Hello everybody!
I’m currently a freshmen at one of the top 3 Public Universities (top 30 in USNEWS rankings) and I’m also in the honors college. I’ve given it a semester but I really don’t like it here. I haven’t found a lot of people who have similar interests as me and some of the classes are a bit disappointing. Although my school is a great school in many aspects, my personality doesn’t fit well in here. I really dislike the whole party scene.I am looking for a much smaller school with a more intellectual vibe.
The problem is I moved a lot in high school, internationally, and I wasn’t very competitive in high school so my stats aren’t that great. Also I wasn’t set on transferring last semester so my college GPA and involvement aren’t great either. So what should I do now? If I want to transfer I want to go to a significantly better school such as an Ivy or Duke and the like. Should I still apply to transfer this March or should I wait until my Sophomore year when my stats are better? Or is it more wise to suck it up and stay here and try to get into a good graduate school?
My Stats:
High School GPA: 3.9 unweighted
College GPA: 3.56 (really bad because I had light medical issues and I took courses in fields I had no exposure to)
SAT: 1440
SAT math: 780
AP: 5,4,4,4,3
Extracurricular: interned at a large academic company before, volunteering, magazine club, basketball team, a few awards such as AP scholar but not anything really impressive, assisted some of my teachers with teaching, very diverse background, good essay writing skills
THANK YOU GUYS so much!
If there are any other schools you guys can recommend for me that would be great. I’m very fond of Rice University too.
If you apply to transfer during your freshman year your HS record is in full play; if you apply during your sophomore year your college record will carry more weight.
“If I want to transfer I want to go to a significantly better school such as an Ivy or Duke and the like” is problematic. Admissions to ‘significantly better’ schools is much tougher as a transfer, simply b/c there are relatively fewer places. In general, if you would not have been accepted as an incoming freshman you probably won’t be accepted as an incoming sophomore.
Most colleges, explicitly or otherwise, want a good reason for transferring (wanting a fancier name on your sweatshirt doesn’t count), and if you are in the honours program at a top 3, you will be hard pressed to argue that you can’t find academically rigorous options or intellectually stimulating classmates in almost any field. It will be clear to a ‘significantly better school’ what you would get from them: what would you add to their campus? (note that athletes take up a fair few of the transfer places).
If you are at UCB, UCLA, UVa, UNC-CH,or UMi (my guess is UVa,fwiw), it is simply not credible that you can’t find your people: the range of people at each of those institutions is such that there are plenty of intellectuals and plenty of people who socialize w/out being partyers, You say yourself your involvement wasn’t great in your first semester: how do you expect to find your people if you don’t participate? And there are disappointing classes in every single university in the world.
It is true that it can be harder to find your place in a big, extroverted university- but not impossible, and 1 term (especially when you weren’t really trying) isn’t very long. I know seriously intellectual students either currently or recently at most of those unis and they found their tribes.
If you really are overwhelmed by the size, and are looking for a smaller school, consider an LAC (any of the selective ones that appeal to you). If you are in-state for Va, look at W&M, which is Velma to UVa’s Daphne. But if you are looking at Duke you won’t sell me that your priority isn’t prestige
Hi collegemom3717,
Thanks so much for your helpful reply. To be honest, originally I did want to transfer to a more prestigious school but after my time here at my current school, I realized that it is not the prestige that matters the most but the “fit.” And also, I was in fact admitted to W&M but I turned it down because I did not really know what I liked at that time and my parents and I thought about “rankings” the most. I kind of regret my decision now.
At my current school, I feel out of the place because I’m pretty quiet and do not like to party. I am also interested in a very wide field of disciplines and the school of liberal arts and sciences is the worst school at my current public university.
Another reason I want to transfer is because my school’s tuition is extremely high for out of state and I feel in a sense ripped off for paying so much for an experience that does not suit me the most.
I think I will follow your advice and try to be more involved this semester and see how that goes. If not, would you suggest me to apply to W&M again or Tufts this year with my stats? Or should I wait until I’m a more stronger applicant and apply to Brown or a selective LAC? Would it be hard to transfer to a top 10 LAC?
Also I’m thinking about law school, putting that into account, what kind of school would be a better option?
If you declined W&M nicely, you probably got a note saying that they would keep your info on file in case you changed your mine- that would be a good option, but I strongly suggest a visit / revisit first, to see how it seems to you now.
All top schools will be hard to transfer to, b/c they only have as many spaces as students that leave- which is not all that many at that level!
For law school, GPA GPA GPA + LSAT. They will not care about your college or major.
Work out the cost differential for the publics and privates you are interested in- you are likely to find that the privates aren’t an improvement financially.
Ok. Thank you so much. Do you think I should try Brown or Tufts this year with my stats or should I wait out until sophomore year? I really want to transfer out as soon as possible.
If you really, really, really want to leave, applying to just one or the other is likely to leave you disappointed- imo applying to a bunch of places is your best bet, b/c the odds are low at all of them. If you were asking whether Brown or Tufts might suit you more, that’s really hard to say- Tufts seems to be one of those schools that people react to pretty strongly one way or the other, and I haven’t figured out a common denominator!
Thank you for the response! What do you mean by "Tufts seems to be one of those schools that people react to pretty strongly one way or the other "? Thanks!
Any coveted college, including Brown, Tufts, or W&M, is going to see your college freshman grades and activities as a major consideration. That’s your performance post-high school, how you took to the new challenges, new environment. And you can have trouble trying to explain why, after one semester, you’re ready to bail. Each will want to see determination, endurance, and success.
You need to be their best choice, the kid who can meet their wants.
On any large campus, there are plenty of other kids who can be your tribe.
Your odds are very low. In addition, universities like Duke, Brown, or Tufts aren’t SO different from UVA that you can easily justify “needing” to transfer.
You’d have a better defense for Pomona, Vassar, or Carleton, but a 3.5 GPA is going to make that transfer tough.
Students seem to have strong reactions to Tufts- they either really take to it right away, or it leaves them cold. I know quite a number of students for whom Tufts was, on paper, a terrific match. Some of them walked on the campus and effectively turned around and walked off, others wanted to move in that day. And as I said above, I haven’t been able to figure out any common denominators within in either group. It’s one of the colleges (like Vassar) that I strongly encourage students to visit and see for themselves.
Students can have the “drive by” reaction (the “get me outta here— I dont want to get out of the car” ) at most any school. For my older s it was Dartmouth. For younger s it was one large and one smaller school in the SE.
Thank you guys so much for all the helpful responses. I think I’ll try to improve myself to become a more competitive applicant for the next transfer cycle or just apply to one or two this year. May I ask how are the employment rates for liberal arts colleges such as Pomona, Vassar, or Carleton? Sorry for being so blunt but I feel like they’re generally not as well known as big universities overseas and in the midwest where I grew up.
Reaching out to w&m seems like good advice. The liberal arts colleges you mentioned (Pomona, etc) will have great job prospects but are so selective that you really need to explore more options.
Hi! Thank you guys so much for the responses.You’ve encouraged me a lot. I’ve decided I’m going to apply to one or two of the liberal arts colleges this year and if it doesn’t work out I’m going to get stronger stats and apply again next year. I have one question tho, as @collegemom3717 said, my school is already pretty academically challenging (especially being in the honors college) and “anyone can find their tribe in a big public school.” My question is how should I justify my reasons for transferring? Should I focus on what I can bring to campus instead of why I want to transfer out?
