Wow, I knew Vandy liked transfers, but I didn’t realize the acceptance rate was that high!!
1 Like
Look at the core curriculum at Gtown before you apply. As a Jesuit college the core curriculum there may be very similar to BC’s.
1 Like
Thanks, that’s a good point
You may want to check the general education requirements of your transfer targets. For example, Northwestern and Georgetown also require foreign language at the level of completing the second year course (i.e. fourth semester or sixth quarter, if you needed to start in the beginner course). Also note that it is not assured that a course you take at BC will fulfill subject credit for major or general education requirements at the new college (particularly if going between semester and quarter system colleges where year long sequences may be split at different points in the course), so you may end up having to take more courses than you anticipated at the new college.
Why not choose one major and take the most interest courses in the second subject without trying to check all of the boxes for a second major?
Also, some of the courses may take for economics or English may fulfill some of BC’s general education requirements.
4 Likes
I have narrowed it down to Brown, far reach, Hamilton, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern. The Northwestern website says that that applicants have a B average. If that is a floor, as I assume a 3.0 is, is a 3.61 still somewhat competitive given their relatively high, ~15%, admit rate. I about where my gpa and courseload stand with Brown and Hamilton, but was wondering if somebody could give a good view of chances at Northwestern and Vanderbilt, with 15+ admit rate. I know with schools like Cornell, the admit rate is higher due to CC admits and guaranteed transfer, does anyone have any idea if this explains Vanderbilt and Northwestern? Thanks!
1 Like
No, neither have the CC admit volume (aside from taking recruited athletes from CCs), nor do they offer a guaranteed transfer option like Cornell.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking most accepted transfers have a B average at NU…they do not.
I would characterize both Vandy and NU as reaches, but both are relatively transfer friendly for highly rejective schools. As always the devil is in the details, which we don’t know…but both are likely to count many recruited athletes in the transfer numbers.
It is critical that your reasons for transfer are academic in nature, clear, and compelling. I don’t think the core requirements can be the reason at the transfer schools that have similar requirement to BC’s.
I think I said this above, but if you are certain you want to be in a different spot this fall, you have to have at least one more likely transfer school on your list. If staying at BC is ok, then your list is good.
2 Likes
Simply considering this generally, colleges tend to signal with their acceptance rates their degree of receptivity to transfer applicants. Transfer rates near or higher than those for first-year applicants, such as at Hamilton, Vanderbilt and Northwestern, suggest an inviting admission process for qualified transfer applicants. In contrast, Brown, with its 3.5% acceptance rate for transfers, appears to express a dearth of enthusiasm for even highly qualified transfer applicants.
My D transferred to Vanderbilt and Vandy does have distribution requirements similar to the BC core (they call them AXLE); I believe around 14 classes (including a foreign language requirement). That being said, many students do double majors because most classes can fulfill both major and AXLE requirements. I’d suggest reviewing those requirements to see to what extent your current courses may fulfill some of them. There is a writing requirement that must be fulfilled at Vanderbilt before the end of sophomore year.
Vanderbilt does an amazing job welcoming and integrating their transfers into the college community.
Good luck with your apps!
Second that. My son at Stanford has 11 general requirements in 8 different categories called WAYS, plus 3 writing requirements (the third is Writing in the major), and language requirements. Most first-year classes fulfill a Way, including courses taken toward the major. AP Language score of 5 can get you out of language classes.
Be clear about what how your “educational goals” will be met at each school you apply to- in a way that they cannot be where you are. The fact of it being challenging to do a double major and a minor across economics, english & history is unlikely to be a persuasive argument in and of itself.
1 Like
I am wondering why you want to double major. You might want to look into the possibility of majoring for example in economics, and just taking the English and history classes that you are interested in.
If at some point you wanted to get a master’s degree in English or in history, they will want to know that you got a bachelor’s degree from a reputable university (such as Boston College), and that you took the relevant undergraduate courses. However having a bachelor’s in economics rather than English does not seem likely to be a problem.
Years ago I was considering double majoring in mathematics and computer science. Instead I just majored in mathematics, and took the CS classes that I was interested in, while having a part time CS job. My first serious professional job was as a software engineer (working on a type of software where also having the math background was very useful). It was never a problem that I had backed off on double majoring.
Generally reading through this thread I am wondering about the need to transfer.
2 Likes
That’s sort of where I was going, @DadTwoGirls. A lot of times students overestimate the importance of the word ‘major’, and how much weight either employers or grad schools give to that. The actual classes typically matter more for grad school, and the experience (eg, internships, volunteer work, etc) matter more for employment.
Of course, savvy students know that the ‘best’ reason to give for transferring is to get something you can’t get where you are, which is hard when you are coming from highly rated schools. So, identifying a super-niched interest can seem like the best bet. The flip side of that is that you have to find a school that actually has a matching element. So, if (hypothetically) the interest is in the economics of historical literary artifacts, then you need a uni that (say) has a prof who specializes in that.
1 Like
I’m confused how they would look at your GPA because BC is known to have GPA inflation, it would definitely be lower at another school
Grade inflation is everywhere.
Don’t feel so bad, transfers: That’s also the admit rate for RD lately ; )
But even if Brown were to say yes, four courses per semester is the norm (five being the max, though most undergrads have their hands full with four). So even beyond the other issues people here have raised, you’re down 20% on courses in trying to do all this.
My diploma simply says Baccalaureato in Scientia – not even a mention of Engineering, much less double this or minor that. IMO and as others have said, take whatever courses at BC which will fullfill your primary objective (say Econ), and then squeeze in however many others that can fit. You still have approx sixty years following undergrad to get to more courses/subject areas. I didn’t stop exploring areas of interest just because I had completed a BS.
3 Likes
The OP has enrolled in six courses this semester, 50% more than expected at Brown, and has suggested that they took a typical load of five courses in the fall semester. Although Brown determines academic level after enrollment, it appears the OP would be awarded at least two full semesters of work if admitted. The course-for-course credit policy would be more difficult to analyze, however.
A better wording on my part would have been “Going forward (after transfer), you’re looking at a nominal 4 courses per semester vs 5. That would make it even harder to work in an extra major plus a minor, compared to staying at a place where you take more courses per semester.”
Realistically, I don’t see Brown admitting a disgruntled freshman applicant for sophomore year, especially over buyer’s remorse for a circumstance they about going in. So it’s junior year at the earliest, and by then presumably a lot of BC’s required courses are in the rearview mirror anyway.
With respect to the reasons for the OP’s desire to transfer in general, perhaps too much emphasis has been placed on a formal array related to majors and minors. The OP simply may want to explore freely and deeply in the fields of economics, literature and history. The curricula of some colleges suit this preference much better than others. In principle, the OP may be on the right track in an intention to transfer, especially since his or her stated goals have been inherently academic.
1 Like
Brown doesn’t have a core curriculum. I imagine that’s one of the things that makes it attractive to the OP.
[/quote]
Brown doesn’t have a core curriculum. I imagine that’s one of the things that makes it attractive to the OP.
You might want to consider Wesleyan. It’s often referred to as the “mini-Brown” because of its similarly open curriculum. It’s transfer acceptance rate is 24%, which is significantly higher than their first year acceptance rate. It’s also strong in your areas of interest.