<p>Is anyone else out there applying for transfer admission to CMC? I am applying for my second time and am praying things work out better this time (got wait listed last year..) Anybody know how many students they are looking to admit for th Fall or want to venture what my chances are of getting in? Here are my stats..</p>
<p>3.82 GPA at top 75 University - Econ major (applying for econ at CMC)</p>
<p>Coursework Includes:
Calculus (A)
Macro and Micro Principles (A/A)
Macro and Micro Theory (A/A-)
Stats for econ (A)</p>
<p>Sample of extracurricular activities:
Student Senator
Micro/macro principles and Calculus tutor
Research assistant in econ department</p>
<p>HS record is not too strong: 3.4 gpa; 1260 sat's (old version)</p>
<p>The fact that your high school stats are below what CMC is looking for will become less important over time, so congrats on having done so well at your current school. However, the high school stats combined with the fact that your current school is probably a fair bit lower-ranked than CMC (just guessing based on the fact that you note "top 75" instead of "top 50") might diminish the value of your current GPA.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, you've obviously been working hard and doing well, and your interests are certainly in line with wanting to transfer. I would guess that recommendations have the potential to play an unusually large role in your application, especially if they speak directly to your econ ability and your potential to succeed in a more rigorous (which may or may not be the actual case, but is still a possibility that should be addressed) academic environment.</p>
<p>Your persistence will work in your favor, I imagine. Transferring to CMC is, as I understand it, pretty difficult. I wouldn't call you a shoe-in, I wouldn't call you hopeless, but I also don't know much about the process in general. I'd say apply again, keep the grades strong, and pay particularly close attention to recommendations and personal statements (Why do you want CMC so badly? What have you done at your current university to prepare you? How have you used what's been available to you, and how will that help you after transferring? How have you strengthened your abilities and your application in each round? Why should they take you this year when they didn't last year?). </p>
<p>Best of luck :-)</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. One of my main concerns, which you addressed, is being able to find teaches in the economics department who I feel comfortable writing a letter of recommendation for me. Economics courses here (and I imagine in general) tend to be very lecture oriented where it is difficult to really stand out among your peers. The only way that a teacher knows you is through is your tests. Although I have done extremely well in my major courses (4.0), I did not have any of my econ teachers write me recommendations for the reasons noted above. I did receive excellent recommendations though from two teachers in the political science department here that stressed my leadership abilities, strong writing skills and overall academic motivation which I believe will fit right in with what CMC is looking for, but again, I am still worried about having no recs from econ professors. As you noted, the admissions committee may not feel I am prepared for the academic rigor or CMC coming from a lower tier school and they will have no way of easing these doubts if none of my recs are from econ professors. Do you have any recommendations for what I should do here? Also, some of the points that you recommended I include in my personal statement seem to be very good ones but unfortunately were not included in the one that I have sent to them already. Do you think it would be appropriate to send an additional personal statement to them expanding on the ideas that I presented in the original one?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Ah, I see your concern about recs. What about someone who supervised your summer research? In any case, I didn't realize that you had already applied for this round, so it's a moot point. The recs you describe do sound excellent and appropriate, so don't worry.</p></li>
<li><p>If anything, call CMC admissions, tell them you've applied as a transfer, and ask if it would be appropriate for you to send a statement/addendum (you could also ask whether you might send one more recommendation, if you think an econ one would be of any benefit, but this might be pushin' the envelope. I don't think it's unheard of, though). If they say yes, then you could send a <em>brief</em> statement addressing your situation. If they say no, then you can hope the right things shine through in the rest of your application, and you may well be correct. I don't have any true basis for this advice, but it's probably what I would do if I had your concerns. Regardless, there's never any harm in asking.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck!</p>