Fall 2011 Transfer - help/advice needed!

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello-
I'm a Sophomore at Occidental College in Los Angeles, originally from Northern NJ though.
I've gone back and forth repeatedly about transferring for the last several years. I love my friends, I am academically motivated, and the weather is to die for, but the administrative problems at Occidental are hard to deal with. I'm very involved on campus and frankly, I'm tired of begging and protesting and petitioning for things to happen. Additionally, as a gay student I have often felt "othered" and a bit lonely on the overwhelmingly (often overwhelmingly fake) liberal campus. Thus, my presence here.
Right now I'm considering 6 fairly different schools: Amherst, Brown, Carleton, Rice, Stanford, and Tufts.
At Occidental, I am a Critical Theory and Social Justice (basically, Social Studies) and Psychology double major. I have a 3.23 cumulative GPA with a 3.8 and a 3.9 GPA for my respective majors.<br>
I serve on the student senate, work on the college's programming board, work in the college's business office, am an officer in my fraternity, and am an active member in numerous clubs.
My high school career was successful in terms of extracurrculars, but often less so with regards to academics. I had a 3.51 UW GPA, and a 3.92 W GPA. I took 6 AP Tests, receiving 4s on both English tests, 3s on US and European History, aaaand let's let the other scores go without mention. I scored a 30 both times I took the ACT (with perfect scores on Reading and Writing, less than perfect on Math and Science, clearly), and a 2000 on the SAT.<br>
Meanwhile, I was in the school musical for 4 years, served on student council for 4 years (eventually becoming vice president), chaired club council, was programming director for the TV studio, was the editor of our literary magazine for 2 years, helped organize my county's Relay for Life, and held a few other positions around the school. I was very busy.
My first college application process was something of a failure :( I applied to 14 schools. I got into Oxy, Skidmore, Rutgers, and Ithaca, and was waitlisted at Michigan, NYU Gallatin, Macalester, Pitzer, Reed and Oberlin. </p>

<p>I have a set career plan now- I want to work as a psychologist- and have already opened up summer research communication at many universities. I've worked as a research assistant and NYU and an intern at American Cancer Society.
Any advice would be appreciated. What do y'all think my shots are? Am I barking up the wrong tree?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading!!</p>

2

<p>Also, I took 3 SAT IIs. 540 YIKES (Math 1), 660 (US History), 750 (Literature).</p>

3

<p>Man, I was thinking about transferring to Occidental College. It’s a wonderful college. </p>

<p>However, I’d rule out the possibility of getting admitted at Brown/Standford/Amherst; for their low transfer rates. The others are going to be hard. But, afterall, college admissions are nothing but a crapshoot. You may never know for sure if you’re going to get admitted or rejected until decisions are out. If you get rejected [ hopefully not !! ] and I get into Oxy, then hope I meet you someday.</p>

4

<p>Have you considered Columbia? There was once a young man who transferred to Columbia from Occidental after his freshman year. I believe his name begins with a B and many call him Barry. Oh, and he’s the President of the United States :)</p>

5

<p>I don’t want to be blunt or rude - too many people are on this forum - but you need to try to be realistic about which schools are good fits AND will accept you so you don’t repeat the “failure” you suffered the first time around. Amherst may not be the best fit; i’ve heard that it is somewhat conservative and preppy. Brown and Stanford would be accepting of your sexual orientation, but transfer admission into these schools is even more impossible than freshman admission - stanford accepted 2% of transfers and brown 8% [Transfer</a> Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50 2009 & 2008 – The Transfer Book](<a href=“http://thetransferbook.com/stats/transfer-acceptance-rates/]Transfer”>Transfer Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50 - Transferweb) . Carleton, Rice, and Tufts are easier than Brown and Stanford ( as is just about any other college you could pick) but they still a distant reach. Your ambition, extracurricular activities, and determination are genuinely impressive but your grades- which is always the most important thing- are lackluster and will hinder your chances. Usually a good starting point for a transfer gpa is 3.5; to be competitive at these schools a 3.7 or better is almost a given. Also, keep in mind that some of these schools are very small (carleton, amherst, brown, tufts) and it is typically more difficult to transfer to a small school than a large public university. Amherst/Carleton only have 2,000 students and very few transfer out so that leaves very few spots available to new transfers (I’m talking like 20-30 transfer acceptances for these schools a year). I would say if you’re really desperate to get out of oxy, look at some larger universities: they are easier to transfer into and because of their size you will find your niche/ more gay people.</p>

6

<p>bummmmmpppppp </p>

<p>can any successful tufts transfers offer some insights?</p>