Hi, I’m narrowing my list of schools to transfer to and I thought I’d see if anyone here had advice. I’m 25 and currently a community college sophomore.
Stats:
SAT - 2050 (800 CR, 580 M, 670 W)
College GPA - 3.98 (one A- in Business Law 200)
HS GPA - 2.1 (I had zero motivation in high school and slacked in everything but sports)
Extra curricular:
After high school I worked in the film industry for three years. The most notable one I worked on was the Amazon show “The Man in the High Castle”, which should win some Emmys this fall. I also produced a short film which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and then cofounded a talent management and production company but after a year I left to go to school.
In high school I was a four time letterman in track and cross country and had the school record in the 4x800 relay. I also volunteered with the county parks department to do reforestation and I continue to do that now at my community college.
Potential majors - I am leaning towards something in the liberal arts, such as political science, English, or economics.
Cost - I haven’t worked much the last year so I could focus on school and so I have an EFC of 0.
Location - I’m not picky, I just want the best school possible.
Washington but I will not be applying to any in-state schools. I would edit my post if I could since I realized after posting that I don’t want to go to school on the west coast if that could be avoided.
Realistically, public schools tend to be more transfer-friendly (though some private schools like USC do admit significant numbers of transfers), but out-of-state public schools give little or no financial aid, and merit scholarships (at either public or private schools) tend to be far fewer for transfers than frosh.
Since Washington public universities are likely to be among your more realistically affordable options, you should not write them off so quickly.
I’m looking at private schools so I wouldn’t think out of state would be an issue. Cost restraints are $15,000 or less after financial aid. Duke, Vanderbilt, and USC are the main ones I’m interested in but I don’t know if my stats are good enough.
Your GPA is high, so I think you have a shot, although these schools are reaches for anyone.
Duke & Vanderbilt meet full need, but USC meets “near” full need. I’d run the NPC, although I doubt you’ll have over $15,000 remaining.
What are you going to do if Duke/Vandy/USC do not accept you? And do any of those CSS Profile schools require parents’ info even though you’re 25? Some may…
You’re making a mistake if you don’t also apply to some instate publics as back ups. If D V USC don’t accept you, what will you do?
You wrote that you’re looking at privates, so you think cost won’t be an issue. Well, you’re wrongly assuming that privates give great aid to low income transfers. Only a smallish number do. Most will give lousy aid to low income transfers.
Where would you get the $15k per year to put towards college? Your FA pkg will likely already include full student loans (except maybe at Vandy). You can’t count on earning/saving that much to put towards college.
I have the money figured out and am applying to in-state schools as a backup plan. The only thing that I am asking is if those schools are a match academically.
Duke / Vanderbilt would be difficult, because CC GPA might not be enough to show you are on that level. No SAT IIs,or academic accomplishments from high school. Should be a lock for University of Washington though. Think Berkeley and UCLA also possibilities. Can apply to Duke/Vanderbilt level as reaches.
Hmm. Trying to figure out how you have an EFC of 0 but can afford $15K/year (OP and post 6), and you have the finances all figured out (post 11). The UC suggestions won’t work since the OP would have to pay $50K+/year.
@HRSMom I wasn’t asking about a specific school exactly, so I didn’t think it fit in there. All that I was wanting was to know what tier of schools would be an academic and that seemed to fall within the “College Search & Selection” category.