<p>I am trying to transfer and my situation is not very typical so I wanted some of your opinions even though I am going to apply anyway.</p>
<p>I am in SUNY Geneseo now, it's supposed to be the best SUNY schools and I'm a sophomore now. I was also an international student but just got an immigrant visa so I am now a permanent resident. I am trying to transfer to Columbia and Cornell.
Otherwise:</p>
<p>SAT:
Maths:600
CR: 570
WR: 570</p>
<p>GPA (after 3 semesters): 3.97
TOEFL: 111/120
French native speaker and studying Spanish</p>
<p>Activities:
Treasurer of the French Club
Member of the ski club
Also, Phi Eta Sigma honor society member.</p>
<p>I am an Econ major and one of my professors think I am going to get in Columbia and Cornell (I'm applying to these two schools) and my councelor think that it's not that easy...
Basically my case is weird because my GPA is high and my SAT's very low so I don't know how much they take the SAT into consideration for a junior transfer, especially since I didn't go to a bilingual school in France (I was in a very good public high cchool though ) and I didn't have time to study for them. (The French system is such that you have 30 hours of classes a week...)</p>
<p>^that's bad advice, columbia is very selective with transfers but not formulaic. I'd say you do have a mild chance. 3.97 shows that you are doing what you can at suny and that the academic environment might be subpar for you, the school is no where as rigorous or competitive as columbia but you can't really send a clearer message that you need more of a challenge. I think you have a decent shot with unique story.</p>
<p>As a transfer, your college grades count the most towards getting in. You need to ask the most reputable professors (2 usually) for a knock-em-dead recommendation. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>^I'm with jamescchen on this one. your college gpa is FAR FAR more important than your SATs. Not to say your SATs are insignificant... but your gpa easily outweights your SAT score in importance.</p>
<p>write one hell of an essay. it cant hurt your chances</p>
<p>I am actually a member of the ski team so that's kind of better than the ski club (we are not a varsity team as Geneseo is a small school but we compete against varsity teams on week ends) I had forgotten to write my other ECs but I am also on the finance and marketing club and in the marketing club I was part of a real life project with a local firm (we basically started a marketing plan for them) so I am talking about that in a small part of my application. I also was a panel member in a workshop open to the entire colllege community about "Building community through language awareness" where I talked about my experience coming here from France. So I know it's not amazing but it's a little bit more than what I had said before. I am also a Phi Eta Sigma honor society member but it's really not hard to get into that...</p>