College for psychology/english and looking to go to law school afterwards...

College Search & Selection
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<p>I've been thinking about trying to aim transfering to Cornell as a junior, but want to get ideas of other schools to think about. </p>

<p>I go to Hofstra right now and have a 3.84 GPA, hopefully will keep it above 3.8+ throughout my sophmore year. My highschool average was an unweighted 87 and SATs 1180, but supposively these don't matter much if you transfer as a junior. </p>

<p>I have yet to take psych classes and want to be a psych major, lol. I've taken mostly cores and some business prereqs because was unsure about major (psych or accounting), but finally decided. I'll be taking a lot of psych classes next year, and hopefully it can make up for not taking any this year.</p>

<p>I would be doing english as a double major (concentrated on creative writing) just for my own love of writing. Also, I feel that the major can and will help me overall, it seems reading and writing and comprehension is just incredibly important - the english major would help me improve those skills. </p>

<p>My main goal is to become a lawyer (hopefully one that is able to use my psychology education), so if the school itself had a good law school or I would have a good chance (with good GPA and hopefully good LSATs) to get into a good law school. </p>

<p>What schools should I look into? I know Cornell has a great psychology program and it's an amazing school in general, so obviously it'd be a good choice, but can I get accepted? What are some requirements for a junior transfer? I also have some ECs as well, but not sure if they will help. </p>

<p>Anyway, any advice on Cornell and advice on other schools to look into would be appreciated, thank you.</p>

2

<p>Check out Michigan-Ann Arbor. Michigan is hard to beat in Psychology and it is also pretty solid in English. Michigan is also very good at placing students into law schools. Also check out Northwestern.</p>

3

<p>Doh, forgot to say I'd like the school to be in the NE (I live in NY). I will consider those schools and definetly try applying, but who knows if I can handle going out west or even as far as Michigan. I'm a really family orientated person, so I'd miss my brothers and parents! :( lol.</p>

4

<p>All that separates Michigan from NY is Ohio! LOL</p>

5

<p>Georgetown, Michigan, Northwestern and Brown have decent transfer rates</p>

6

<p>Well, that's a long drive! It'd have to be a plane ride and much further than Hofstra is from me, so it's a big jump (an hour away). I'm not saying I wouldn't go there, I'm just saying I'd prefer a school in NY.</p>

<p>Thanks for the school names above.</p>

<p>I'm going to have to look into those. I would think Brown would be difficult, well harder than Cornell.</p>

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<p>Oh, and one question... </p>

<p>I have will have 34 credits after this semester. Since the maximum for transfering seems to be 60, should I ease down on my courses next year? I guess that would be nice anyway, I don't have to work as hard to keep my GPA up :) </p>

<p>I could take 26 credits next year and have it be an even 60. I'm assuming they won't look down on this, right? Since I'm jumping from 17 credits a semester to 12-15 credits, but it's not because I can't handle the load, it's because the extra credits would be useless! </p>

<p>Am I right on that?</p>

8

<p>Cornell, Columbia, and U Rochester</p>

<p>Colgate produces quite a few students who go on to law school</p>

9

<p>Thank you...</p>

<p>So do you guys think I have a chance at places at the level of Cornell? That's if I can keep my GPA up to 3.8+. I'm pretty sure I can do it this semester, and hopefully can do it next year as well. I'm really happy if I actually have a shot if I can keep my GPA up. I just don't know what else to do. I'm going to probably join the philosophy or psychology club (maybe both, since don't think it's a huge committment) next semester and this summer I am going to be taking a summer course and maybe being in a musical (tryin at least) so not sure if I dhould do community service or something.</p>

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<p>You might consider whether you think you'll do exceedingly well at Cornell if admitted. If you do poorly there, your law school chances might actually be diminished,vs. staying where you are now. Your posted HS stats were certainly below the average for the people who you would be sharing a classroom there, should you transfer.</p>

<p>Getting in is one thing. Getting out is something else.</p>

<p>I actually shared a suite with a transfer student from someplace on Long Island when I attended Cornell. He transfered into the ILR school, and had serious pre-law aspirations. He did very poorly at Cornell, and when I knew him he was sweating bullets, trying to apply to all these non-accredited law schools. (wonder if he ever got into Nova???)</p>

11

<p>^Very true and something I've considered.</p>

<p>I'm by no means the most intelligent kid ever, but I do think I could do fairly well at Cornell. The reason being is because I think I am somewhat smart. I honestly did absolutely nothing in highschool, seriously.</p>

<p>I can count on my hand the amount of times I did any work at home (the huge projects I needed to do). I would do papers during lunch and/or study halls, if I did them at all. I'd always hand things in late, I would never study or do anything for anything - I just listened in class and did well on tests. My SATs suffered because I didn't prepare enough and screwed my math section (which according to PSATs shoulda been 700+). My english section (funny because I really enjoy writing) sucked because I stopped reading a lot in highschool and there went a lot of vocabulary.</p>

<p>I was on the verge of being one of those smart kids that tried and got into good colleges (3 kids went to cornell out of the 90 or so in my class, and a bunch of others did well). I was in all the APs and higher level stuff, but was on the lower end of all the kids in that class because I did no work like a moron.</p>

<p>I am still not sure if I could handle Cornell or a school of that level, which is something I'm definetly considering. However, I'm not a dumb kid by any means. I was around kids who are now going to Cornell, Colgate, Brown, Yale etc... they were't smarter than me, they just tried (mostly girls). I kept messing around and not caring, and it weighed me down. I picked up calculus quicker than every single kid in my class and spent half the time drawing. I remember a girl who sat next to me and observed me drawing was dumbfounded that I would get better test grades than her. </p>

<p>However, I still am definetly worried about that. I'm not dumb enough to believe if I can get a good GPA here, I can get a good one there. I know it'll be harder to even hope for a lesser GPA. However, I think I'd not only take more pride in my GPA, but will learn more by being more challenged. I've tried my hardest here, but I know I'll have to try even harder at Cornell or a similar school. </p>

<p>But I'll never know if I don't try, right? I could settle with staying at Hofstra, yet I want to strive for more.</p>

<p>Eh, who knows, maybe I shouldn't bother... but you never know.</p>

12

<p>Back at these messageboards again and still looking for ideas for schools to apply to next year.</p>

<p>I'm curious, for transfering to schools, I should apply to more than one, right? </p>

<p>So as of now the schools you guys gave me are the following:</p>

<p>Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Michigan AA, Northwestern, Georgetown, and Rochester. </p>

<p>As of now (about 75% done with the semester) I'm looking at a 3.9 or so this semester (A's and an -A), combined with a 3.84 last semester. I have to take a summer course for so I can take my psychology courses next year, and then will hopefully keep up a good GPA.</p>

<p>So, with that GPA, what should I be looking into for a strong psychology/english (creative writing) school? Remember, I need to actually be able to get into them. I'll probably be joining the philosophy club and try to join a newspaper/magazine or something, hopefully getting the chance to write something.</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for the above replies, and thanks in advance for future ones. All help is appeciated.</p>