Got denied from BU Transfer admissions

Transfer Students
, , , , ,
1

Birth date: 2003
Hello everybody! I am a second year UMass Boston student and I would want to transfer to BU/Northeastern. However, I got a 3.3 GPA, retaking a class that I got a C- in, and hopefully, after the end of the spring semester, my cumulative GPA will go up to 3.48-3.5ish. However, just before the spring semester ended, BU sent a rejection letter, which made me kind of angry at my family for not caring so much about my education.

I really don’t know what to do now, and I am in limbo. Northeastern however, is much better off, because it will send out decisions on 15 June after spring grades arrive at my school, but the tradeoff is that it is also much harder to get into than BU (as stated on the CDS).

As far as stuff are concerned, despite my college GPA will only be as high as 3.5 for Spring 2022, I did have tons of achievements:

750 M/500 R (I am not submitting SAT, but just in case, or I only mention half the SAT) 12/2019

9th grade classes = Algebra II H, English 1 (Regular), Biology H, World History H, French II H
10th grade classes = Geometry H, Pre-Calculus H, English 2 (Regular), AP Human Geo, Chemistry H, French III H
11th grade classes = AP Calculus, English 3 (Regular), AP Physics 1, AP US History
12th grade = skipped, got GED in September 2020
In my maths courses, I mostly get A, in English courses, mostly B, in Science courses, mostly A-, in History courses, mostly A-, and in Foreign Language, mostly A, and that is as recent as during high school.
During online school, I took a AP Computer Science elective for one semester (the first semester, since my online school doesn’t offer CS courses, so I had to take from another online school), and got an A- in that course

2011 = started playing the piano, became very good at it playing Beethoven Sonatas and Chopin Etudes/Nocturnes and Debussy’s Arabesque
2012 = Became interested in computers, started downloading virtual machines, creating an OS using SuseStudio
2013 = Started HTML programming, started JavaScript/Python in March 2015
2015 = Connected a domain from Windows Server 2003 to Windows XP and from Windows Server 2008 to Windows 7
2015 = won School Science Fair (engineered a LED Glove)
2016 = won middle school NatGeo Bee the 2nd time (3rd place 7th grade, 2nd place 8th grade out of 800 students in my middle school)
2018 = created video game from Swift
2020 = got GED, skipped 12th grade, 194 on maths section, 180 on science section
2021 = member of CS club at my school
2021 = Dean’s list with 3.7 GPA
2021 = Highest exam score on CLSICS-230L 235/250 unweighted

However, the summer semester took a massive toll, as because of withdrawal issues, I couldn’t withdraw from one of the classes I am falling behind because of schedule and stress tightness, causing me to fail the Physics lab, and the stress pulled onto the Fall semester, and although I passed the Physics lab, I got a C in it, and I did poorly in CS210 due to my MacBook failing despite being good in computers and programming, and it started to affect my spring semester.

I am curious what should I do to improve Northeastern transfer admissions? I am thinking of a digitised resume showing all of my achievements in hand via HTML, if that would work.

2

I am struggling to understand why you want to transfer at all. You are already attending a good university. U.Mass Boston is a solid and reputable university.

You should not think of higher ranked universities as “better”. You should think of higher ranked universities as “academically more challenging” and for some students “more stressful”. It sounds like you are doing okay at U.Mass Boston and are on track there to graduate (probably on time if you can catch up on any necessary courses by taking some summer classes). Once you graduate from U.Mass Boston if you have a marketable major then finding a good job will be likely. Your ECs make it look to me as if computer science or IT are likely majors, and of course these are very marketable with lots of jobs in the general Boston area.

To me it looks as U.Mass Boston will probably be a better fit for you than Northeastern or BU. My recommendation is that you work hard with your coursework and try to do as well as you can where you are.

9 Likes
3

I agree with what @DadTwoGirls just said. Although you have some impressive achievements, students with perfect GPAs and also great EC’s are getting rejected left and right from NU and BU. I think your GPA regardless of your situation is going to significantly hold you back from transferring to those schools, the main issue being that if you are struggling at UMass Boston a less rigorous institution, they are not going to believe you will succeed at there school.

Umass Boston is great, but I understand it is heavily a commuter school still and I could see how people attend to get good grades and just transfer. You should consider UMass Amherst which is pretty competitive, yet still attainable and easy to transfer into from the Umass’s. Also applying to two competitive schools is not always a good idea, you should have two safeties, two targets, and maybe a reach or two if you are actually passionate about leaving.

1 Like
4

Good luck

5

One last thing. Your high school achievements and grades are not going to be as influential as your accomplishments gained at a college level. I got into BU and I did not even list my high school extracurriculars because they are not relevant as a sophomore in college transferring in as a junior.

Also, your reasons for falling behind are not going to be valid explanations to those schools. Unless you had a real medical emergency or exemption, you will not be taken seriously. Also, try to petition for a late pass/fail for the class you are taking. They offer it at UMA so I am sure it could be an option for you.

6

If you want a Boston area school with stronger CS than UMass Boston has, transferring to UMass Lowell could be a good plan.

Are you intent on the private U’s for prestige reasons, or is your financial profile such that the aid would be better than at a UMass campus?

3 Likes
7

No, I want the best ranked ones, and I want to stay in Boston.
Rank goes as it is in CS:
MIT
Harvard
Northeastern
Boston University
Boston College
Tufts
Brandeis
UMB
Wentworth
Suffolk

8

Some achievements done in college:
achieved highest exam score for CLSICS-230L (235/250 unweighted)
Dean’s List Spring 2021
Got 102.5 out of 100 on midterm and 96 out of 100 on final exam for MATH 260 (Linear Algebra)
Part of CS Club (Member)
Good recommendation letter from Linear Algebra professor

That is just in one and a half years

9

Those are really impressive achievements. I think you should try to score an internship or work position around your major. Even adding an intramural sport might be good, it is important to have extracurriculars outside of academics to show you are well-rounded.

10

The schools that are highlighted in blue are going to be extremely difficult to get into with a 3.3-3.5. You will also need much stronger extracurriculars. Let me give you my background as an example and I don’t even consider my extracurriculars very strong.

-3.96GPA w two majors
-two competitive jobs (collegiate athletic tutor, and dean assistant of the school my majors are in)
-Legal/pre-law internship
-two clubs
-intramural sport
-deans list even semester
-Part time Leadership position
-I volunteer year round at a church and raise money for charity

So far I have been admitted to BU and Umiami and waitlisted at BC.

2 Likes
11

I bike a lot, and in some nice days, I biked around Cambridge and Boston maybe 25-30 miles (40-48 km)

12

That is not an a solid EC lol

13

plz get a college advisor

14

Perhaps you could speak to transfer admissions officers at the schools to which you would like to transfer. They might be able to give you goals and explain what they expect and where the bar will be in terms of grades and other factors.

15

Hey guys!
I know I’m real late to this thread but I wanted to add this point for people who are looking at this later down the road. I applied to transfer as a junior with a ~3.6 with an upward trend. I was accepted into BU, Umich, Tulane, UF and FSU. I was only rejected from northwestern. This was a great outcome for someone in my gpa range. It’s possible to have great outcomes below a 3.8. With that said it’s imperative to have a 3.5 or higher when applying to these schools. I’ve talked to admissions counselors at these schools and they made very clear to me that a 3.5+ is the bare minimum expectation. If you don’t meet that you likely won’t even make it to the committee. Once you meet that threshold then your essays and ECs matter a lot. But barring some extreme circumstance none of those other aspects of your application will matter if you don’t have the grades. This is especially true if you’re coming from a school that’s ranked lower then the school you’re trying to transfer to. If you’re struggling to get that A- average at the school you’re currently at you have to ask yourself if transferring is a good fit for you.