<p>Since my grades are terrible and I want to transfer, should I go to a CC for a year or two and raise my GPA? Does a 3.5 GPA at a CC look better than a 3.0 at a top 50 school? What do colleges prefer regarding transfer students?</p>
<p>I don’t believe a 3.5 at CC looks better than a 3.0 at a top 50 school. Colleges want to see that you can handle work on an appropriate level. Where are you now? How do you know you want to transfer?</p>
<p>I personally don’t think it matters too much. I transferred to Cornell engineering and I noticed that the majority of the transfers were from CC. Given the fact that the acceptance rate was ~6%, I think it’s a safe assumption that “How you perform” is much more important than “where”. </p>
<p>And make sure to write a powerful and convincing essay! it really matters</p>
<p>F4alcon. Where else did you apply and what were your stats?</p>
<p>In response to your statement about how you preform vs. where, I think that misses the important point that the difficulty of a top 50 school is higher than that of a CC. There may be tough classes at CC but they are not as hard as those at a top school. Just like how getting an A- in an honors course is better than getting an A in a non-honors course, a 4.0 in a CC class just isn’t the same as getting a 4.0 in a top 50 school. If two students applied with the same GPA one from say… Rutgers and the other from Princeton (just using them because they’re both around me), the student at Princeton would be given far more credit for their achievements.
Also, a number of good schools (like Cornell I suspect) have programs to help include more CC students than would normally be accepted.</p>
<p>I have taken courses at both a top-50 LAC as well as classes at a CC. The reality is that the difference between the two has a lot more to do with the professor’s expectations (scope of syllabus plus grading tendencies) than between the colleges themselves. An easy-as-pie professor at either is going to make a class a breeze and a tough professor who has laid out a rigorous course with high expectations is going to make a class difficult.</p>
<p>Often the foundational classes at a CC or a Uni use the <em>same</em> books – except at a CC the student is in a small class of 40 or less students and at the UC the student is in an auditorium of 300+ students. Which student is getting the better education for that class?</p>
<p>You are dealing more with adcoms’ biases and perceptions about CC vs other universities… many will be versed in how much to “discount” for the CC… I suspect that the discount is far far less than what most might assume here on the forums.</p>
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This statement is skewed. Cornell has a guaranteed transfer option. Basically, it is a select few of students who were denied Freshman year, but are offered a guarantee of transfer option.
These students then attend CC, and transfer into Cornell.</p>
<p>@MitchAPalooza </p>
<p>That’s why I mentioned Cornell Engineering, which is one of few departments that doesn’t take any GT.</p>
<p>@F4LCON</p>
<p>You are correct. I apologize. However, it still must be noted that Cornell’s transfer numbers are misrepresented by the GTs. I believe they have one of the highest transfer rates among the Ivy league schools.</p>
<p>Applied: 3,240
Accepted: 727
Admit Rate: 22%</p>
<p>Compare that to Columbia’s 6% or Yale’s 2%.</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - Cornell University - Admission](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
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<p>I agree.</p>
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<p>While I am usually am in agreement with as, I don’t completely agree with the above statement because I think there’s one important consideration in grading that has been left out: the level of the cohort. I think this holds true for CCs vs. many 4 yr colleges, and even between 4 yr colleges. For instance, D1 has attended a top public and a highly selective private. At the public she had one of 20 or so full ride scholarships and academically was at the top of her class, at the private she was among a much higher achieving and more prepared group and was more towards the middle of her class. Sure she was still able to get good grades, but with considerably more effort as the competition was a lot tougher.</p>
<p>so what should I do if I want to transfer?</p>
<p>Option 1- stay at current school for two years with very low GPA
Option 2- go to cc after this year (freshman btw) and raise GPA</p>
<p>You really can only transfer one time. You need to complete two years at your final school to graduate. Honestly, it probably doesn’t look good to an admissions officer to see you are applying to transfer for the second time either. A 3.0 isn’t horrible, and you can work this year to raise it anyway.</p>
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<p>This is like when people ask, should they take easier classes and get better grades or tougher classes to show rigor and get lower grades? There’s no pat answer, every situation is different and the balance may swing a different way in each situation.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that if a student really wants to transfer, particularly if it’s to a more selective school, which it usually is, they should take the toughest classes at the strongest school and get high grades. What’s with this idea that one essentially doesn’t want to expend any extra effort (which is what the harder school/lower grades vs. easier school/higher grades boils down to) and still expects to transfer??</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily want to go to a better school. I am very much open to transferring to a lower level school. In that case, do you think I should attend CC for a year or two to raise my GPA? Please feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>bump this post</p>
<p>GPA matters more than anything else!</p>
<p>GPA matters, but my guess is that 3.5 at a state school = 4.0 at a CC, and I bet that most schools accept lateral transfers with average GPAs.</p>
<p>What if I have a 4.0 at a T20 university and want to transfer to a top 10 school? Do I have a good shot (with excellent recs and average essays and a 2100 SAT)?</p>
<p>I would think so, but it depends on what top 10 school we’re talking about. Duke admits about 5%, Dartmouth accepts about 10% iirc. You’d definitely be a competitive applicant, but the odds are not in your favor. </p>
<p>For reference, I had a 3.8 from a school near the bottom of US News top 100 and transferred to #13 JHU (I know, not top 10, but close).</p>
<p>I did terrible first semester. Should I go to CC next year to raise my GPA?</p>