren’t as strong or they believe they would be happier at Dartmouth or Amherst. My wife transferred from Smith to Amherst because her major department was stronger there.
Your choices are very different from each other. A coed institution is going to have a very different vibe and dynamic compared to Smith and Wellesley. You need to be more sure what kind of environment you want to be in, rather than just having people on the board handicap your chances. Similarly, big universities like those in the California system, are completely unlike small LACs.
Thanks for your response! I have definitely considered all of these schools extensively, and have made spreadsheets weighing the pros and cons… I only applied to the UCs as safety schools. I want to go to a small LAC.