Do you ever feel like you can't find your school?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I don't like to use sports analogies, but I feel like a quadruple-A player, someone who excels at AAA ball but isn't considered good enough to play in the majors.
I've been thinking extensively about the advice I've been given by my college counselors and some of the advice I received from this forum and I can't put a finger on where I really belong.
Northwestern is my dream school but with a cumulative 3.7 GPA from one year at a great liberal arts college and one year at a community college and strong ECs and essays and a recommendation from a professor who earned his Master's at Northwestern, the general consensus is that I won't be accepted because my GPA isn't a 4.0 from a Top 50 school and I wasn't a top 20 student in HS. (Still holding out hope and taking 3 SAT II Subject Tests and am definately going to conduct the informational interview with an NU grad in January.)</p>

<p>So that leaves me at a loss. If I'm not Northwestern or Berkeley material- what am I? Berkeley is the only state school that I like and Northwestern is the only private school I like in the "Top 50" by U.S. News. Everywhere else I applied to was because I just wanted to see who would accept me.
So where do I really belong? If I'm not good enough for the Ivies and wouldn't find the application process for most state schools challenging, and can't afford most private schools unless they offer great financial aid where does a student like me belong? Any suggestions?</p>

2

<p>First off, whoever told you that just because you don’t have a 4.0 GPA, you won’t make it into any “great” colleges, is wrong. As you have probably seen from many posts on this forum, majority would agree that although you may not have a strong a GPA as a 4.0, your personal statement/essay holds great weight too. And there are certainly many 4-0 students who get rejected. When you’re applying to the best schools, you can’t really predict whether or not they’ll accept or reject you based just off of your GPA/ECs.(unless you cured cancer or something)</p>

<p>And even in the event that you aren’t able to attend NU or Cal, it doesn’t mean the end of the world. You can still pursue grad school. I think it’s what you make out of college is the thing really matters.</p>

<p>If you feel that NU and Cal are really a reach, I would look up alternative schools that may be just as good. Maybe the CC you’re currently attending/will be attending may have a transfer agreement program with a great school you may have not heard much about. Or maybe schools that you once thought were “sucky” aren’t so sucky anymore after you’ve done some digging.</p>

<p>This is all my opinion and experience gathered from talking to people who have transferred to great schools.</p>

<p>Just because somebody said you can’t do it, you’re not going to try anymore?</p>

3

<p>You need to check the stats of matriculating transfers to N and UCB to get a better sense of where you stand in terms of GPA/stats. A 3.7 is very solid, so don’t discount either school just yet.</p>

<p>We need your stats and school bio. What year/school/major et al.</p>

4

<p>yeah, your stats are more than fine. i got in to cornell with a 3.49, so don’t even worry :slight_smile: just write really great essays that show that you really only feel like northwestern is the perfect school for you and i don’t see why you wouldn’t have a great shot!</p>

5

<p>i think you have a shot to both schools, like they said just make sure youre essay and interview is great. acceptance/ GPA also matters about which major you go into. </p>

<p>if you like UCB i would also look into more UC’s because there are 10 and all are very good schools… i think you should not be such a pessimist</p>

6

<p>To echo the general sentiment in this thread, a 3.7 is good enough for both Cal and Northwestern. As a junior transfer, you shouldn’t even need to retake the SATs; but if you’re sure you’d do great, go ahead. A bad score, though, could disprove whatever presumption of intellectual competence you’re trying to make.</p>

<p>As an aside, I suggest not getting too hung up on one particular school. I’ve been there, and it isn’t worth it. Having these particular, irrational preferences prevents you from appreciating your school and also makes you ignore glaring flaws in your dream place.</p>

<p>I can relate, though. I had a dream school that I didn’t get into, which prevented me from truly loving my school; about two years in, though, I started giving it a chance and I ended up loving it. The same thing with law schools: I wanted to go to Harvard. I didn’t end up getting in, and that definitely frustrated me, but I got into Stanford, Columbia, NYU… other schools that are arguably just as good, and provide a better learning environment.</p>

<p>And the same thing happened when I interviewed at law firms: I wanted to work at xyz firm so much, and I ended up getting an offer; but, by that time, I had learned: I did follow-up visits with that firm and other firms from whom I received offers. At the end of the day, I chose a different firm (and I wouldn’t change my decision for the world).</p>

<p>So it’s best to start now and keep your mind open: Perhaps your current LAC is a great school, but you’re not giving it a fair evaluation. Perhaps there are other schools, arguably where you’d have an even better chance of getting in, that you would like more than Northwestern or Cal. Use the Christmas Break to go touring, or check out the virtual tours on school websites (I know Rice has a great one).</p>

7

<p>well actually flowerhead, I transferred from the LAC to a community college because I couldn’t afford to return for my sophomore year. And I was planning to go back and transfer from there after my sophomore year but unfortunately when you’re from a low-income household there are less options</p>

<p>and I can’t help but be pessimistic about my chances at either school because they’re two of the best schools and I can’t imagine that I’ve separated myself from other applicants in any way even with great essays about my life situation and why I’d love to go to those schools</p>

<p>also my biggest fear right now is exactly what you went through, I’m afraid I won’t get in and I’ll feel upset about it for the longest time.</p>

8

<p>Not really sure how you’re responding to me, DreamingBig. The gist of my post was to give your school a fair shake or cast a wide net. You should be applying to peer schools like JHU, WUSTL, Rice, Brown, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, etc. You’re just screwing yourself
a) by limiting yourself arbitrarily to schools which you deem are “the best.”
b) admitting that you aren’t that singular an applicant, yet not trying to maximize your chances of getting out of your CC by applying to more places.</p>

9

<p>I’m in a similar boat as you right now. My current school was VERY dissapointing, my GPA not excellent, and I really want and feel like certain schools would be a much better fit for me even though they would all be reaches.</p>

10

<p>I understand what you’re saying Flowerhead and I did apply to some of those schools you mentioned (namely Brown, Rice and Georgetown), and I’m not trying to limit myself to those 2 schools, I’ve evaluated all the schools that I’ve applied for and I just don’t share the same enthusiasm for the other schools that I do for Northwestern and Berkeley. Maybe I should just wait and see what happens and if I don’t get into the schools I want to go to but I do somehow get into another good school, maybe that’ll be a much better fit for me than I anticipated?</p>

11

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<p>Exactly.</p>

<p>(10char)</p>