<p>I was wondering if an upward trend in GPA helps mitigate the effects of a not so great overall GPA for junior transfer. My overall GPA is a 3.57 which isn't so great for a transfer, but my first semester GPA was a 3.17 and the following two have been 3.7 and 3.85, respectively. Will my upward trend be taken into consideration or is my overall GPA going to dampen my chances? </p>
<p>A couple schools I'm looking into: Columbia, Brown, Amherst, Swarthmore, Penn... from a top 20 school in the West. IMO I do have a good reason for transfer (not just "I don't like my school" because I quite like my school, actually)</p>
<p>Maybe I should rephrase - has anyone heard success stories transfers with not so great overall GPA but a steep upward trend? Thanks!</p>
<p>You could probably write about why you first received a 3.17 and how you changed to earn the 3.7/3.85 in your essay. Your grades don’t look bad depending on the difficulty of your coursework. Maybe work on your EC’s? If you were transferring to a school nearby, you could probably arrange a meeting with the Transfer Student Outreach Coordinator or someone in a similar position. Ideally you want them to take a personal interest in you instead of just seeing you as another student.</p>
<p>That’s extremely good to know. I’m in a similar position because my illness flared every three weeks this past semester and it really affected my GPA. When I’m healthy and can manage my illness, it’s not a big deal at all.
chato, I’m curious, for both my sake and goodatlife’s, what would you recommend doing and/or discussing in a meeting with a Transfer Student Outreach Coordinator? What exactly would you present to make yourself more than ‘another student’?</p>
<p>Most students never speak to their Transfer Student Outreach Coordinator before applying to transfer. If you are planning on transferring out of state, then you will have to get them on the phone or you can arrange an appointment with them if you visit the campus before applying. They are very busy so an appointment is necessary. If you already have a personal statement, I would suggest conveying that information to them. You are pretty much going to be talking about why you want to transfer to said school, your background, your future, etc. In all honesty, they really want to help you transfer but don’t expect them to work miracles. Just making the effort to pick up the phone and call them or arranging a meeting with them is enough to distinguish yourself from the herd.</p>
<p>Would this be the equivalent of an interview, in a sense and when does conveying a personal statement in person versus on-paper become repetitious?</p>
<p>Upward trends are always a good sign.
Also, do note that a 3.57 is NOT bad. A 3.5+ is usually considered a minimum for Ivys, but it’s not the be-all, end-all.
It’s actually quite funny because if you look at the median GPAs of college students, even in the top 10 schools, they tend to be around 3.1-3.2. It seems that transfers with higher GPAs are preferred so that they can bump that average up :P</p>
<p>Meeting with a transfer coordinator is sort of like an interview, but it is closer to meeting with a counselor. Regarding the personal statement, what I’m trying to get at is that you are not trying to sell yourself by simply repeating your highlights from your personal statement, your grades/ec’s will speak for themselves. You want to make a convincing argument why YOU personally should be accepted to transfer. Maybe there is a certain Professor at said university who is highly regarded in your field and you would like the opportunity to do research with them. Talk about some articles that they have published to show that you aren’t just blowing steam. What you don’t want to say is that you read in US News that they are rated 9th in the country for xyz and that is why you want to transfer there. Generic replies like that don’t make you stick out.</p>
<p>I have a couple reasons regarding academics and social life. I love where I am, but I’ve realized it may not necessarily be the best fit for me. </p>
<p>Ah - 3.5 overall gpa doesn’t seem very competitive for most of my schools, especially according to CC. We’ll see though, my last two semesters were pretty strong in terms of grades so I hope to draw attention to that in some way.</p>