Lol I know this is really, like REALLY early to consider this, but during this COVID-19 and also my experiences in my first year of college (rising soph here), I realized I’d really love a strong liberal arts education along with my studies in engineering. So I am planning to apply for seas at Columbia for the next year.
Since there really is no thread dedicated for 2021 transfers, I plan to make one here!.. ya gurl gotta get ready early I’d really love to meet y’all applying for transfer next year!!
I’m in the same boat! Except I just transferred to a T20 but am planning on transferring again (complicated reasons due to covid). Columbia is my DREAM school!
hey guys, i’m a rising sophomore at Columbia university who got in as a transfer student this year. I can answer questions you guys may have, as a i remember how stressful this process can be.
I am really interested in Columbia and am applying to transfer for Fall 2021 at the schools I am applying to. If you do not mind me asking, what were your stats in high school and College and your major at Columbia?
Congrats! I am a perspective applicants for Columbia and my major is offered both in CAS and SEAS. I am just curious in terms of difficulty, which one would be easier for transfer admission? (The ‘two semester physics and chem prerequisite for SEAS kinda impeded me. I am not sure if it’s wise to take choose courses instead of humanities and social sciences since I am also applying to other schools’ CAS’)
Yeah, so I applied as a Classics Major with a minor in Economics. My high school GPA was a 3.85 and my SAT score was 1590. I did a couple of activities and got a couple of awards in high school, but to save everyone time, my main activities were president of Science Olympiad and Science Bowl, and my two main awards was graduating Cum Laude (finishing top 20% in my graduating class) and being nominated for the Presidential Scholar Award.
I transferred out of Columbia from Amherst College. At Amherst, my GPA was a 3.95. My two main extracurriculars were founding and running the Amherst Economic Review and partaking in a new club called Save the Earth.
I don’t have an answer regarding the difficulty transferring to CAS vs SEAS. What I can say is that as a senior in high school I applied as an Economics major and got rejected. In college, I applied as a Classics Major. I have a friend whose father is an econ professor at Columbia and she says her father said it is more difficult to get into Columbia applyin as an Econ major. So clearly, you should think carefully regarding how u apply as to Columbia.
I am a rising sophomore thinking about sending in a transfer application in March. Waitlisted and then denied for c/o 2023 RD.
Although standardized test scores, college GPA, etc. are not a concern for me, I am concerned about how the admissions committee might look at my involvement in extracurricular activities at college.
Rather—extracurricular activity. I attended some club meetings at the beginning of my freshman year but frankly found them all uninteresting. I have, however, spent five months working as a research assistant in my desired field of study. If I convey my deep interest in this single activity, would it be enough to make a strong application?
Additionally, I wanted to know if you all had any opinions regarding what constitutes a “good” reason to want to transfer from your current institution. I go to a top public university, but my access to high-quality faculty members (to work as a research assistant or to advise me on a senior thesis) is limited. Should I get more specific than this in my application (i.e. naming Columbia faculty members that I am interested in working with, etc.)?
did you take mostly econ or classics courses at amherst? I’m looking to transfer as a economics-philosophy major, but now I’m considering applying as a philosophy major with an econ minor. however, I’ve taken more econ courses than philosophy courses so I worry they’ll think I’m just applying as a philosophy major because there’s a higher chance of getting in?
I don’t think you need to worry about how many classes you are taking in each subject. At Amherst for my freshman year, I took 3 economics classes, Adv. Micro and Adv. Macro and Development Economics, but I only took 1 Latin course. However, it was the highest available Latin course offered at Amherst and I did end up winning a school wide prize for it. So what I would suggest is rather than thinking about how many classes you are taking in each subject, make sure you take specific courses that really show you’re knowledgable and interested in the field.
Hi! Thank you for your help! I was just wondering, should I take the SATs again as a college freshman for Columbia transfer (I’m applying as a film major). I had a 3.8 cumulative GPA for high school and a 4.0 in college (also won four academic awards and was incredibly involved with the theatre program in high school) but only got in the 92% percentile for SATs. Would SATs matter in this case?
Hi! Would you be willing to chance me or point out some weak spots in my application?
I was waitlisted last year, but am planning on reapplying (going for MechE).
HS
3.9 uw (4.0something weighted)
1520 SAT / 34 ACT
MUN president
Student council treasurer
Volunteer tutoring
Some research at a local hospital (not that interesting/major applicable)
Foreign exchange
Essays were pretty middle of the road, Recs were probably 8.5/10 (went to a very small school and knew teachers personally for 4 years)
Accepted at BU Honors, NEU, Case, and a few safeties
Waitlisted at Columbia, NU
Rejected at CMU
College (ended up attending a state safety for finance reasons)
4.0 (so far)
Engineers without borders (non competitive)
Engineering student council (competitive)
Honors student council vp (not that competitive)
2 research positions (1 competitive, 1 volunteer)
Robotics (probably going to drop soon)
Cycling
Volunteering teaching kids in middle school with disabilities STEM
Essays will hopefully be stronger this year, recs will probably be weaker due to Zoom university.
Reasons for transferring: NYC (not that I’ll say this), Core (went to an arts HS, and realized I want more humanities in college after a term), academically motivated students/community, 1 specific lab I would like to work with.
Planning on just applying to Columbia and NU, as my current school is pretty good. Thank you!!
Hey everyone! I’m joining this thread because I’m also applying to Columbia business school for the fall of 2021. I’m currently attending a community college in NY. I don’t think I would get in. I don’t have extracurriculars because I work part-time and Covid. I’m still applying anyway. My stats are:
3.7 gpa so far
PTK and lambda sigma member.
I’m part of one club.
Dean’s Least all my 3 semesters
Precalculus honors credits
I know I don’t have a chance compared to many of the applicants with a bunch of extracurriculars. ( I’m a stutterer guy, so I might write my essay about my speech disability maybe that helps lol)
I’d really love to meet y’all applying for transfer next year!!