Could the parents please help me? (Transfer App, Financial Aid..)

Parents Forum
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<p>I would like to get the honest opinion from the parents on this board regarding these schools also my chances of getting in if possible.I feel that this time i should choose a school based on other perspectives and also based on its rank(not totally important for me)
and academics(more important now) as well as the socialization in the school(less important now. .I realize some of the schools in my list are impossible to get into but some of them i think are easy matches .I feel like i ignored some parents advice on these boards before so this time i will hear you out and all that you have to say would be part of my consideration.I am also applying for need based aid in all schools with an efc of 0 right now (I am also considered independent for most of them as i am 24 years old in march).I am a new york resident.</p>

<p>Current School: texas tech
Transfer to:
Bard College, Boston University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, George Washington University, University of Chicago, University of Miami, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University</p>

<p>High School GPA: 2.0(israel)
College GPA: 3.76 in 47 credits so far(3.77 gpa from 35 credits from nassau community college(new york) and 3.75 in 12 credits from texas tech)Taking 12 intensive credits in spain right now!!(study abroad)
Ec's-tennis team in community college(made it to nationals) ,joined the raquetball club and tennis club at texas tech,Studying abroad in spain right now(counts? ),Going to russia in the summer to study russian in russia(dont think many people do that).
SAT's- requirement is for some schools and for the ivys sake my sat is really low being a 1000 out of 1600...</p>

<p>I am applying to the linguistics department for almost all schools(international business for a few)
My safeties are 4 suny schools in new york as i am instate in new york( bing,albany,buffalo,new palts)</p>

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<p>Forgot to mention i am also quad lingual (If you count spanish which i am learning now .
I can speak japanese(cant write) hebrew (native speaker level) english (native speaker level) spanish (I can understand alot after taking intensive spanish classes in spain))
Also I was in the Israeli army for 3 years 18-21 but didn’t talk much about it.</p>

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<p>I don’t know about transfer stats b/c my D is HS class 2012 so our searching has involved freshman entrance, but your stats look very low in every regard for all the choices you list (except I don’t know anything about University of Miami). CC and Tech GPA’s seem low - wouldn’t be low if it was from, say, Cornell or the schools you have listed as the ones you want to attend. I have no idea how much weight EC’s play in transfer to help you, but not sure they are all that impressive either.</p>

<p>I could be way off, but that’s my thinking. Still should try though.</p>

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<p>Is there any chance that by returning to Nassau you could finish up an AA or AS that has a guaranteed transfer agreement with a 4-year institution that offers your major? For example, Cornell is pretty generous with admitting transfers from the NYS community colleges and I expect that the SUNY/CUNY system might be as well.</p>

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<p>Isn’t Bard SAT optional? I think your good grades in college should help overcome the average SAT score, especially since English is not your first language. I don’t know enough about transfer applicants to even venture chances, except to say I think you have a reasonable chance at Bard.</p>

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<p>The OP stated he speaks English at the native speaker level. He probably grew up in NY.</p>

<p>OP, how are you studying abroad in Spain and Russia with an EFC of 0?</p>

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<p>Hello,
I got excellent financial aid from my current school I only had to pay 4k for the whole year!!.
I thought a 3.75 gpa was considered very high in college?.I know about 1/2 of the schools in my list don’t need sats .Unc and uva didn’t require sat’s.No chance happy mom … I would rather finish up a first degree and then complete a masters degree in a high ranked school instead.I grew up in israel but always had an affinity for English.
Sadly indeed my ec’s are not the most amazing ones.</p>

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<p>Among your safety schools – the 4 SUNY’s you’ve listed – I’d say Binghamton offers the best profile for you re: foreign languages and Linguistics. What a large and powerful department they have in languages. A neighbor of mine went there for languages and Linguistics, finds plentiful offerings in Asian languages (as a freshman) while waiting for her first actual course in Linguistics. I also know one prof in Russian languages at Bing who speaks highly of her university, FWIW. </p>

<p>If you end up coming to BUffalo, well, that’s a large university with a representative number of Israelis here in the various grad schools - pharmacy and others. They even hang out at Hillel, and sometimes Chabad (!) – not because they’ve turned “religious” (hey they are Israelis!) but because that’s the social pathway to meet the other Israelis, and some American Jews while at university. It’s probably true to some extent at all the SUNY’s you listed, but I know from living near SUNYBuffalo that it works ok for the Israelis. You won’t feel like, as an Israeli citizen, that you are from the moon – and I wonder if it feels that way sometimes at Texas Tech. Anyway, culture fit can be comforting-- sometimes. I think you’ll welcome a change to SUNY’s if only for that. Anyway, it’s great to have safeties in NY.</p>

<p>I don’t have data on it, but I simply hope and believe that your current college GPA’s from Nassau CC and Texas Tech (I, too, think 3.75 from college = high) will mean more than the 2.0 highschool GPA from pre-army days. You were so much younger then. </p>

<p>It’s ok that you didn’t describe army work much on your app. All you had to do was list it. It explains your age and will be respected as a maturing influence, leading to greater academic discipline today (as you’ve shown in Texas). </p>

<p>I think your entire list is a bit stratospheric given the SAT scores, but since you have SUNY Safeties/Instate residency, what’s the harm in trying? You can be surprised by what an individual college might need or want to add to their community of students. You also have some middle-reach, quality private schools like BU and URochester, along with UVA. I just wouldn’t hold my breath for Dartmouth and Columbia as I can’t see that you’re bringing them anything remarkable from your record. That’s why your list is fine: you have safeties, matches and high reaches. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about having non-amazing EC’s. I think the main think they’ll register about you is that you’ve already served in the army, so know how to manage yourself and your time. That you go out for tennis and raquetball shows you’re healthy and not just sitting still in a dorm room somewhere. Not every application rises and falls on EC’s. The fact of having the army history would make up for a list of dazzling EC’s, at least in my mind (although I’m not an admissions officer). You go with what you have. </p>

<p>BTW, you didn’t mention Letters of Recommendation - hopefully there are good words there. I can’t quite read your academic personality from what you’ve written here, but LOR’s often hint at that (how you approach assignments, work with others on projects, level of initiative, etc).</p>

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<p>I have one good LOR from a professor of my which is a graduate from notre dam.However he is known to cut ends … and the 2nd Lor will a professor who doesn’t know me so well(pretty much last choice but i got a B+ in the class) OR my current spanish professor(2 months intensive class ends in 2 weeks) .The spanish professor isnt too excited about writing it.Because it has been so long since i have been in community college its just so hard to get good recs.
The problem with the safeties is the financial aid just wont be as good as the ivies or UVA and UNC (maybe gwu) .So therefore it is still a safetie.</p>

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<p>Perhaps, in addition to the academic LOR’s, you can think of someone to provide an “additional LOR” from a non-academic sphere of your life. That could be an employer, coach, trip/tour leader, neighbor or local community leader of some kind whom you know on a personal level. I like it when they talk about how one handles stress. That’s kind of a universal topic that applies to college life.</p>

<p>They can speak more freely about your character and personality (honest, hardworking, friendly, energetic, thoughtful…whatever you are). I think many schools allow one extra letter, as long as it adds to - not substitutes for - the 2 academic LOR’s that are standard. LOR’s can be sent in late. I think these “can’t hurt/might help.”</p>

<p>What’s up with the Spanish professor who isn’t up to writing you a hot letter? Perhaps when the course you take with him ends, and he sees how you do on the final tests, he’d be more willing to make a statement about you. If you could make a quiet, calm appointment to talk with him about what all this means to you and your life-- after the final test is submitted, very soon – perhaps you can reach him on a human level to go to bat for you. Slow down and have a quiet, meaningful conversation with him at an appointment time (not just rush by after class). End the visit with, “Thanks for meeting with me. I hope you can think about it. I’ll contact you again soon.” People need time to “think about it.” I believe it’s one of the most persuasive phrases in this culture, and too rarely used. (If, after all that, he still doesn’t sound excited to write you a letter, then go for the other B+ guy).</p>

<p>It’s also ok to be candid and ask this way: “Are you able to write me a good LOR?” That gives them the chance to decline. You might be misreading his level of “being excited” to write for you. After all, to him it’s Work. If you ask the way I wrote, it’s very professional. I am haunted by an Israeli grad school cousin of mine who discovered someone had written him a very awful LOR, and he didn’t know for a solid year until his advisor fished it out and told him to never use it. Who know why it was so awful – actually we do know why: that prof was promoting someone else in the department and was wiping out the competition for a highly, highly competitive post. So don’t ask, “can you write me a LOR” – rather ask, “can you write me a good LOR.”

Very true. On that, I guess you have to endure the wait until all the results come in and compare opportunities. Unless someone else reading this has good suggestions for this OP?</p>

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<p>paying3tuitions your advice has been quite quite solid and i do thank you.Also to ask you something else.Unc and Uva do not require reccomendations or sat for me(transfer and 5 years from highschool) .Should i still send them recs? they pretty much said if 2 people are the same and one has recs that it wont make any difference.My spanish teacher simply said she didn’t know me good enough yet… and the professor i got a B+ in said she will give me a rec but it will not be a personal level.I like UNC And UVA so far because they are solid schools which accept about 33% of transfers which makes it a match i would say for me and the financial is awesome at those schools.</p>

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<p>How about really working to impress the Spanish teacher in the remaining 2 weeks of this class? That, followed by a special appointment to discuss the recommendation and all your plans with her, and then so she will “know you better.” That way, you’ll have a recent and perhaps more personal rec. </p>

<p>It sounds as though there’s nothing wrong with whatt the B+ teacher will say, but only that he doesn’t quite remember you so will say that you’re a B+ student, which isn’t a very interesting recommendation. His grade on the transcript says about the same. Sometimes people write to a long-lost prof and remind them of some of the papers they wrote, hoping those titles will show up in the LOR. Who knows. You can’t control what anyone writes about you, all you can do is remind them of a few pieces of work you did long ago. Those might get echoed in his letter. I still prefer getting something great from your current Spanish teacher. But if your grade is lower than B with her, then forget that and take the dull B+ prof’s rec. If he knows you as a student and remembers you as a student, that’s okay; it doesn’t have to be intensely personal. I think you’re really going to be OK with any of these recs, but I’m trying to get your best since that’s still something not yet submitted. </p>

<p>I don’t know how to advise you on UVA or UNC. I like what you’re saying about the high percentage of transfers they accept, and their good financial aid possibilities. </p>

<p>Regarding LOR’s for UVA and UNC: Perhaps you can ask that specific question on each of those college forums here on CC. Hmm, you’ve heard that “if 2 students are the same…the recs make no difference.” I don’t quite understand that. Two students are never the same. At worst, it means they won’t bother to read the letters, or count them for points. But if you have them, there’s no harm to send them. I believe in “going the extra mile” for the things you care most about. So I’d send them anyway, if you have the time to arrange it. (Can’t hurt, might help). I think they are saying that to indicate that a flaming-hot LOR won’t change their decisions at those 2 particular schools. So don’t die trying to obtain one for them! But just send whatever you have, knowing it won’t change the outcome. Some schools just don’t find LOR’s helpful as they make decisions; perhaps they are more numbers-based. Others put more stock in LOR’s, reading them and looking for personal clues about prospective students. UVA and UNC are saying they don’t learn much from anyone’s LOR’S, so don’t expect them to be swayed by them. Not true at other places, where they can make a difference to a reader.</p>

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<p>Okay, I am going to go against the grain and urge you to explore further what Texas Tech has to offer rather than transfering. Try transferring to Tech’s Honors College. With your high GPA you will get accepted so no worries about your low SATs at the other colleges. My son attended Tech’s Honors College and had a great set of experiences including a Washington D.C. internship. Also, you will be surrounded by Honors College students who are very capable (average SAT;s of 1300). You are already taking advantage of Tech’s offerings by going on a semester in Spain. You will get to know more Honors College professors who will be ready to write you fine recommendations for grad school. (By the way, I was a transfer student to the University of Chicago and graduated there with a BA and MBA.) My son graduated three years ago and is currently working for a Fortune 250 oil field services firm. Regarding grad school placement, Tech’s Honors College has a fine record. Two of my son’s friends include a current PhD candidate in biology at Cornell University and a Fulbright Scholar who now lives in Mexico City. Unless there are compelling reasons for you to transfer, the home front at Tech may satisfy all your needs for intellectual stimulation while you prepare for life after graduation.</p>

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<p>Another note…you mention a possible major in international business. It’s entirely possible from Tech with my son as an example. He graduated with a business degree from Tech so no “international” concentration. However, at the oil field services company he works for he is surrounded by employees from around the world. A colleague one desk over transferred from Russia a few months ago. The head of his Division is from Venezuela. My son attended an oil field services conference in Bahrain last October and presented a paper which he co-authored with another colleague. And he was on a recruiting team from his company at Tech just a couple weeks ago. One of his mentors is a native Canadian with a Vietnamese wife. At Tech it can be “From here it’s possible” as their slogan goes.</p>