<p>Esp. to top 20/30 schools? Would it be better to transfer from a tier 2 school with a 4.0 than from a tier 1 school with a 3.8/7? Would it also look better to transfer from the tier 2's honors college than as a normal student from tier 1?</p>
<p>Considering that there are many transfer students admitted from CC to top 20/30 schools, attending a “tier 2” school instead of a “tier 1” school is not going to make a difference. </p>
<p>Wherever you enroll this fall, aim for the highest GPA and address the transfer application just like the CC applicants.</p>
<p>and the honors thing?</p>
<p>and I sorta ask because Vandy states that they “give preference” to schools that are similar to itself.</p>
<p>for reference…I have transferred twice, from a community college, to one ranked between 100-150 nationally, and for next fall have an acceptance to one ranked in the single digits. Don’t think honors matters much…I’m not in honors</p>
<p>Yolocholo, I was thinking I might end up transferring twice too. Do you think you could tell me about your experience? Does it hurt your chances a lot at being accepted to a top school as a transfer if you’ve transferred before? What did you tell colleges your reason was for transferring the second time?</p>
<p>Thanks!! :)</p>
<p>oh yes I would love to know what it felt like to transfer?
The new campus, new friends and teachers, new city etc… Was it… scary and difficult?</p>
<p>Just be friendly and outgoing in class and it’s not hard to make friends. Mention you just transferred in and you’d be surprised how quickly people want to include the new guy that seems normal and sociable. I enjoy experiencing new things so I’ve enjoyed all of it. I moved from CA, to the deep south for my current school, and am likely headed to the NE to wrap up at a more ‘name’ school. Interviewers have commented that they appreciate someone who has seen more of the country as it provides a broader perspective. </p>
<p>Maxing out my gpa at CC, and again at my university has given me a solid reason to transfer and seek the challenge of a top tier. I emphasized the desire to test my limits in essays and taking a solid curriculum while maxing out the gpa at each step seems to be the right mix for this kind of trajectory. Haven’t heard anything negative about transferring twice and if you’d like me to keep you posted on my acceptances/rejections just PM me. I applied to 11 schools, 6 in the top 15, 4 more in the top 30, with one safety UMiami. No rejections thus far, accepted to 2 in the top 15, and my safety.</p>
<p>The process of CC → top 25 is definitely possible. I think transferring twice and maintaining a 4.0 presents a compelling case to adcoms.</p>
<p>That’s so wonderful, Yolocholo! I may have to do that too if I don’t get in somewhere I really like this try. I am at a CC with a 4.0 GPA too, so your story inspires me quite a bit! Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to PM people on the website yet… I haven’t made enough posts haha. I think a lot of people would be interested in your acceptances though, so maybe you should post in the transfer decision thread once you have all your decisions!</p>
<p>Yolocholo, I disagree with the maxing out argument (and especially that maxing out is related to GPA) that you quite often make. I could probably design a schedule for you that would put you at a 3.5 GPA, even in CC.</p>
<p>What is your schedule?</p>
<p>@yolocholo: How does it feel to transferred twice, and did it impact you negatively? What year are you in now, credit-wise, and did you lose a lot of credits in this process/elongate graduation time?</p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about transferring again. I went from a private uni (not well-ranked), to my state flagship, tier 2. I wanted to try again to a school I was rejected to before, but I’m already well-settled into my school. Plus I was afraid it’d be excessive to transfer yet again since I’ll be officially a junior fall 2013.</p>
<p>@muaythai - think you’re misinterpreting what my point was and not exactly sure what yours is? I’m sure I could take a bunch of advanced math/physics or creative writing for that matter and find life more difficult, but then those classes aren’t relevant to my interests. Earning a 4.0, first @ the CC level, and then again this year at the Uni level has gotten me admission to two top 15 ranked Universities. ZERO rejections so far but shall see in the coming weeks…I think what I’ve accomplished is what most of us are hoping to when we first find this sub-forum. I’ve been pre-med heavy this year @ Uni and pulling a 4.0 which seems to have been enough to be 4 for 4 with my admissions decisions so far. </p>
<p>@lullabies - I hear you regarding getting settled in. I love the school I’m at currently, have made plenty of friends, and can easily picture myself sticking around another 2 years. Reality is I’ll probably be feeling the same next year after I’ve settled in. Regarding credits, I’ve had zero issues with credits after my first transfer. Credit evaluations at two of the schools I’ve been admitted to have been made and I will have zero issues entering as a Junior at those two. One school requires that I take a writing seminar, seeing as I’ve already taken 2 it kinda sucks but writing is my weak spot so I can’t really complain. Transferring may cost me some freedom in terms of electives but in the bigger picture it’s not that big a deal. I’m also a pre-med with a social science major so I’ve lost a lot of my freedom having to take all the hard sciences. Fingers crossed I get into Brown and then I’ll regain some of that lost freedom w/the open curriculum. </p>
<p>I’d say if you really want to be at the school that rejected you before don’t be afraid to try…if you’re genuinely happy now and have zero desire to move again then don’t bother w/the applications…end of the day it can’t hurt to keep your options open and see what happens.</p>
<p><em>EDIT</em> Just saw Muaythai is a Canadian…I’ve had issues w/a few Canadians that whine about Americans not having grading as hard as they do…to anyone reading this YOU CAN start at a community college and get into elite schools</p>
<p>Anyone can claim they got into a top 15 university on the Internet. Meet transfer students in real life and the vast majority of them will say transferring from a community college is much harder than a recognized university.</p>
<p>The maxing out argument is one I agree with. At top schools, transfer applicants are treated like statistics. The grade point average is most important, regardless of whatever fluff or impossible courses you have taken. The next tier down is relevance to major and difficulty, which have to deal with how long you stay at the college. But the first impression admissions officers get is how close (or how far above) your average is to 4.0.</p>
<p>You keep saying that you’ve been admitted at two top 15 schools, but I don’t know of any that have sent out admissions decisions yet…</p>
<p>I would agree that the path is more difficult from a CC. Mine took me from a year of CC to a large state school, and now I have some nice options before me. I didn’t linger for 2 years at a CC. Each semester has been more difficult on paper for me and I have continued to pull perfect marks. </p>
<p>To be completely fair I have massive hooks: URM, played pro-soccer right out of HS, and am in the Air Force reserves.</p>
<p>I understand your point better now yolocholo. I think that community college grades are inflated, but I don’t see how that’s relevant to what we were discussing.</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptances.</p>
<p>Sometransfer, I don’t understand that argument. For freshman admissions, colleges put the applicants’ high school grades in context. They don’t look at the numbers and say “Oh, this student has a 4.0 and this one has a 3.9, we’ll take the 4.0” if the student with the 4.0 attends a really grade-inflated school, and the 3.9 attends a grade-deflated one. I fail to see why this would be any different for transfer students. Does a 3.7 at Brown equal a 3.7 at Princeton? Average grades are five points lower at Princeton than Brown, even though Princeton arguably has smarter students. Should a 3.8 from Brown be taken over a 3.7 from Princeton, then? It’s really a ridiculous argument IMO, and one that I will not accept unless you provide evidence. I would consider my university to be deflated, as it is one of the top ones in Canada and class averages are curved down to 2.6 (class averages are actually on my transcript, thankfully). Should some student who attends an inflated community college just automatically be accepted over me, then, just because he has a 4.0?</p>
<p>Tier 1 (Read: T20 except replace Vandy with UC Berkley, T5 LACs)
Tier 2 (20-30, no your run of the mill Minnesota flagship isn’t on here methinks, 5-10 LACs, as well as niche schools like Oberlin and Reed)
Tier 3 (pretty much everything else that is a legitimate 4 year college program)
Tier 4 (CCs)</p>
<p>I would think that a student applying for transfer from Northwestern to Cornell because Cornell has a strong program in an area that Northwestern does not offer at all, who has a 3.9+ GPA, a good high school record, and good testing would blow a CC applicant with a 4.0 and similar statistics otherwise out of the water. </p>
<p>However, a student applying from Duke to Dartmouth as an engineering applicant would probably not have as much allure as a CC applicant with a 4.0 and equivalent ECs and HS record, simply because the reason for a transfer isn’t there (clearly a case of Ivy allure or something idiotic like that, no one in their right mind rates Dartmouth engineering as good as any other T20 school).</p>
<p>Also, Muaythai stop using the average grade argument. It’s an established fact that med schools, most grad schools, and law schools don’t care much about that, and there’s no reason to assume schools will during transfer. You have poor standardized testing from a “top Canadian University” - a CC applicant with a 2300 and a 4.0 is probably a better candidate. That’s why it exists - as a leveler. </p>
<p>Besides Princeton and UChicago, every T20 school has grade inflation. Every school is more prestigious than your current one in the United States, and students from these schools are better candidates for acceptance than you (all things controlled). Cut it out, and be respectful to students from CCs.</p>
<p>Ouch firefly, you made that one really personal when my argument was completely impersonal. All I was dealing with was hypotheticals and questioning the fairness of the system. But since you made it personal, I’ll confidently say that I could get a 4.0 gpa at a community college studying significantly less than I do now. I know people who go to community college and I see their work; it is much easier. When they transfer to my university, most of their GPA’s drop significantly.</p>
<p>I don’t live in America, so I didn’t do any SAT prep. I took the test once a week before I started my university finals; I didn’t study. If I spent months preparing like people do in the US, I could have scored over 2250. 2180 isn’t that bad, either.</p>
<p>Also, my father’s friend works at admissions at a T10 University that I did not apply to. For current freshman transfer applicants, it goes by different metrics for CCs and 4 years.</p>
<p>Regular colleges: 3.8-4.0=top tier.
Break down top tier further to the T-20s.
First year candidates at all T20 schools experience similar difficulty levels, no need to break down further.
Then essays.
Then high school gpa and SAT score.
Bit of a boost if your high school is prestigious.</p>
<p>CCs - 4.0 is basically required. Then you’re on par with the second tier of regular college candidates, and go through a similar process. </p>
<p>So sample ranking for T20 (without going to essays and major applied to, etc:)
- 3.8-4.0 T20 candidate w/ 2300+ SAT1, good hs
- 4.0 CC applicant w/ 2300+ SAT, good hs
- 3.9-4.0 Tier 2 Uni candidate, 2300+, good hs.
- 3.9-4.0 foreign uni (other than Oxbridge, Tsinghua, Mcgill, IIT, which go in Tier 1)
- 4.0 Tier 3</p>