Great high school student at an OK university...

<p>My high school creds:</p>

<p>SAT 2240
GPA 3.94
EC - 4 years Beta, 4 years Academic Bowl, 4 years abundant volunteer work, 4 years Tennis (captain as senior).</p>

<p>I applied for undergrad admission to Stanford, Emory, and NYU. I was rejected by Stanford, I'm waitlisted by Emory, and NYU is just too expensive. So I'm going to University of Georgia. If it helps, I'm in the honors program which is hard to get into. My question is, what schools should I apply to for transfer after my freshman year? I checked Berkeley and they don't accept Sophomore transfers. Only Juniors. Would I stand a chance applying to places like Duke, Stanford, maybe UCLA? I need a great college with great financial aid. If you could just tell me what the best school I could possibly get into is, and what schools you would apply to in my situation for back-ups etc. I would highly appreciate it.</p>

<p>Duke: Don't even bother. The acceptance rate is so small.
Stanford: Try again I guess.
UCLA and UCB: Priority is given to students from California and is even hard for them to get in but you never know.</p>

<p>Where do you think I should apply if I just want to go to a prestigious school? I'm sort of undecided right now.</p>

<p>For the UC's it is much easier to do so if you are a transfer from a community college in california. Try colleges like Brown and Cornell which seem to be transfer friendly. However brown is supposedly much harder this year. I am in the same situation as you, but I am going to UCONN honors college. I wish you good luck and try to have fun at UGA. :)</p>

<p>How about Upenn, Cornell, UChicago, Northwestern. What is your major? The list may be greatly different by your intended major.</p>

<p>Well here's a question...what if I applied to great colleges with a "strategic" major? As in, I apply for transfer with a major that would increase my chances of admission, then change majors when I get there?</p>

<p>depends on the school. some schools dont admit by major; and even then have transfer lockouts, i think, to other schools within the school (I.E, an external transfer cannot transfer into the wharton school of business or the CAS at penn from the nursing school.). But what are some of the more prestigious schools that 'do' admit by major, i wonder?</p>

<p>many schools don't allow you to do that as a transfer. the 'strategic major' option is typically only viable when applying as a freshman. Whatever major you transfer with is the major you graduate with, unless you change majors within the same specific college, such as going from sociology to psychology, but you would have to check with the school.</p>

<p>What if I chose Pre-Law as my major? Would I stand a chance of getting into an ivy, or maybe Stanford?</p>

<p>Pre-law is probably not your best bet. Not only is it looked down on, but it is not usually offered at top schools. Stanford, for example, does not offer it, and I would be surprised if any of the ivies did, either. </p>

<p>Transfer admission at top-tier schools is still extremely competitive. A strategic major is unlikely to help you gain admission. Even in the event that a given school is looking to combat attrition in a certain major, it is probably not going to coincide with your strategic major. Some schools do in fact fill holes with their transfer pools - but there is no way of divining what holes a given school is looking to fill in a given year.</p>

<p>Dont apply to Duke at all.. There was a duke thread i started a while back.. They had an applicat pool of about 1000 for 7 spots for their College of arts and sciences. Thats about 7/10ths of a percent acceptance rate! Its a waste if time and money (75 dollars, by far the most expensive ive seen) filling out that application. If I have known, I wouldn't of applied this year.</p>

<p>Why are you giving up on Emory? I would let them know I would go if accepted. If you don't get in why not try again?</p>

<p>Emory says that it won't affect my luck on the waitlist if I try to contact them and tell them how interested I am. Should I give up or should I continue to contact them? I already e-mailed admissions once and got a response.</p>

<p>instead of saying the university of georgia is OK and that you are a great student student as if you deserved better, just make the best of it there, be at the top of your class at georgia if your so great, and then go to an amazing grad school...no offense (it came out mean) but</p>

<p>i mean obviously georgia is where you 'belong' so make the best of it and dont worrry so much about the name of a school.</p>

<p>ilovecalifornia, the only reason I need a good undergrad experience is to get good work experience for an MBA.</p>

<p>a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.</p>

<p>i agree with ilovecalifornia.</p>

<p>I just don't see myself getting good work experience after UGA. I hope I get off the Emory waitlist...</p>

<p>Duo,</p>

<p>I don't care what Emory overtly tells you, I earnestly think you are behooved to send them a brief letter telling them you're interested and explaining your current situation. In any event, it cannot hurt, and it has the potential to help you. You have very good numbers, so you are probably near the top of the list anyway (I simply do not buy claims from schools that contend that they use an unweighted waitlist). An explanation of your situation, which would characterize you as an auto-attending student, could help bump you up even further. Schools still play the yield game, even though USNews doesn't factor it into the rankings anymore.</p>

<p>duobeef, i understand that, but you can have a good undergrad expeirnce at georgia. its not like going to stanford absolutely guarantees that you'll be employed with a great company. you can still get good work experience with a degree from georgia. its about you. your undergrad school name won't get you into business school as much as your own personal drive and academic performance</p>

<p>I strongly suggest you give UGA a chance. You may very well end up liking it a lot...don't give too much weight to prestige. If you don't like UGA after a year, I suggest UNC Chapel Hill, especially since it's close to GA. The transfer admit rate is relatively high, and there's no in-state quota for transfer admissions. You'd have a pretty good shot with a strong college GPA, I think.</p>