Hi,
So I’m a high school senior about to go into college. I, however have plans to transfer into a top school (Cornell, UPenn, or Vanderbilt) during sophomore or junior year. I messed up really badly in high school and have a terrible GPA due to extenuating circumstances (family issue). I want to get a 4.0 GPA in college and I know I will have to work hard to get it. My question, however, is how will my high school GPA will look to them when I am looking to transfer?
Google the Common Data Set for each school and look at section D.
Thanks for responding, but that doesn’t really answer my question. I know that these schools require a high school transcript. I’m just saying how much will it factor in to transfer admissions?
The importance of high school grades in a transfer varies among colleges and thus there is no one answer that fits all and you have to check with each college to which you are applying. For majority, high school grades will still be important factor if applying for entry into sophomore year, including because usually all that is available when you apply and the decision is made are first semester, freshman college grades. Majority require high school grades if you are applying for entry into junior year only to establish that you actually completed high school with required courses for admisison and rely only on college grades to determine the admission decision. Nevertheless, many of the high ranked colleges (including the ones you list) still consider them as a factor for determining admission into junior year although college grades are the most important.
So would it actually be better that on my application it would show that I had a mid 2.0 gpa and then go to a nearly 4.0 GPA in college? Would that be to my advantage?
If the college considers high school grades, the answer is yes and no. Yes, having the 4.0 college GPA shows you have overcome your weak high school performance and thus helps, but someone else with a 4.0 high school GPA and 4.0 college GPA is still going to look better. Also, if attempting transfer into sophomore year, it may not help at all as one of the things many colleges will be giving some importance to in the valuation is whether you likely would have been admitted as a freshman.
But isn’t it an advantage for college admissions office to know that someone coming into their school knows how to overcome a weak GPA (due to life circumstances) and thus look stronger than the one with the 4.0 GPA on both transcript. And also I would definitely transfer junior year.