<p>I'm a student at a large state flagship who's interested in transferring to Cornell/Brown/Michigan/Columbia/Georgetown as a Math/Econ major. Is 3.9+ (like 3.92) considered competitive? I understand the higher the better- most of my grades are As, but I have two A-s, and B+ from an upper level math course (500 level) I took as a freshman (learned my lesson). Since then, my grades have improved. Am I just splitting hairs?</p>
<p>Yes, as well as your Extra Curriculars and Personal Statement (if required)</p>
<p>@Matt- Yes as in I’m splitting hairs?</p>
<p>3.9 is a great GPA. </p>
<p>Ivys take like, 3 transfers a year. They prefer to just admit freshman. I wouldn’t expect on getting in there regardless of your GPA.</p>
<p>For the other schools you have a pretty good shot</p>
<p>Ivy League schools vary in terms of transfer-friendliness. Cornell enrolls several hundred transfer students per year. Princeton does not accept any transfers.</p>
<p>@ucb: I’m leaning towards Cornell, Brown, Michigan, and some other schools that have a relatively fair share of transfers each year. Yale and Chicago have great econ and math departments, but absurdly low transfer rates. </p>
<p>@Ctesiphon, not true at all. Aside from Princeton, where they don’t accept any, even Harvard, the most competitive school for transfer admission, takes 8~12 each year. I know you are exaggerating a bit to underscore how hard it is to get in to Ivy as a transfer, but I advise you not to give out such false information to intentionally discourage someone from applying. </p>
<p>With that said, Ivy’s transfer admission rate range from 1%(Harvard) to ~15%(Cornell). Cornell, as mentioned above, admit hundreds every year, but do take the number with a grain of salt, since close to half, or maybe more, are from the Guaranteed Transfer option. That means they already made it in as a freshman, just wasn’t given admission at that time. With that said, I am in a similar situation like you, 4.0, state school, a very rigorous course schedule, lots of community involvement, etc, and I have applied to a bunch of Ivys as well. It’s quite funny that I am Econ/Math as well. The deadline is past for many schools now, but just to increase the odds of getting into the institution comparable to your level of academic standard, I recommend you to apply to some other Econ-powerhouse schools like Northwestern (3/15 deadline), Stanford, and many other liberal arts schools that offer your undergrad econ education comparable to those offered from Ivys (Williams, Swarthmore?). I hope I helped!</p>
<p>Oh by the way, if I were to chance you given the information you mentioned above, I would say you are most likely to make it in to Michigan. Georgetown doesn’t seem to have top-tier econ department (i did a fair amount of independent research), so you may have a significant chance in there as well. I’d say admission to Cornell would be match~high match, and will depend highly on your essays, recommendations, and ECs (those that make you “special” and differentiate you from the crowd). Brown (although their Econ department is not even close to Columbia) and Columbia are, as for everyone else, going to be hard.</p>
<p>I forgot to discuss about your original question “is my GPA competitive?” in my answer. That is a very complicated question… You have to consider many other variables, not just a GPA. Is a 4.0 GPA in a community college (I am not dissing CCs here) the same as a 4.0 at Harvard? I would say no. Would adcoms think an applicant from Harvard with a 3.5 GPA is academically inferior to someone from a CC with a 4.0 GPA? Probably not. We are both Econ/Math concentration, going to state schools. If we were to going to the same school, taking the same exact courses, and came out with a 4.0(me) and a 3.9(you), does that make me smarter and better than you? No.
What I am trying to get here is there is really no one number that measures someone’s intelligence and academic potentials. Adcoms know this too. That’s why I think once you have a GPA above a certain point (say 3.8~) they would focus more on other parts of your applications like essays and ECs. I say don’t worry about it, your GPA is competitive.</p>
<p>Assume that cost is not a factor given OOS tuition at Michigan and need aware admissions & limited FA at B?</p>
<p>@aerivus: I did apply to Northwestern, as well as Rice and NYU. In terms of rigor, all math classes are 400/500 level, while the econ ones are 200/300. Hope it works out for both of us.</p>
<p>@entomom: I assumed that I would get little aid from Michigan. Didn’t apply for aid at Brown, cost not an issue.</p>