<p>I have been reading pages and pages trying to decide my chances of transferring. Some made me feel very hopeful and others were very discouraging. Would love to know my chances for U Penn, Vanderbilt, Cornell, and Rice. I know they are reaches most likely, but if I don't apply I will never know. I am a sophomore at a local cc.
College
GPA: 3.46 (likely going to be 3.5+ after this semester)
Presidents list
Director of student affairs
Clubs:Central Spirit, Rugby Club, and Tiger Paw Productions
High School
GPA: 3.3
Highly competitive high school.
SAT: 500 English, 460 Math (I took it a couple times, they are horrible I know)
ACT: I am embarrassed to put it up. 19 (Horrible)
International Exchange Program as a junior
Highest ranking officer in ROTC
Numerous ROTC awards and medals
3 time national qualifier in DECA
Student Council representative
7yr high school track member (joined in middle school)
Cross country
tons of community service
Clubs:Latin Club, Key Club, Community Service Club, Fierce Club.
Also working up to 3 jobs at once</p>
<p>Rice claims that the average acceptance has a 3.4-3.5 and you need a 3.2 to qualify. So I qualify there, but no where near their (ok or any schools) SAT/ACT requirements.
Chances anyone? Any other schools to look into? Help a sister out</p>
<p>your chances would be amazing if you got your SATs up. At your score range, there is lots of improvement to be made, and you can do it. get a tutor, keep your head up you can do it! for real, all your other stats are great, just do well on one test and youre good</p>
<p>Frankly… Don’t worry about it. Apply to the schools you want to transfer to, and see what happens. Your SAT counts less and less the longer you are in college. Your college grades count more and more. </p>
<p>I could be mistaken, but I am almost certain that it is too late to retake, and thus improve, your SAT scores. Try to verify this!</p>
<p>A STRATEGY: prioritize the four schools listed above and apply to your favorite two. Then, apply to other schools which have similarities to the above, but which you feel confident of being admitted. Somebody will take you.</p>
<p>Finally, I think that you are still eligible for West Point. Give that a try, if you liked ROTC and want a military career. All of the service academies love overachieving hard workers. Also, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is a path to any and all of the military services… and is the easiest to get into!</p>
<p>I agree with the post above: aim for a school more suited to you rather than one that just had a prestigious name. If you do however wish to go to an IVY then you should try your best to get stellar SAT scores… anything is possible and your grades are not awful. DO NOT SUBMIT ACTS’ is a recommendation lol.</p>
<p>Hah thank you I appreciate the responses. I figure it’s always worth a shot, better than not knowing. My scores are bad, they happened during bad family times, but I know they are low. I don’t believe they reflect my work ethic at all and I hope colleges acknowledge that. I have applied to a safety school, so I know I am not naïve and relying solely on those schools. Out of all of them, which do I have the best chances of acceptance?</p>
<p>Penn and Vanderbilt are the hardest to get into. Both have much lower acceptance rates than Rice or Cornell, plus higher SAT scores. Rice and Cornell are about equal in this matter.</p>
<p>So, between Rice and Cornell which one is more suitable to you? Rice is in a much warmer climate, and in a major metro area. Cornell is in an isolated small town with lots of snow (plus has the East Coast snob appeal – for better or worse).</p>
<p>Personally, I suggest Rice. It is by far the smallest school of the four and might give your application more personal consideration. Tuition is lower than any of the others. Probably less bureaucracy, with its 5 to 1 student to faculty ratio. Rice is a very serious university, but also makes the list of having the happiest students.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you are a match for any of the schools listed. I don’t want to be discouraging, but I think you should look into other options. Transfering from a cc does allow for some wiggle room, and I don’t think its impossible for you to be accepted by the likes of Cornell or Rice, but unlikely. </p>
<p>Depending on where you live, I suggest you first look into transfer programs. I know that my local cc offers programs in which students are on the track to go to either UCLA or USC. I think this may be common in urban areas. If you don’t live in one, I would look for schools that area near them. Maybe UT-Austin, UNC, UCLA/UCSB/UCSD, U Wisconsin, U Michigan etc. </p>
<p>For private schools, I do encourage you to apply to ivy league reaches but also other options. There are amazing schools that will offer the same quality of education. If you are interested in schools on the east coast, I think you should look into Boston University, NYU, George Washington University, or Syracuse University. Depending on what you plan to major in these schools may even be a better fit. They all offer amazing internship programs and have vast alumni groups for job hunting. </p>
<p>Other suggestions (target, reach, and safety) include: USC, Emory, CU Boulder, U of Miami, Indiana, U of Washington. </p>
<p>Many excellent colleges are now “Test Optional” schools which, as the phrase implies, do not require test scores for admission. See the following link for a list of such colleges:</p>
<p>University of Rochester
Bard College
Bates College
Brandeis University
Bowdoin College
Colby College
College of the Holy Cross (strong employment network in the NE)
Colorado College
Pitzer College
Middlebury College
Union College (NY)
Wake Forest University</p>
<p>These are excellent too:</p>
<p>Guilford College
College of the Atlantic
Rollins College
Connecticut College
Denison University
Dickinson College
Franklin and Marshall College
Furman University (kind of a small version of Vanderbilt)
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
George Mason University
Gettysburg College
Goucher College
St. Lawrence University (kind of small version of Cornell)
Ohio Wesleyan University</p>
<p>Most of the colleges listed above are small colleges which simply are not big enough to be famous. However, many give an education which is almost Ivy League in quality. Almost all that I have listed are likely to be better than you safety school (just guessing on this, though).</p>
<p>Look at the list, you might find a good one that you like. I did not list every respectable college on the list.</p>
<p>A quick check showed that Bates College and Wake Forest University are very proud of their “test optional” policies. Both are outstanding schools with stellar academic reputations.</p>
<p>However, Middlebury College is not as enthusiastic. In fact, it appears as though they really require standardized tests. Similarly, Brandeis University is officially “test optional” but still encourages submitting test results. So, the policies vary a lot. Check with the websites for individual schools.</p>
<p>Most colleges will not ask for anything high school related from second semester sophomores trying to transfer. They will not ask for your SAT/ACT scores and most likely won’t care about your HS GPA. You proved what you can do, as an adult, when you were in college. Working 3 jobs would certainly also be considered impressive for time commitment.
However some of the schools on your list are the exception AND typically require a Community College 4.0 GPA for actual consideration (since they admit very, very few transfers in the first place and most of those are “lateral” transfers, ie., coming from another 4 year institution).
Rice may be your best shot among the 4 you list. Look into USC, while most of their transfers are from California, some of their admits do come from community colleges outside of CA.
What state do you live in? Your best bet would likely be your state universities. Does your community college have transfer or articulation agreements with any of the universities in your state?</p>
<p>It’s very difficult to get accepted to Ivies as a transfer. The option is more for students who have dramatically improved their grades in CC as compared to high school. However, I think that you have a good chance to transfer somewhere, just possibly not to an ivy. But, if that’s your dream, then go for it! You never know! Show passion and interest in your application, and see where you end up. Good luck! (:</p>
<p>ITHACA COLLEGE is two miles away from Cornell University… you could transfer there and make friends with Cornell students. After all, half the value of an Ivy League education is the networking opportunities. Ithaca College is “test optional” and explicitly states that SAT and ACT scores are not required for transfers.</p>
<p>This is funny, but not a joke… CORNELL COLLEGE in Iowa was founded 12 years before Cornell University. Interesting school, because students only take one course at a time; an “immersion” type experience. Each course lasts three and a half weeks, you meet 5 days a week for two or three hours. Between courses you have four days off. Not for everybody, but… who knows? Also, the entire campus is on the National Historic Register and is the only campus in America with that distinction. Read an independent review here:
<a href=“Cornell College – Colleges That Change Lives”>http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/cornell</a></p>
<p>I agree with a previous responder- GO FOR IT! However, like other people have stated, transferring to an ivy is tough regardless of test score and GPA. </p>
<p>In your case, I think you should look into liberal arts schools, test optional schools, and public schools. Namely, the ones in your state. I think they will be more forgiving of a local student who is working multiple jobs and (possibly) paying her way through college. I know this is the case in Los Angeles, where hundreds of cc kids are accepted to both USC and UCLA because they are genuinely hard working people. Also, they can’t necessarily afford to move elsewhere (more the case for UCLA). </p>
<p>Some schools also have joint programs with other states. I know that for UMich Ann Arbor, students from Missouri pay less in tuition (in between in-state and out of state. much closer to in state prices). If this is the case with a school in a neighboring state to yours, they also will be more forgiving. </p>
<p>@nrotcgrad I really appreciate that information! It is extremely helpful! I am looking into both of those right now. Interesting teaching styles…
You have been so very helpful and I greatly appreciate it!
I contacted Rice today, she was very nice and helpful with discussing my SAT scores. If I take them again it will be past the application deadline, but I can still submit them. Rice would be my ideal school for sure. I got into local schools as back ups. I live in SC and attended Clemson my freshman year only to find out it is not the school for me.
Hoping Rice is a contender! I am ruling out U Penn and focusing on Rice mainly. You never know unless you try!:)</p>
<p>Congrats on directly contacting Rice. If you can get in, you should go there. Great school. Wish you well on that effort.</p>
<p>A couple of opposite options (yes, that is word play)…</p>
<p>ECKERD COLLEGE in St. Petersburg, Florida is a really excellent small school. Will not require SAT or ACT scores, since you have completed more than a year of college. It is literally located on the beach, with about a mile of oceanfront. Most students live on campus. Only about 20% of students are from Florida, so most are out of state like you. The school has a fleet of “community bicycles” for riding around campus. Like a lot of colleges now, Eckerd has a robust “study abroad” program where you can earn credit studying in a foreign country. Academically, it has a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa – which is the most prestigious honor society in the country. How about a great way to show how far you have come, if you could gain admission to PBK?</p>
<p>If you really have the urge to attend a college up in the northeast, then you should consider BOSTON UNIVERSITY (this is not Boston College!). A very excellent school which tends to get overshadowed by nearby Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Amherst, Tufts, Brandeis, etc… In many states BU would be the best college available, public or private. It is private, but is bigger than most state universities. BU has almost any major that you can think of and I bet you can get in. The biggest downside is that it lacks a lovely campus. Being so big, and being in a crowded city, BU just has very little “green space.” One thing for sure, this would provide a very interesting experience to someone from South Carolina (I am from Alabama, by the way). I believe anybody would learn a lot by spending extended time in any of our most prominent cities – Boston, NYC, Chicago, LA, or San Francisco. This is a good option, IF you are up for adventure.</p>