Desperate to Transfer

Transfer Students
1

I’m currently a rising second year student at the University of Virginia, and I’ve had one hell of a year.

As a high school senior, I was waitlisted at most of my top choice schools (mostly small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast: Barnard, Wellesley, Trinity, etc.) I had a lackluster high school record ending with a 3.8 GPA, 2110 SAT, and typical extracurriculars.

All of these waitlists broke my heart but I dealt with it and decided to spend a year at a state school I could afford, the University of Virginia. This was mostly out of convenience as I received an almost full ride and it was close to home so I could take care of my family and my ill father. I was determined to earn a GPA awesome enough for me to entertain the possibility of transferring if I didn’t end up liking UVA, didn’t fit in, etc. I was aiming for a 3.7+.

But my first semester at UVA, my father passed away from cancer. My GPA was a wreck. My second semester at UVA, I was assaulted by a classmate. You guessed it, my GPA is now an even bigger wreck. I’m standing with my heart in my hands and a 2.5 GPA wondering if it’s even worth getting my hopes up to apply as a transfer to all of the schools I dreamed of attending all throughout high school.

I don’t want my transfer application to sound like a sob story, but I have gone through unimaginable things and have walked through hell and back in the course of a school year. I’ve had academic advisors and counselors ask me how I am still standing after everything I’ve gone through. And I don’t even know how! I just know that I’m taking it one day at a time. And I’m a very, very determined person bent on escaping my “southern charm” college of prep school kids I can’t possibly relate to. I just don’t fit in.

My question is: is it worth it? Do my awful experiences justify my 2.5 GPA? I don’t think it would have been humanly possible for me to get anything above it. I just don’t want to be crushed by applying to all of these dream schools of mine only to find out I have to spend the next three years at a confusing, awkward, southern prep school.

2

Firstly, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. No one should have to experience those things, and I just wanted to say that you’re so brave and strong for finishing out the year.

If you do decide to transfer, DEFINITELY have your dean or something write to the universities that you’re applying to explaining the situation, as like you said, you don’t want your entire application to be about what has happened–you’re applying because you envision yourself having a brighter future, and your essays should reflect that.

Barnard and Wellesley really mean it when they say that they have a holistic process, I think, and it will help that you applied to them last year! However, I would caution you that Trinity is very, very preppy. I don’t know if it would be all that different from UVA, judging by my friends’ experiences.

No one can really judge how colleges will view a unique situation like yours, so unfortunately I can’t give you a definite answer. But if you want to transfer, you’ll only regret it if you don’t try.