<p>I am a student at BC who is looking to transfer to UW for Autumn quarter for the ACMS program. I know admissions look at many different things, but what seems to be the GPA "cutoff" for the average applicant? On the website, the average transfer GPA is 3.49, which is much lower than the freshman GPA range of 3.64-3.93. While UW gives the GPA range for freshman, I wonder what is the range for transfers.</p>
<p>After submitting my application, I've been looking the stats of those admitted here and most of which exceed the average GPA, which is unnerving. I've been accepted into WSU, but UW is my primary choice. As a transfer applicant with only a 3.4 GPA, I feel quite inadequate. I don't know how much being a low-income, first-generation student and immigrant can make up for some of that (if at all). However, I do have at least 90 transferable credits, a direct transfer agreement, and all the prerequisites for the ACMS met. On a side note, I've also been a certified math tutor for half a year if that means anything.</p>
<p>On a side note, it seems that freshman will have less competition this year as there are less graduates this year. I wonder if this will also benefit transfers as well.
Source: <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023115826_collegeenrollmentxml.html">http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023115826_collegeenrollmentxml.html</a>
Another source: <a href="http://www.nj.com/education/2014/01/is_it_easier_to_get_into_college_this_year_schools_scramble_as_applicant_pool_shrinks.html">http://www.nj.com/education/2014/01/is_it_easier_to_get_into_college_this_year_schools_scramble_as_applicant_pool_shrinks.html</a></p>
<p>Anyways, what do you think is the GPA "cutoff?" :-?? </p>
<p>The thing you have to keep in mind is that the freshman GPA is a high school GPA. The transfer GPA is a college GPA. So you can pretty much just ignore the high school stats and focus directly on the Transfer GPA of 3.49. Since that’s an average, we can pretty safely assume (in lieu of other statistical information that would be very useful if we had it) that many applicants are admitted with a GPA lower than this. </p>
<p>However, this could be for a variety of reasons. Perhaps an applicant started out with a 2.5 and gradually (or quickly) improved to a 4.0. An applicant with a 3.4 GPA that showed improvement has a better chance of admission than a student who has the same GPA and does not show improvement. (This is extrapolated from information that can be found on the UW admissions website). Further, the credits contributing to the GPA matter. You could have low marks in courses that are required (such as foreign language courses) or outside your major, but 4.0s in courses in your major. This may indicate “preparation for major”, and may help offset the negative consequence of having a lower than average GPA. </p>
<p>In a nutshell, there is no “cutoff” GPA. It is very dependent on the circumstances surrounding that GPA, particularly in your case, since you are very close to the average. In general, I’d say if you have less than a 3.0, your chances are exceedingly low, but I’m sure that some students have been admitted with that GPA. If I were you I certainly wouldn’t give up hope…I’m sure there are many students that get accepted with your GPA. </p>
<p>As a small tip, check out UW’s planning guides, found here <a href=“http://admit.washington.edu/Admission/Transfer/APW”>http://admit.washington.edu/Admission/Transfer/APW</a>
They tell you how many people from a recent admissions cycle were admitted with various GPA ranges, in your major. </p>
<p>The average transfer gpa is going to be different depending on what your major is. But I’ve given up trying to decipher what gpa you need to transfer. I’ve heard of 4.0s getting rejected and 3.0s getting admitted. It’s next to impossible to tell what could happen.</p>
<p>@Candela2 Thanks for all the info. Unfortunately, as I progressed through my college career, my grades slightly dipped. This was because I began incorporating more and more ECs and finally my tutoring job. This and the fact that my courses got gradually more and more difficult means that my GPA slightly dipped. Fortunately, looking at the APW for ACMS, I am still in the GPA ‘cluster’ for students that get admitted.</p>
<p>@relacircle That’s true, but for ACMS, you have to be admitted into to the UW and then apply for ACMS. That was why I am concerned about general admission into UW. Things like ECs, personal statement, etc. may be the reason as to why some 4.0s are rejected or some 3.0s are accepted.</p>
<p>@potatomawnster ahh, I get what you’re saying. Well, as you mentioned, you fall in the area in which transfers are admitted. That’s a good sign 
Good luck!</p>
<p>@potatomawnster It feels like being a broken record but time and time again, when this question is asked, the answer is a)it depends and b) did you write a kick ass personal statement? If so, your chances improve exponentially. If you wrote about, for instance, challenging yourself and what drew you to tutoring and placed that in the context of being a low-income, first generation student, then I think you have a great chance. If you can add something to the UW community that others can’t, your application will be viewed better than that of a perfect 4.0 who doesn’t bring anything to the table beyond doing consistently well in school.</p>
<p>@principessaAnna Thanks for the advice. I felt that I wrote a fairly great personal statement; it wasn’t perfect, but I felt it was great. While I didn’t explore the subject of being a math tutor too much, I did focus of the theme of self-improvement as a first-gen and low-income student. There were too many things I wanted to put without exceeding the 1000 word limit while trying to not sound “forced.”</p>
<p>Back in high school, I barely graduated with a rancid 2.2 GPA. I wrote about how my father sacrificed so much as a first-generation immigrant while I wasted his time and failed his expectations of me. I then wrote about improving myself at college to an extent in which I wasn’t bound by my father’s expectations anymore, but my own new lofty expectations. I also briefly explained as to why I did so poorly in high school as I had depression from my severe acne at that time and was constantly teased for it, but I didn’t elaborate too much because I didn’t want it to be a “woe is me” kind of personal statement.</p>
<p>Overall, I felt my PS was good, but not perfect. For instance, I noticed a single spelling error near the end of the PS from the auto-correct system weeks after I sent it in; I can never forgive myself for that. Even then, there may be more mistakes that I didn’t notice despite all the proofreading.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the little mistakes. I looked over mine the other day (this is over a year after I submitted it) and noticed I failed to capitalize certain things. Obviously, it didn’t matter. It sounds like you wrote exactly the kind of personal statement that they like to see. I touched on some similar themes in mine. It’s not about being a “perfect” student but about being someone who has learned and grown from life experiences and who can take that learning an apply it to a vision for the future that UW can be a part of. I think you’ll get in :)</p>
<p>how hard is it to transfer to UW seattle? I’ll be attending BU this fall (freshman), but I’m hoping to transfer to UW sometime… how does the transfer process work? @potatomawnster </p>
<p>@calilove77 Transferring to UW Seattle from a community college with 90 credits is statistically the most successful way to get into UW. However, If you transfer from a 4yr, out of state, or with less than 90 credits from a CC, then things will be a lot more competitive.</p>
<p>You should explore this official UW transfer newsletter; it will show you an archive of all the transfer stats for all the different quarters. Select a quarter, go under ‘Admissions Update’ and click ‘read more’ to well, read more.</p>
<p><a href=“UW Transfer Student eNewsletter”>http://depts.washington.edu/trnews/archives/</a></p>
<p>This has pretty much all the stats you need.</p>
<p>@potatomawnster do you think it’s worth transferring to UW seattle from BU? i still really want to go there, so I could try and apply for summer 2015 (because I’m international)… what do you think? UW is my dream school and my heart is set on that school. however, I feel as though it will be difficult for me to transfer there from BU only as a freshman… </p>
<p>@calilove77, there’s no harm in applying to transfer, but as a freshman (with around 45 quarter credits) who is already attending a 4-year university, you would basically be the lowest transfer admission priority at UW, and you would have a very small chance of being admitted. </p>
<p>yeah you’re right…@candela2</p>
<p>@potatomawnster are you currently a freshman at BC? with how many many college credits did you apply for transfer?
i’m hoping to transfer once i go to college, so please let me know if you’re transfer was successful or not and it would be great if you could give me tips/advice/suggestions! also, where did you find out the informations about average transfer gpa? can you please send me the link?</p>
<p>thank you so much! best of luck 
</p>
<p>@calilove77, pretty much what Candela said; there is no downside from applying besides the application fee. However, the numbers are against you.</p>
<p>Based on the numbers here:
<a href=“University of Washington Transfer eNewsletter”>University of Washington Transfer eNewsletter;
Extrapolating from the stats on that page, “For autumn 2013, the Seattle campus offered admission to 57.3% of all Washington community college applicants. This compares to offer rates of 55.2% for high school applicants and only 15.1% for applicants from four-year universities and non-Washington community colleges. The offer rate for international transfer students from Washington community colleges was 54%. This compares to 38.5% for all international transfers.”</p>
<p>Still, there is a chance for you to transfer successfully if you make a compelling argument for the transfer (e.g. Bothell doesn’t have the program I want). </p>
<p>Edit: Thanks. I graduate with my associate’s at the end of this quarter. All that’s left is an online class in the summer and I will have all the prerequisites for my major. When I applied, I had around 110 college credits while only 90 transfers over. I spoke with admissions and they said it was perfectly OK to have over 90 credits anyways. The max limit of credit for transfers from 2yr colleges is 90 credits while it is 135 for 4yrs.</p>
<p>Some simple transfer facts:
<a href=“Transfer | Office of Admissions”>http://admit.washington.edu/QuickFacts/Transfer</a>
A statistical breakdown of SAT and GPA:
<a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search;
An archive of transfer newsletters; contains useful information if you dig around for a bit:
<a href=“UW Transfer Student eNewsletter”>http://depts.washington.edu/trnews/archives/</a></p>
<p>Associate’s degree? Oh I thought you are transferring from BC (Boston College) ? </p>
<p>Thank you so much for your help! I hope I can do well in college and hopefully transfer someday :)</p>