I know I’m definitely not the first student who has dreamed of transferring to Brown, but given my current status I’d like to know what the consensus is on how I’d be most likely to get there.
I graduated HS in the spring of last year with a GPA that only barely allowed me to walk. I was in the IB program and took the most rigorous classes my school had to offer, but I hardly turned in my work and eventually dropped out of the program. I got all 4s and 5s on my AP tests, however, and 6s and 7s on my IB tests. My SAT is a 2240, with an 800 in math, though I have yet to test again to try to raise my superscore. I was a varsity debate member, participated in academic league and academic decathlon, and founded a poetry club my senior year. I never applied to any colleges.
I took a break during the Fall of 2014 and now am taking as many credits and honors courses as possible this semester (Spring 2015) at a quality community college, and plan to get a 4.0. I’m on the Mock UN team and have been involved in grassroots committees and protests since the fall of last year. I’m not sure it would be of interest to an AdCom, but I am also currently teaching myself to play the violin.
Would I have a shot at an undergraduate transfer, or is it more likely that I would have to go to a non-Ivy school first as a sort of intermediate? Should I aim to take CLEPs or more IB/AP tests before applying? SAT/ACT? I do plan on getting involved in more extracurriculars and volunteer/internship programs.
Transfer admissions to Brown and other ivies is even more competitive than freshman admissions. The most recent common data set for Brown shows a 4.9 % admissions rate for transfers with 88 students accepted. Brown also expects you to spend two years there.
Although @prefect is right in that transfer admissions to ivies are much more competitive, they still tend to take a handful of community college students. If you think you can make the cut, I’d say go for it!
“they still tend to take a handful of community college students” True, but does the OP resemble any of those accepted CC student transferees?
Here’s the real deal. Transfer admits resemble students who would be admitted as freshmen. You have a solid SAT but the rest of your academic record does not make you viable. More ECs do not wipe away a middling HS academic record. Your best route is to pursue either a combination of a good CC + transfer to a solid 4 yr college that you can see yourself happily graduating from — or to apply as in incoming freshman to the best 4 yr college from start. There’s NOTHING wrong with attending other colleges and graduating w/a solid GPA (and as low a debt as possible). Transfer into Brown is a near impossible reach IMHO.
T26E4: I would disagree, because OP is an IB student - and the high school record is weighted less than the IB scores. In that case, OP got 6s and 7s so that should help.
The reality, though, is that most transfers to Ivies and similarly ranked colleges are “lateral” transfers, ie., from other 4 year colleges, not from CC.
Another issue is that OP may no longer access the best institutional aid, which is reserved for freshmen. Therefore, the issue not only is academic, but also financial.
OP: what state are you in? What’s your parents’ budget ?
I don’t think this is true for students in IB programs in the United States. Indeed, typically colleges make admissions decisions before final IB test scores are available, based on the transcript. It’s different for international students who may not have the same kind of transcript, and need to rely on predicted IB scores. OP had a transcript–one which was apparently quite bad.
I’m sorry to have to say that I also think that it is very unrealistic for OP to think he has a significant chance of transferring into Brown, even with very good community college grades. There’s no harm in applying, of course (other than the cost)–but it shouldn’t be the main feature of the plan. The real plan has to be transfer to a less selective college, perhaps a state flagship that has an agreement with the community college.