Economics major at Cornell who wants to leave for a more urban school like Penn or Columbia because I don’t like it here. College GPA is good but I have little extracurriculars here.
Started January 2018 so I will have 2 semester’s worth of grades when I apply.
College GPA (after 2 semesters) -3.9ish
SAT: 1500
EC: Community service organization
Hello Brandon! Can I ask what you don’t like about Cornell? I was really interested in transferring there for Economics. Your insight would be super valuable for me. If you prefer to do this privately please message me!
Also for your question: transferring from Ivy to Ivy is pretty difficult. You need to have good reasons and good grades. You have the GPA. I would recommended you to try and apply you have nothing to lose but everything to gain. Look into each of the schools and make sure you make evident in your essays your “why” for going to their school. Research the specific details about the schools you want to go to and their program you’re applying to. They mostly are looking for community college, vets, low income students; however, there are students like yourself that get in. Stay positive and get started on those essays. Hope this helps.
You will need a clear academic reason for the transfer. Read the course catalogues carefully, and dig through the faculty member’s lists of publications. “I hate Ithaca because it is far from everything.” is not going to be good enough. You need to be able to say something along the lines of “I really want to pursue coursework on obscure-topic-only-offered-at-your-U-here.”
Tough to transfer from one tippy top to another based on, “I don’t like it here,” a “good” gpa, and no activities to show drive. And with incredibly low transfer admit rates, you’d need to be superbly on your game. That’s more than, “I want xxx.” You have to present as an asset to them.
Are you a NY resident? Why not just spend breaks in NYC?
I agree with the above. I don’t think citing an obscure major or courses as suggested earlier will carry any weight unless you have a significant history of this interest (through coursework, ECs, research.etc.) in that area.
You can apply and see what happens but understand it is a long shot. Look at the common data sets of colleges (Google common data set XYZ University) and see which schools accept more transfers.
You can also consider a junior semester or year program abroad or doing an exchange with a more urban US college so you get that experience. See what Cornell offers.
Focua on getting a great, affordable education. Put yourself in a position where you will be able to get a job and move to a city after graduation.