Freshman transfer

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm currently set to begin freshman year at UMass Boston, though i'm not too happy about it. I went to orientation and just found that the school doesn't really have the college feel i was looking for (it doesn't even have dorms) and the school generally feels like a prison with no windows. </p>

<p>The schools i applied for during senior year were: MCPHS (accepted), UMass Boston (accepted), Boston University (rejected), Boston College (rejected), and Northeastern (rejected). I went to, Boston Latin School, had a 3.12 weighted gpa, and got a score of 1980 on the sat. The only extracurricular I had was volunteering to help an elderly woman in my neighborhood with errands (groceries, laundry, etc...) but that's about it. </p>

<p>Anyway, I'm currently enrolled as a Bio major in the pre-med track and am set to start volunteering at Brigham and Woman's hospital in the Medical Career Exploration Program (which is basically like any other volunteer job at a hospital, only it ends with me getting a med school rec). I have also had this part time job at a dry cleaners in my neighborhood since freshman year.
I'm planning on applying to the following schools for transfer admission for Fall 2013: BU, BC, Northeastern, Tufts, and Harvard (long shot, i know). I am taking Biology, chemistry, calculus, english, and a freshman science seminar as part of this freshman success community (basically i take all these classes with the same group of students and we all help eachother). I hope to maintain a 3.7+ average. </p>

<p>Sorry for the long post above, i just wanted to get all my info across. So my questions are:</p>

<ol>
<li>do i stand a chance getting accepted to those schools i applied to?</li>
<li>I know some of the schools i mentioned, such as BU, accept students for mid freshman year transfer. Would doing this hurt or improve my chances?<br></li>
<li>Do professors mind writing all those recommendations, or is there some way that they make the recs the same and just fill out those rec forms seperately?</li>
<li>when should i tell my advisor that i plan to transfer?</li>
<li>I would especially like to attend Harvard, as do many others, for two reasons. The first is the competitiveness of the schools and the general quality of the education i'd be receiving. The second is that if your income is below a certain point (i'm way past), they waive the tuition completely. What can i do to improve my chances of getting accepted (since they usually accept around 10 transfers a year)?</li>
</ol>

<p>Again, sorry for the wicked long post and thanks in advance for your advice.</p>

2

<p>Your post is an example of why people need to visit the colleges they plan on attending. You may want to take a gap year, instead of attending your current college, because it sounds like you’re not ready.</p>

<p>Your gpa was 3.12 and your SAT was 1980 and with these scores you want to go to Harvard? You hope to bring your gpa up to a 3.7, at a college that doesn’t motivate you, in order to transfer to Harvard. Transfer students have very limited financial aid options. Mostly loans.</p>

<p>Please be realistic. Most of the students accepted to Harvard are way above these stats and their ec’s are usually above and beyond what the average student does. (Check out the stats on the Harvard baseball team). Harvard gets applications from all over the world from the best and brightest students who are celebrities, authors, olympic medalists, etc. That’s what Harvard has to choose from.</p>

<p>Additionally, you need to understand that college courses are harder than your high school coursework and if you’re at a place that you don’t like, how are you going to motivate yourself to get a 3.7?</p>

<p>Do you talk to your parents? Why aren’t they involved? These are things you should be discussing with your family including finances.
To answer your questions:

  1. no (my daughter was accepted by BU with a hs gpa of 4.2, a high school biotech diabetes internship at UCSD’s School of Medicine and multiple ec’s and varsity sports awards).
  2. BU didn’t accept you for this term, they probably won’t accept you now.
  3. yes they mind, especially if they don’t know you in a semester of work.
  4. Talk to the advisor BEFORE you make any rash decisions. Involve your parents!
  5. Be realistic! It’s not why YOU want to go to Harvard, but why Harvard should want to accept YOU? Your academic record has to be impeccable as well as your ec’s. Trying to do this in 1 semester is not realistic.</p>
3

<p>Haha that post was a little creul. I mean at my high school, Boston Latin, most kids were basically guaranteed acceptance to BU with at least a 3.5 (other colleges were the same, significantly lower gpa/stats were accepted). I did visit UMass before i got accepted. It was supposed to ve my safety school, and good thing i did apply there because tgat and MCPHS were the only schools i got accepted into. As far as maintaining a 3.7+ gpa at a school I don’t like, I am motivated by the fact that I want to be a doctor, regardless of where I go to school. Thus, I wouldn’t screw up my gpa just because I don’t like my current school. Plus, I’m sure that freshman success community I’m enrolled in would help me if I don’t understand some concept. Oh and I just wanted to clarify that I’m looking to transfer into those schools to start in fall 2013 as a sophomore. Thanks for the reply though.</p>

4

<p>And about Harvard having to choose from the best and brightest celebrities/athletes, that isn’t entirely true. I was very close with most of the students in my class who got accepted into Harvard ( there were 24 students in my class who got accepted!) and while they were without a doubt among the brightest minds of our generation, they were definitely not celebrities or students who did something as extreme as volunteering in Haiti or having hundreds of ec’s. Most of them had only a few ec’s. as I said I was pretty close witH most of the 24 in my class who were accepted and their few ec’s were things they loved doing, not filler. Harvard wants people who love what they do, and don’t try to eat into Harvard just for the prestige, all while maintaining gear grades.</p>

5

<p>And I’m not even trying to ignore your advice. I’m just tired of looking on this forum and seeing posters like you who give such inaccurate advice to people saying things like “be realistic! You’ll never get in! I got into BU with a 4.2, good luck getting in with a measly 3.7.” It’s just really frustrating to see some of you guys giving advice like that when I know it’s complete bs. Schools hate it when kids have hundreds if ec’s because it comes off as the student just doing those ec’s to fill up their apps.</p>

6

<p>Did you ever find out the GPA of your HARVARD classmates? Higher than 3.12? Or lower?</p>

7

<p>If you actually read my posts you would see that I said they had really high gpa’s. You would also see that the whole point of the post about my “Harvard classmates” was not to bash “aunt bea” about her saying I new a high gpa, but her saying that I would need to have some amazing story in order to get into Harvard, hence me telling you about how they were just regular smart people. So before you go and get offended by a post, actually read what I said and get your facts straight.</p>

8

<p>And I actually do know one other girl in my class who was just that, a regular smart girl with no amazing story. She had a 3.8 gpa btw.</p>

9

<p>Dude anything is possible. But if you want to get into Harvard, you might want to apply as a junior transfer. Try to get as close to a 4.0 as possible and do extra-curricular activities at your school and elsewhere.</p>

<p>Some people believe that you need to have 4.0/2400 to get into Harvard but that is not the case. After 60 credits, you’re high school GPA won’t mean too much. But remember to apply to other schools for safety.</p>

<p>Also, as for hating your school. Give it a chance. Even if you know you’re going to transfer, try to enjoy it as much as possible before you leave.</p>

<p>If you motivate yourself to get into Harvard, you will get in. You don’t need to defend yourself to other people who tell you it can’t work. Every brick a hater throws, just put it on your pile so you can stand taller.</p>

<p>Godspeed man, Godspeed.</p>

10

<p>Yes “…If you motivate yourself to get into Harvard, you will get in…”; </p>

<p>However, please read
The Real 1%: Harvard Admits 15 Transfer Students (out of 1,448 transfer applicants).
[The</a> Real 1%: Harvard Admits 15 Transfer Students | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/6/21/transfer-admissions-one-percent/]The”>The Real 1%: Harvard Admits 15 Transfer Students | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>

11

<p>Okay, with your motivation, you’ll get into Harvard. That’s what you wanted to hear, right? Let us know when you get accepted.</p>

12

<p>I understand what you guys are saying and no that’s not what I wanted to hear. Obviously the chances of getting into Harvard are very slim, I have no problem with that statement. However, what I don’t like is that some if you guys are saying that it is impossible to get in if you don’t have some amazing story or 100 ec’s. Also, I’m not even too crazed about transferring to Harvard, which is why I asked about those other schools. The only person who gave advice about those other schools said it was impossible to get into any of them, which is false.</p>

13

<p>Just do your best. That’s all you really can do. I’m going to be applying there for graduate school and doubt I’ll get in, but I think with hard work and some luck almost anything is possible. Really, the odds are stacked against most people to begin with and if you don’t try you’ll never know. Don’t live with any regrets.</p>

<p>That saying, don’t get beat up too much if it doesn’t work out. There are plenty of good schools out there. :)</p>

14

<p>I’m a realist, and I would suggest, as I did before:</p>

<p>1) Talk to an advisor, at the campus you hope to transfer to, and find out their requirements and what you need to do to become a mid year transfer. </p>

<p>2) Talk to your PARENTS and get their help, suggestions, feedback, financial status for paying for those schools, etc. Even though you may not think it, your parents can step back and look at the total picture. Go with them to the schools you plan to attend. If this is not an option, talk/email a trusted adult, former teacher, neighbor, friend. You’d be surprised how quickly you find links to universities just by talking to people around you. </p>

<p>No one says you can’t do what you want to do, you just have to have a plan and a practical way of going about it.</p>

15

<p>I completely agree. Like I said before though, I’m not doing a mid year transfer, I’m going to complete freshman year at umass then go to a different school as a sophomore. My parents are already involved, I never make any drastic decisions like this without getting some opinions first. I would never make a blind decision. Also my family an I are already pretty familiar with colleges around Boston since it is our hometown. And @Aunt Bea, i don’t understand why you said that I should take a gap year because I’m “not ready”. What makes you think I’m not ready? All i ever said was that I’m going to try as hard as a can to get good grades at Umass then apply for a fall 2013 transfer. I asked advice about the hypothetical situation where im a great student a UMass and decide to transfer after a WHOLE year, not midyear. I’m ready to go to college, If someone could answer my original questions though that would be appreciated…</p>

<ol>
<li>IN THE CASE THAT I DO END UP WITH A 3.7+ at the end of the year AND do that internship/volunteer at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital (a teaching affiliate of Harvard) would I be a good candidate for acceptance at NOT ONLY HARVARD (that is just one of the schools i am applying to and i already said in the original post that it was a LONG SHOT) but also the OTHER SCHOOLS: BU, BC, Northeastern, and Tufts</li>
<li>forget about this question, i already decided that it would be too much headache for me to transfer mid year</li>
<li>Is it normal to go up to professors and ask for recommendations to 5 different schools? </li>
<li>already answered</li>
<li>I would especially like to attend Harvard, as do many others, for two reasons. The first is the competitiveness of the schools and the general quality of the education i’d be receiving. The second is that if your income is below a certain point (i’m way past), they waive the tuition completely. WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE MY CHANCES OF BEING ACCEPTED (since they usually accept around 10 transfers a year)?</li>
</ol>

16

<p>1) Yes, you will be a good candidate to any school that you want to apply. For sure, they will take you money and accept your application. Question: How you decide on the target GPA of 3.7?</p>

<p>3) Since UMass Boston is a 4-year school, the professors don’t expect to write recomendations for undergradate transfer students. Usually they’re writing recomendations for the stdents to go on graduate schools or finding a job. Maybe one school, 5 schools are too much for any one professor to write, especially if the schools are looking different things.</p>

<p>5) Get a perfect GPA. Do something that “can really add to the [Houses] and College as a whole”</p>

17

<p>More questions:
Do you know why BC, BU, & NE rejected you as a freshman appliciant? Did they ask you to get 3.7 GPA in other school and reapply?</p>

<p>Did you apply Harvard as a freshman?</p>

<p>Did you ever get a 3.7 GPA in your high school career?</p>

18

<p>The 1% that get into Harvard as transfers.
Are those 1% not human? Why can’t it be him?</p>

<p>You see, his planning to apply to other schools. He already knows Harvard is a huge reach.
Instead of telling him he can’t do it, let’s help him try and get in.
Like I said, he knows Harvard is almost impossible, and that is why he is going to apply to other schools.</p>

<p>Now dude, you’re going to need a close to a 4.0 GPA, and maybe take the SAT again. It’s possible, just dedicate yourself. People here are going to tell you it’s almost impossible, and I agree. But you’ll never know unless you try - don’t be scared just because some people tell you that you can’t. I PROMISE YOU that if you had a chance to look at all the history of Harvard transfers, you’ll find people with lower High school GPAs than you, some probably even have criminal records.</p>

19

<p>Yes, at least two people are “From homeless to Harvard” and I’m sure they had lower GPA than you.</p>

20

<p>Since sarcasm isn’t really expressed over the internet. What his saying is literal, and he means yes you can be one of those miracle stories and get into Harvard.</p>