<p>I'm a HS senior and about to attend college in the fall. I'm gonna be going to Hunter College.
I want to transfer to another college after my freshman year.
I had a 3.7 GPA in high school. But my SAT scores are REAAALLYY bad. 1660 with reading, math and writing. (I should retake it, right?) </p>
<p>Should I take SAT subject tests as well? </p>
<p>If I did well in my freshman year of college, would I have a chance at either UPenn or Columbia?
I am interested in studying nursing but I'm not entirely sure I'm gonna major in it.</p>
<p>What could increase my chances of getting accepted? What kind of extracurricular activity should I do to make me appear more unique? </p>
<p>What can I do to make myself stand out in the college applications?? </p>
<p>(My dream school is Yale, but I knew I was just aiming too high. It's nearly impossible to get accepted as a transfer in that school. But I always dream of walking through that Yale campus. :') )</p>
<p>I’m actually interested in the answers to this post as well, though I’m leaning more towards Columbia.</p>
<p>I mean, is it even possible to transfer into Columbia if you had a subpar high school performance?</p>
<p>The way I see it, there are two options for Columbia, and both seem pretty bad. This is assuming you had an average high school career:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You spend a year in college with the intent of transferring out. You do pretty well academically [3.7-4.0]. You join several clubs and show your passion through your essays. But, you’re only a freshman! I mean, how does Columbia see you? Do they think, “Wow, this student has worked hard in an okay college. But how do we know he can succeed here?” For all they know, you’ve taken intro classes that are pretty easy. Your high school performance is still taken into consideration.</p></li>
<li><p>You spend 2 years in college. By that time, you’ve chosen your major and are working to fulfill requirements. You’ve taken harder classes to prove you’re capable of handling the work while maintaining a great GPA. Your high school performance does not have as much weight as it did before. However, Columbia has a core curriculum. I’ve read that Columbia doesn’t let you transfer credits for classes that are parallel to those in its core. Thus, you’re forced to cram all those classes into your last two years, preventing you from studying abroad and maybe even delaying your graduation!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I don’t really get it.</p>
<p>Of course, it would be ideal to transfer in after a year so that you have time to complete the core. But if you had an okay high school performance, I don’t see how people can transfer as sophomores.</p>
<p>/rant
(sorry)</p>