Currently a freshman at Emory taking Calc 1 Micro Econ 101 English 101 and LACS 101 looking to transfer to Cornell Arts and Sciences. Went to top 5 private high school in US, had 3.0 (but upward trending more B+, A- towards junior and senior) and a 29 on the ACT. On pace for a 3.7 GPA for first semester so far (although it is early) and pretty proficient at essay writing. What are my chances? Do i have to ramp it up and improve my GPA?
Here is what you should know, at least for Ivy schools–the seats at Ivy-plus schools that are available for transfers is largely tied to attrition. Since attrition is almost non-existent in the top Ivy schools, so are the seats available. By way of example, recently, Harvard had over 1500 applicants and admitted about 15, and Yale had over a 1000 applicants in which about 2 dozen were offered seats. Brown is close to 5%.So, while being qualified is certainly a criteria, the other portion must convey why these schools; typical reasons are that these schools offer programs and/or degrees not offered at your existing institution. Transferring because of the desire to attend a more elite institution is NOT consider a valid reason for transfer.
Second, that you could have obtained admission as a freshmen applicant. Third, that you have perfect scores at your current institution. Long story short…it is much more difficult to obtain admission as a transfer than as applying for a freshmen …
Yes you will need to ramp it up, although Cornell has an acceptance rate of around 20% since you are a freshman your HS GPA and test scores will be a bigger factor. A 3.0 is nowhere near what colleges would like to see (even if its an upward trend). You should also retake the ACT to get at least a 32+.
Although 3.7 GPA is not bad by any means you should be aiming for somewhere near 3.85+ especially since its only 1 semester. Sorry if I’m being harsh trying to bring some reality and since you still got a couple month you can fix that!