<p>well I'll apply for Smith(of course as a transfer applicant) next year so i think this thread will be helpful to me and other future applicants. :)</p>
<p>Current School:
Entering as:
High School GPA:
College GPA:
SAT/ACT Scores:
SAT II Scores:
Significant ECs:
Recs :
Essay :
Accepted/Waitlisted/Rejected</p>
<p>Any Advices?</p>
<p>Current School: Marymount College RPV (CA)
Entering as: First Semster Junior
High School GPA: Awful. maybe a 2.9 or a 3.0 with almost no honors, extracurriculars, or APs.
College GPA: 3.64 in an honors program.
SAT/ACT Scores: 26 on the ACT but they aren’t required.
SAT II Scores: none.
Significant ECs: Semester abroad in the UK, starting a club called Crafting for the Homeless, volunteer work with Susan G. Komen, Paid-Notetaker at my school. Member of an honors society, member of philosophy club, I am probably forgetting some things.<br>
Recs : 3 very personal and very wonderful letters of recs.
Essay : Smith doesn’t require an essay in their supplement. The only essay they ask for is the one in the common application that tells why you want to transfer. My school is a two year school so I think its obvious WHY I want to transfer. I talked about academic freedom (high school vs college) and the passion I have for my major. </p>
<p>Accepted</p>
<p>Shereenist, that’s quite a GPA jump from hs to two-year college. If it’s permitted to ask, what changed? I’m guessing “attitude” is part of it but in return that prompts “Why?”</p>
<p>Well. My education started at a private elite prep school. It was rather bureaucratic, which was why I left, but it did instill a good foundation for reading and writing that I suppose never disappeared. After spending 9 years there, I attended a high school in a bad area of town. As a result, it was overpopulated and ill-funded. I wasn’t interested, and neither were most of my classmates and teachers. The amount of graduates from my high school that went out of state is marginal. Most went to the community college across the street. I knew I wanted to go to college, but I failed to realize that in order to do that I really needed to get involved. Anyways, long story short, I found Marymount College. It was a good match-- a two year school with dorms and a campus feel that aims to transfer students to top schools and very successfully does if a student takes advantage of its resources. I really made the most of my two years and got to do a lot of things that I wouldn’t have been able to do at a public JC (Study abroad, etc.) Marymount encourages students to explore transfer opportunities and helps to make sure that everything that needs to happen for acceptance into your dream school happens. With a goal in mind I found out that I was actually a pretty driven student and that I love love LOVE school. </p>
<p>Wow… Perhaps I should go into advertising on Marymount’s behalf. :)</p>
<p>You illustrate, actually, one of the arguments for Smith College: the effect of your peer environment. Smithies as a group are really “into it” and I think it’s contagious. When clients ask me about various schools (middle, high), I always talk about the critical mass of high achieving students as a factor.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your recovery.</p>
<p>I suppose. My story doesn’t exactly reflect that theory. My elementary school and middle school were full of overachievers. Myself, a serial underachiever. My high school was full of underachievers, myself included. College (Marymount) was almost exclusively underachievers. The type of people that are attracted to a private school that is so easy to gain acceptance to aren’t exactly true scholars. For some reason things just changed. I was tired of not being taken seriously when I knew it was relatively easy for me to earn good grades, I guess. I wanted to have a choice in picking schools and was tired of the GPA numbers hurdle that had previously stopped me in my tracks.</p>
<p>Late-bloomers, or those who lag behind their peers in maturity (for whatever reason), are often not treated kindly by college admissions. Your route seems perfect for someone who still lacks direction in high school but who has the potential, given the right environment and timing, to excel. </p>
<p>Congratulations on your transfer acceptance!</p>
<p>Congrats Shereenist!
anyone else?</p>
<p>Ah. Well, it’s not the first time TheDad has contrived a hypothesis overthrown by later data. I’m very happy it worked for you and that you worked for you.</p>
<p>Shereenist! by the way did you apply for FA ?</p>
<p>No, I didn’t apply for FA this year.</p>