I am considering transferring from Colby College after my freshman year. This year at Colby I had a 3.73 and made the Dean’s List. I have no sense of how much high school grades and extracurriculars matter if at all, but In high school I had around a 3.5 unweighted GPA with a 4.18 weighted GPA. My SAT scores were 690 math, 760 reading, 780 writing, and I got two 4s and one 5 on AP exams.
I was a lot more involved in extracurriculars in high school than I was at Colby (in high school I did Model UN, a cappella, honors wind ensemble, lacrosse, cross-country skiing, and fall plays- at Colby I was in a cappella, Enviro Co [environmental club], weekly mentoring with a local elementary schooler [Colby Cares About Kids Club], and I was a member of the Freshman Class Council). I am taking this upcoming year off and doing an internship at the Center for Food Safety in Washington, D.C. I am hoping to major in English and potentially minor in Environmental Science.
I am looking to transfer to a bigger school (medium sized, anywhere from around 3,000 to 10,000) with more opportunities to get involved in the arts, more clubs, etc.
I am thinking about Villanova University, Boston College and Tufts University. Does anyone know how hard it is to get into Tufts as a transfer and if I might have a chance?
Please advise!
Tufts is substantially more competitive than Colby, BC and particularly Villanova. If you think you’re a lot more impressive now than you were in high school, give Tufts a shot. If not, you may be better suited to BC.
“If you think you’re a lot more impressive now than you were in high school, give Tufts a shot.”
The OP has not indicated that s/he would not have been competitive for Tufts as a freshman applicant, but only that his or her original choice has not proved suitable. By SAT score, this student is above average for Tufts.
It’s interesting you say that Tufts really doesn’t care about test scores as much as many other schools do. In the Tufts Common Data Set under the academic factors used for admission, test scores is listed as very important. All the other academic factors are listed as very important too, but you can’t list it any higher than very important.
Perhaps there are schools out there that have stated they care about test scores more than Tufts does. Or is it that Tufts Admissions itself has published something that says it doesn’t care about test scores as many other schools do?
Tufts certainly doesn’t ignore test scores or anything, but at information sessions they stress that they place less weight on a single Saturday morning than on years of grades. When I visited, the woman running the info session repeatedly stated that the transcript was the most important part.
That being said, most college admissions people would probably say the same thing, they just make less of a point of saying it during information sessions. Also, while it’s probably true that the transcript is considered more, admissions people probably prefer to downplay the weight of test scores. It could drive up applicants because students with high grades and low scores would not be scared away from applying, and it’s difficult to judge how much admissions officers actually pay attention to scores.
Hello! I’m considering transferring from UCSD! However, I’m just a freshman here and I know Ill be competing with second years from other schools…would that affect my chances? Plus, can anyone give me a sense of the actual racial diversity of Tufts? I’m tired of all the glossy statistics on the internet
Thanks!
@Ayoxoxo Can you please tell me what your ideal is for racial diversity for a student body? Is there a certain race you are most interested in reaching a specific level? Or is there a race that you would prefer to be under a certain level? Perhaps too much of one kind will be too much for you. Let me know, and I’ll let you know how Tufts fares.