<p>I'll be attending my safety as a freshman this fall, and already looking forward to transferring out (pessimistic, I know). Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about this. Questions: Do EC's in college carry much weight in transfer decisions? What do I have to watch out for regarding course selection my freshman year in my safety school (worried about courses transferring, etc). Better to transfer sophomore or junior year? Any other advice would get greatly appreciated...</p>
<p>I'm exactly in your position, and I hope to see some good posts in response to yours. What was your safety? I'm going to attend University of Florida this fall.</p>
<p>EC's don't play much of a roll compared to your GPA. Have a decent amount of credits your first semester and do as well as you possibly can. Some schools will also look at your HS grades, as well as your SAT score if you're trying to transfer after your freshman year. Course selection doesn't necessarily have to be the most difficult, as long as you do well. If you're undecided on a major, then at least make sure you're taking courses that will transfer to the field you're most considering. Check with the school's website you're trying to transfer to see what is transferrable. </p>
<p>My suggestion would be to apply as a transfer student after your first semester of college, provided you have at least a 3.5 GPA, and if you're not accepted to the school of your choice, try again the following year. A lot of colleges like to see that you have held a good standing for 2 yrs. before trying to transfer.</p>
<p>I am currently on the transfer waiting list at Georgetown in biology. I felt the same as you when I first started because there is not a whole lot of info about the transfering process. Most of the college admissions advice deals with freshmen admission.
I had a 3.4 in HS and a 1110 SAT score so I too had to go with my safety school. I was there for 2 years and got a 3.85 GPA in a lot of challenging biology and chemistry courses. I also got really involved on campus. I think these schools can have all 4.0 "nerds" but what they want is a diverse student body. Its the EC's that matter (good grades are needed to even be considered but its the EC's that make the difference).
Also things like teacher recomendations. Make friends with teachers, go to their office hours, come see them in the morning before class... Let them get to know you as more then a name in their book. A lot of schools require recomendations from a few teachers, the dean, HS principle, and whoever else you can get a rec from.
The essay is also very important because it is the only way that the commite has to get to know who you are. Make sure that you put a lot of time and effort into the essay and get the advice of the writing center on campus.
Get involved in activitys other then school activities where somone will be able to write you a letter of recomendation. </p>
<p>I hope this has helped, like I said I am on the waiting list but a lot of other qualified people were outrigh rejected so... we'll see</p>
<p>I think that college EC's do matter, but not as much as academics (obviously). I have been one of those people who likes to be really involved in many things, and so that wasn't an issue for me. When I was at Mount Holyoke College, I sang in two choral ensembles (vocal jazz and Concert Choir), did vocal study, played club water polo (which happened to be a joke), was vice president/social chair of Concert Choir, participated the Mount Holyoke Protestant Community, a member of InterVarsity Chrisitan Fellowship, and planned/fundraised a trip to fix low income housing in South Carolina with a group. I had a decent SAT scores (nothing too spectacular, I don't test well), earn 4/5's on all of my AP exams, had okay SAT II scores, a good high school GPA from one of those snobby, elitist college prep schools (4.03; I applied as a freshman in college), lots of EC's in high school too, a National Merit Scholar Letter of Commendation (I'm from CA), and a good college GPA when applying (3.85 first semester; then after 2nd semester was completed, a cumulative 3.77). I think that my EC's really augmented my application though because they display how I'm an active contributor to my college community. This coming fall, I'm going to the College of William and Mary, but I got into everywhere that I applied (Cornell, Tufts, Wash U, WM; for various reasons, I couldn't really afford to attend Cornell and Tufts; Wash U wouldn't accept a lot of my credits and has the worst music facilities that I've ever seen, I plan on being a music/biology major).</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. I mean, who knows - I may end up loving my "safety". I guess I just got stars in my eyes about "name universities", like Georgetown, George Washington, Chapel Hill. I had 1300 SAT with 4.1 GPA and was waitlisted everywhere except my safety. But, s'okay really. I'll just dig in and do really well next fall, and... we'll see. Thanks, everyone, a lot for advice. 'Preciate it!</p>