Unfortunately, the college admissions process wasn’t kind to me. Right now I’m between Auburn (full tuition plus some substantial spending money) and Georgia Tech (hilariously little financial aid). What I’m thinking about doing is actually fully applying myself freshman year at Auburn - I took high school easy - getting 95+ in my classes, and transferring to a school like Duke.
My teachers pretty unanimously say the first year of college is a joke compared to IB. My grades are already mid to high A’s in BC and Physics C so repeating these classes on a college level shouldn’t be bad at all. Is this plan viable? I got this idea from my mom’s friend who did this in the 1980s, so it’s happened before.
I don’t know. I can’t think that Duke would be impressed by that. If you try to transfer as a freshman, you HS transcripts will be looked at closely as well. I think students who successfully transfer to elite colleges show a lot of academic drive and often a need for what the target school offers for their program of study in particular. And if the transfer was not successful, where does that leave you at Auburn, on a slower track?
Does Duke meet need for transfers?
I take it you are OOS for GT then? Is it unaffordable or just not your top choice? Any other choices?
It’s unaffordable, plain and simple. Hopefully after one year of college it should be more affordable. My transcript isnt a total trainwreck - I’m not sure that’s what the issue was.
One comment you made was particularly interesting. How exactly does a student show a lot of academic drive?
Also, Auburn isn’t exactly a bad college. It’s ranked around #68 in terms of engineering, but I want better. If I end up unable to transfer, I’m not totally SOL.
It’s possible to transfer to a school like Duke, but unlikely. Why would you need to repeat physics if you pass the AP/ IB tests? Wouldn’t that mean you could go to the next course in the engineering sequence since you’re essentially done with the first two semesters of physics?
Academic drive means that you truly demonstrate that you find the offerings at your school inadequate and prove that you would exploit the resources of a better school to their full advantage. Showing it might mean acing all of your classes, getting outstanding professor recommendations, participating in a multitude of clubs, and generally significantly contributing to the atmosphere of the university.
HOWEVER transfer rates for top schools which would award you excellent financial aid are almost all under 25% and usually much lower. The students who apply to transfer to these schools are generally those with outstanding CVs, and it is my suspicion that top schools favor transfers from other top schools rather than the general college population. I would not go into college with the expectation of transferring to a more elite private university as that rarely happens.
“My teachers pretty unanimously say the first year of college is a joke compared to IB.” That is absolutely incorrect. :-/
[QUOTE=""]
Simple fact #1: It is more difficult to transfer to Duke than it is to be admitted from secondary school. OP, you can reach your own conclusions.
Simple fact #2: Duke provides FA to transfers (https://financialaid.duke.edu/awarding-and-policy)
Opinion: I’m not convinced a 95 average, during one’s Auburn freshman year, would be particularly impressive to Duke. However, you have NOTHING to lose by trying.
[/QUOTE]
@NotTheirType
GT gives very poor FA to OOS students. Last yr when our ds was going through the process, GT was by far the most expensive option. And, when talking to the dean of the school for his major, the dean told him that the research he had already been participating in was more typical of what their grad students get to do. Research opportunities was close to #1 on Ds’s requirement list.
You might find when you get to Auburn that you are very happy with the opportunities there. I know some top kids who go to Auburn and love it.
Why you think that a full-tuition plus scholarship from Auburn means that the admissions process was “not kind” to you is beyond me. Unless you have a better offer elsewhere, take that money and run. When you get to Auburn, have a nice long chat with your advisor there about whether or not you need to or should repeat the Physics and Math classes. Don’t make that decision on your own.
If you still feel like trying your chances with transfer applications, go ahead and send them out next spring, or the year after that.
Definitely go to Auburn and apply yourself. You can decide once you are there whether you want to try to transfer to Duke, keeping in mind it might not work out. But the Auburn acceptance with funding is great!
Well AP Physics is going to be my only credit hour physics test I can get credit for. Apparently colleges just don’t care about a 7 when that scores comes on an SL test…
I’d like to take classes that are already relatively within my experience to maximize grades.
I’ve found the transfer rates are usually lower - oddly enough GT’s transfer rate is 37, freshman rate is 33…
Of the 20 or so former students I’ve talked to, it’s been described as “a joke” by over half. That’s probably an exaggeration on their part, but it’s pretty much concensus. High School 83 -> College 95
Obviously I’d like to be in the 98-100 range, but 95 is more realistic. I spent high school more focused on fun than sculpting a college resume. Spending a year solely focused on that in an already respectable college should give at least a fighting chance.
It really is a good school for engineering and extremely affordable. However, I’ve had over five relatives attend there and I’d just like to go elsewhere. Preferably out of the Deep South.
Well, broken down I got three rejects, a waitlist, and two accepts, one of which is financially impossible. I think a talk with a guidance counselor is an excellent idea at this point. Going to a highly respected college is kind of a benchmark for how good of a student I am for me, unfortunately, so going somewhere else means a lot. Money is money though…
Duke was just a school thrown out there. CMU is also a goal, obviously not from a dating standpoint, but any top 20 engineering school with <30K undergrads is good.
Well, not many options there. Plan on going to Auburn. If you like the school that waitlisted you, then accept admission if they offer it. Otherwise go to Auburn and try to transfer to whatever schools you want.
By the way, pre-engineering courses are no “joke.” Maybe for humanities or social science majors freshman courses are joke, but freshman engineering courses are about as challenging as it gets.