<p>Hello! I'm a student at a large university and after some soul searching I've come to realize that I'd rather be somewhere smaller and more cohesive. Can someone point me to some good liberal arts colleges that take a good number of transfers? I'd prefer to head back to the northeast. I would like to attend somewhere small with an intellectual environment and no Greek life (or a very small Greek scene).</p>
<p>I was in the top 3% of my class in high school and had 800 critical reading, 750 math and 730 writing scores. My college GPA after this semester will be about a 3.8. I attended a well-regarded high school in New Jersey. </p>
<p>I've been thinking of applying for sophomore transfer to Bates and Wesleyan. What are some other schools that would be a good match?</p>
<p>Few LACs with the characteristics you want will take “a good number” of transfers.
In the past couple years, Colby has admitted close to zero transfers, for instance. Dickinson admits about 40, which is a lot.
You can also look into TCNJ or Suny Geneseo (except for business, education, and biology)</p>
<p>There have to be some options. I really wouldn’t want to downgrade academically from my current university. I was accepted to multiple top 20 universities last year so I’d have to be competitive for some top LACs too, right?</p>
<p>The issue isn’t Greek Life, or your competitiveness: it’s how many transfers they admit. If they admita handful of transfers, your odds aren’t good. Note that it’s not enough to have good stats; you have to explain why you want to transfer without saying anything wrong about your current school and you have to be specific about why you want to transfer to College W in particular. Many Top 25 schools admit only a handful of transfers, so it’s more competitive than for freshmen year when they admit hundreds, some prioritze students from community colleges, and some simply don’t admit any transfers some years. It’s less straightforward than freshmen admission since transfers may “fill the gaps” left by the freshman class. If you don’t need financial aid, it may be easier. Be aware that you won’t be eligible for merit aid and will be treated after the freshmen for financial aid.
To give you an idea: Bates admitted 45 transfers in 2012 but only 27 in 2011; Wesleyan admitted 76 in 2012, a 12% admit rate.</p>
<p>I know Southwestern University in Texas has a very small Greek scene; when I toured there they said it wasn’t an important part of campus life at all. It’s a liberal arts school and very, very small. Everyone I know who goes there or who knows someone who goes there has loved it, and you’d get in with scholarship, no problem. It could be your backup!</p>
<p>Rice University is a fantastic school with absolutely NO greek life at all. It’s also fairly small, and it’s a wonderful university.</p>
<p>Other ones I found:</p>
<p>Boston College
Ithaca College
Macalaster College
Swarthmore College
Bowdoin College
Skidmore College</p>
<p>I got into Rice last year and I almost went. I’d prefer to be in a colder environment though. I was waitlisted at Bowdoin. Would that give me a better chance as a transfer applicant?</p>
<p>After checking out the common data sets of the colleges you’d like to transfer to, you need to visit those schools you’re most likely to get into. Then get on the horn and ask to talk to the admissions officer who handles transfers or the dean of admissions. Tell them your story and why you want to leave your current school (without denigrating it) and, in greater detail, what attracts you to their school and what you’ll bring to your classmates to enrich their experience. You have to make yourself stand out more even than before. As someone who transferred to another school, I found it was even more important when I sought to transfer to put an oral account before them. If you can afford to travel to the school (I couldn’t), go in person after arranging an interview, and bring your mojo.</p>
<p>There are quite a few academically rigorous LACs in the northeast that do not have a Greek focus. Some, like Swarthmore, have a few fraternities, but they’re not the driving social force on campus, so go for culture, not just the absence of Greeks.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned, LACs only accept a small number of transfers. I would, therefore, suggest that you cast as wide a net as you can handle. Aside from your grades and scores, which are positives, do you have any other attributes that would stand out in admissions? Demographic, talents, achievements? In other words what can you contribute to the campus community?</p>
<p>Grinnell and Reed are in fairly cold locations (Iowa and Oregon respectively) and they have no Greek life. I like them a lot and I’ve looked into them myself. I’m not sure what their statistics are on transfers but they fit your other criteria.</p>
<p>One other thing to consider is that starting at a big university and then transferring to a small LAC tends to pick up the usual disadvantages of each more than the advantages.</p>
<p>Starting at the big university, you get the huge introductory classes.</p>
<p>Transferring to the small LAC, you get the more limited selection and offering of advanced courses.</p>
<p>Choose carefully to make sure that the LACs you are interested in have sufficient advanced level courses in your areas of possible academic interest.</p>
<p>Absolutely second UCB. Keep in mind that at schools which accept few transfers a year, there may not be as good transfer advising as there would be at more transfer friendly institutions (I’d argue that advising for transfers is more important than for freshmen).</p>
<p>Two of the advantages of strong LACs are small class sizes and very personalized academic advising. My son was a transfer student (from a large university) to Oberlin where he was quickly assimilated into both a small transfer-student population and the academic community as a whole. He never looked back, and was thrilled with the change in both the academic and social climates. Oberlin has no Greek life. There’s a wide variation among LACs, so blanket statements aren’t very useful. My advice - stick to your guns. You’re obviously a strong student who knows what you want. Visit the colleges you have your eye on, if at all possible, and sell yourself to the adcoms. You may be just what they’re looking for.</p>
<p>Most strong LACs have advanced level courses that are sufficient for the vast majority of high school students. Unless a student is a math or science prodigy and/or is coming in already at the college junior level in mathematics, chances are good that these places - especially top ones like the OP is considering - will have a more than sufficient stable of classes for the student to take.</p>
<p>I also agree with opine1 that these colleges tend to have good academic advising overall that is personally tailored towards each student, so transfer advising is unlikely to be a significant problem especially for a sophomore. My husband transferred as a junior to a somewhat transfer unfriendly place and was presented with a worksheet that showed exactly what classes transferred in, which requirements they satisfied and exactly what he had left to fulfill. He has semesterly meetings with his academic advisor who helps him tailor his schedule.</p>
<p>I think if you are dead set on going to a school that is just as competitive as where you are now, and money is not an issue, then you need to not focus on schools that admit a “good” amount of transfers. None of the schools you’re going to want to apply to will have very good transfer admit rates, since the purpose of taking transfer students is to replace students who leave and very few students leave (less than 5% at most of these places). What I think you need to do is apply widely to many places to which you would be willing to go to try to secure a place. Personally I would apply to at least 5 and probably close to 10 places if I was really dead set on transferring.</p>
<p>I think most important (in addition to your grades and test scores, which look fine) is going to be your explanation for why you want to transfer. I don’t think you need to focus too much on why you are leaving your current university; instead, focus on what you plan to get out of your transfer college’s environment. I wouldn’t even mention Greek life; instead, you could say something like you wanted to attend a small place with small classes, intimate discussions with professors, lots of personal attention, and a small and very involved student body. You could also say that you’re interested in a rigorous liberal arts education where learning about many fields is valued, and that you want to go to a place where you know professors are very passionate about teaching and working with undergrads.</p>
<p>Strongly suggest Oberlin for you. Your high SATs would be welcome there and you would be a great candidate. Wesleyan is harder to get into because it is in Connecticut vs Ohio but you are qualified. Also pursue Bowdoin since you were waitlisted there, although they take very few transfers.</p>
<p>nervedoctor, colleges report SATs on their incoming freshman class – I don’t think the high SATs of a transfer student mean as much to them. Not that they don’t look at them… but it doesn’t do a thing for the statistics the colleges like to brag about. I do think Oberlin is a good option for the OP, though.</p>
<p>You can add Bard to the list. I like Bowdoin the best so far, though. beautiful campus, and not too far from civilization. have you visited Bates? I live in Maine and Lewiston is, ahem, not the lovliest of our cities…</p>
<p>Recent Transfer Admission Rates (2012-13 for most of the following)</p>
<p>Bowdoin College (5 admitted of 177 applicants
Carleton College (8 admitted of 287 applicants)
Colorado College (54 admitted of 226 applicants)
Macalester College (47 admitted of 176 applicants)
Oberlin College (74 admitted of 303 applicants)
Reed College (54 admitted of 248 applicants)
Vassar College (36 admitted of 286 applicants)
Wesleyan University (137 admitted of 489 applicants)</p>