Chances of transferring to top tier schools

So out of high school I did not get such a great GPA, but got decent test scores. Then my first year at college, I got a pretty bad gpa of 2.8, but that was not in any major related classes. Now I am at community college, and my gpa is about a 3.2. I also switched majors to mathematics, and am taking much more difficult classes.

High school gpa: 3.3
SAT: 2020/2400
reading: 670
math: 730
writing: 620

awards/ECs: 3 years track and field, habitat for humanity volunteer, 1st degree black belt, part time job (12 hours/wk)

first year of college @ state school: 2.8 average in GE classes

community college: 3.2 gpa, mathematics major

Chances of getting into Villanova, syracuse, wake forest, lehigh, george washington, umiami, USC (california), northwestern? Or more like a top 100 school, top 50 school, top 20 school?

Maybe Syracuse and Vil. Maybe…the rest is out of reach in my opinion.

3.2 GPA is not good for community college. I would not apply to Northwestern or USC, just a waste of time and an application fee.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it was probably a bad idea to major in math at your community college, because I doubt the admissions committee will view it much more favorably than an easy liberal arts major. You could have majored in something easy and just changed your major at the university. Just bad planning on your part, and it’s kind of late to fix it. Not sure what to tell you…

Uhm liberal arts? What a useless degree. I’d rather earn my degree even if it’s one of the hardest majors, than go be a liberal arts major.

@kkang2096 you’re too pretentious for someone with such a low GPA. That person said you could’ve majored in something easy and then changed majors when you got into your top choice school, and that’s pretty reasonable. Also, there isn’t much you can do you just a bachelor’s in mathematics either. Just sayin’. Anyway, I doubt you’ll get into any “top-tier” schools, your chances are slim. If you really wanted to transfer out of community college, then go for it, but transfer into a school that is realistic for your GPA. Rankings aren’t everything, and if you really cared then you would have tried harder to get a higher GPA…

@carolinahbrahh, A 3.2 is a respectable GPA. It is competitive for some colleges, but not as much for others. Colleges don’t prefer “easy” majors/high GPA combinations from cc’s over “more difficult”/low GPA combinations. It’s a waste of time and money to major in something you’re not interested in. Students who start at cc’s need to major in the field they want to work in, do as well as they can, and apply to schools where their stats make them a competitive applicant.

OP, check the website and/or common data set of each school you’re interested in to see what their transfer requirements are. Apply to reaches but make sure you have some matches and safeties on your list too.

A math major is a liberal arts major.

I have to agree that a 3.2 from a CC is not competitive for any school on your list.

First, your SAT scores are irrelevant if you are a transfer student.

Secondly, I don’t know what you mean by top tier school.If you are referring to an ivy school, you would need close to a 4.0! You aren’t even close. If you want a school like Northwestern or Tufts, you would need at least a 3.6-3.8 which you don’t have.

I would say , however,that you might have a chance for schools like Syracuse, Miami, lessor known LACS, and your state university. In fact, your state university might be your best bet.

@austinmshauri It has been years since I went through the process, but I’m pretty sure they don’t consider difficulty of the major. They’re not going to be like “this guy has a 3.6 in poli sci, but poli sci is easier than math so let’s take this guy with the 3.4.” It’s just such a subjective thing.

@kkang2097 a math diploma from a CC is pretty useless too. I can’t think of how you could use that by itself.

None. Enjoy studying math, a liberal arts discipline, at your state Uni.

In December you wrote that you’re currently attending UNC. There’s “years removed” from the process and then there’s years removed.

I get the impression from your previous posts that you don’t think much of community colleges. It doesn’t mean that adcoms agree with you. What’s the point in taking an “easy” major if that’s not what you want to study? It’s better for students to major in the field they want to work in then transfer to a school that’s within their academic range. Most students can’t afford to major in something else then start a new major after they transfer. That would require them to add semesters at the 4-year college to complete the major requirements they could have completed at the cc, and most families can’t afford a 5th year of college.

I don’t think this is true. I think @mathmom or @Blossom can tell you what math majors can do and what hiring managers want. From reading CC, the impression I get is that math is a well thought of major.

Transfer to any state university that’s affordable, work hard, improve GPA, do internships or research to build a resume. Work for couple of years and then apply to colleges of your dreams for a graduate degree. It’s a longer path but you didn’t make good use of your time in high school or community college so you can’t have access to a fast path. By the way, liberal arts graduates can be equally successful as STEM graduates if they are good in their field. Good luck!

There are plenty of opportunities for math majors, but I’m no expert. My kid liked CS better than math. I don’t do chances threads, but from my POV the OP was a B student in high school and he’s still a B student. He’s got potential based on his scores. I’m pretty sure he’s capable of doing what’s required for a math major at the schools he’ll get into. I don’t think he’ll get any brownie points for being a math major vs any other major.

http://www.maa.org/careers
https://math.duke.edu/undergraduate/jobs

@austinmshauri

Excuse me, I never wrote that in this thread. I’m not sure where you pulled that from. There is basically nothing you can do with a community college math diploma. There are limited options with a BA or BSc in math. The best route is to become an actuary, but it’s hard. The other options may not be very high paying.

As for transfer credit, half of the time they won’t even transfer the credits. Especially math. They’re probably not going to give him credit for any of the advanced classes beyond calc 3 and intro linear algebra and diff eq.

It depends on the community college as to what will transfer. From California community colleges to California public schools no problem - credits are designed to transfer.I think NY CC’s to the SUNY system is also relatively straightforward. But for other colleges (and the OP’s list was mostly privates, you’d have to ask at every college.)

As to the other question. I’m thinking top 50 college reach, top 100 probably match to high reach. Top 20 - forget about it. But transfer admission are another kettle of fish - I know nothing about the odds there.

@carolinahbrahh, My apologies. That comment wasn’t directed at you. Another poster wrote that, but my phone deleted the tag when I posted.

As far as I know, schools do definitely weigh in your major, as they need to fill spots for each one they provide at their respective universities. If that wasnt the case, then UCLA would be full of engineering majors. How come UCLA has a 60% admission rate for stats majors while engineering is more like 9%? This is coming from admissions officers from schools like UCB, USC, northwestern, and a couple of the private schools i mentioned. And btw, will go on to grad school while working in software.

No. Engineering is a professional school. So is business, pharmacy, etc. The reason your arts/sciences major doesn’t matter in most schools is because you can walk to academic advising and change your major tomorrow if you want to.

Just to help you understand how you’re wrong, if it was easier to get in with a certain arts/sciences major, people would just apply with that major and then change their major back on their first day of class. You can’t do that in a professional program.

This happens all the time at UCLA. People get admitted for something silly like Sociology then switch to Economics, which is also in the Arts and Sciences. Yet the acceptance rate for Economics is significantly lower than sociology.