Extremely Disillusioned and in need of help

Transfer Students
1

<p>I write this post in order to figure out 3 things- whether I need to transfer, if so what my chances are, and finally what I could do to improve my chances.</p>

<p>Currently I am a freshman in the NYU College of Arts and Sciences. Over the first semester I have become slowly dissatisfied with my college experience for several reasons</p>

<p>1) Worth the Money?- I don't come from an extremely wealthy family, and have been on a serious guilt trip ever since I chose to come to NYU. In all honesty I underachieved poorly in high school, and ever since I have attempted to redeem myself within reason. I understand that NYU isn't a bad school at all, but with more reputable yet cheaper alternatives not to far away <em>cough</em>Columbia<em>cough</em>, I'm constantly wondering whether NYU is "worth it". I doubt Ivy Leagues are much cheaper, but I figure at least there would be the better name recognition. And I haven't even brought up the UC's... (from California)</p>

<p>2) Lack of Campus- NYU's urban campus definitely seemed exciting on paper, but honestly after having lived here for a couple of months I'm starting to realize it isn't for everyone. </p>

<p>3) Desire for more intellectual stimulation (for the money)- I apologize for being redundant, but I'm going to bring up the "more reputable yet cheaper colleges" one last time. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to attend an Ivy League institution. And even if I dont get that, I don't feel like putting the financial pressure on my parents to attend a more-expensive-than-an-Ivy League college with a less-than-Ivy-League name.</p>

<p>Those are the main reasons (at least the ones I can think of right now) so far as to why I'd consider transferring. I understand that many freshman have rough first semesters in which they have "second thoughts", but unlike some people I've actually wanted to transfer more since I've been away. I figure I'd definitely give it some more time and see if it gets better, but if it doesn't here are my stats.</p>

<p>HS: </p>

<p>GPA: 3.76 UW 3.9 W
ACT: 33
(Will colleges still care about my SAT II's?)</p>

<p>College:</p>

<p>GPA: (Anywhere from a 3.7-3.9, I'm thinking a 3.8, waiting for one last grade to be posted but pretty confident).</p>

<p>(I understand that this might not be a valid excuse, but it definitely didn't make things any easier- I didn't really have much time to do any meaningful ECs because I took two foreign languages at a time (Japanese+Chinese) which took much more of my time than I had originally thought)</p>

<p>The schools I have been thinking of so far are</p>

<p>UCLA
UC Berkeley
UPenn
Columbia
Stanford</p>

<p>So,
1) Does anyone think I should consider transferring?
2) What are my chances, if any?
3) What can I do to improve my chances?</p>

<p>Thank you very much, hope breaks going good for you guys.</p>

2

<p>buuuumpppp</p>

3

<p>why hello there, mr. BUMP</p>

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<p>I went to NYU and I agree that it's not for everyone. It is really more like living in NYC and going to classes....for me it was a dream come true, but if you are looking for that real college experience, then transferring would make sense. I transferred to NYU from Syracuse, so I did the opposite thing. </p>

<p>I don't know what your chances are at the schools you listed. It seems like you would have a good shot, so go for it. If you are definite about transferring, then I would add a safety school or two to give you more options.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Keep in mind that the UCs heavily tend to favor CCC students.</p>

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<p>The UCs certainly do take non-cc transfers, such as yourself (Cali resident but attended private oos). I don't know whether they take such transfers after only one year - you should check this, but I believe it is too late to transfer to a UC for fall 2008 unless you already met the 11/30 transfer deadline.</p>

<p>No one can really estimate your "chances" at UPenn, Columbia, Stanford. They all have horribly low transfer acceptance rates, but each year a few succeed. All you can do is try.</p>

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<p>Lilymoon and Twenty8, </p>

<p>Thanks for the feedback.</p>

<p>Andale,</p>

<p>Thanks too for the feedback; I have one last question. I completely understand that estimating the "chances" for transfer into an Ivy League (or school of similar esteem) would be a highly difficult if not impossible task. However, based on what you can deduce from what I've posted, would it be worth it to even try transferring? You seem to know what you are talking about, and surely you can tell whether someones stats merit going through the transfer process- I think I read somewhere in another thread that without a college 4.0 theres no chance for a Columbia transfer- closer to a 0 than the already dismal 8% or whatever it may be.</p>

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<p>i am also applying to columbia as a transfer...do you happen to remember which thread had alluded to needing a college 4.0?</p>

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<p>Hey,</p>

<p>Well from anecdotal evidence (I'm at freshman at Columbia College), there's 2 transfer students in my Literature Humanities class. One is from Stanford and the other is from CUNY. I know the guy from Stanford got like a 3.8 his first year or something, not sure about the CUNY one. </p>

<p>Also, it matters greatly if you're applying for a transfer to Columbia Fu Foundation or the College. For Fu foundation, the transfer rate is nearly 25% acceptance whereas it's around 6% at the College. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>I'm just wondering what I can do as a freshman right now- I have no significant extracurriculars right now and am unsure as to when would be the best time to transfer. I also want to transfer to Columbia College.</p>

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<p>Yo truazn8948532,</p>

<p>Are those 2 transfer students sophomores or juniors?</p>

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<p>They're both sophmores in my freshman LitHum class. (but they both placed out of other core requirements I think)</p>

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<p>Chances? I can't say. Worth a try? Yes.</p>

<p>Certainly there are numerous threads (ad nauseam) saying you need a 4.0 to transfer to highly selective schools. You don't.</p>

<p>Until and unless someone who says you "need" it has evidence to back up that claim, IGNORE them.</p>