<p>I'm planning on going to Umass for a year or two and then try and transfer to another school (NYU, low Ivies, UVA, Georgetown and stuff like that). (1) How hard would it be to do that? Is Umass easier/harder relatively compared to transferring in other schools and how does transfer acceptance rate compare with prospective students applying to college acceptance rate? (2) What kind of gpa would I want to maintain to get into those kinds of schools (like how hard would it be to transfer into lets say an Ivy with even with a 4.0 because it's a state school). (3) What do the colleges look at when I transfer? High school gpa/sat/ec or just focus on my first year or 2 of college only? And lastly, (4) is it recommended that I apply for transfer my freshman year in Umass (which doesn't really give them a lot to look at) or is it better to do so my sophomore year?</p>
<p>Sorry for all the questions, but this is kind of urgent since I don't have much time to decide whether I go there or not. Also I don't really want this to be guesses, so try to only answer my questions if you know for a fact that the info is correct. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>First of all, I want to congratulate you on getting admitted to UMass Amherst, which is an amazing school where you can get a great education and save you a lot of money, regardless of whether or not you decide to transfer.</p>
<p>To address your question, it is not ridiculously difficult to transfer from UMass to another school, although the process is definitely competitive.</p>
<p>Getting a 4.0 from UMass Amherst is very difficult, as you will realize. To be competitive for the schools you listed, you will need at least a 3.6. Many of the courses at UMass are probably almost as challenging as the courses at the schools you listed. So it is imperitive that you work hard and get a good GPA if you want to have good chances at transferring. They don’t really care where you are transferring from, as long as you take challenging courses and do well and get good recommendations.</p>
<p>If you plan to transfer as a sophomore, they will only see your first semester of college and your high school record will still be taken seriously. However, if you transfer as a junior, less weight will be placed on your high school record. Similar story with SAT/EC. If you transfer as a junior, you will want to get some research/projects done to boost your resume, although this might be difficult.</p>
<p>It really depends on whether you want to transfer as a soph/junior. If you have a strong high school record and were waitlisted perhaps, sophomore transfer looks great. Otherwise, you might want to consider transferring as a junior.</p>
<p>Of course, you might realize that UMass is a great fit for you and might not decide to transfer. It is difficult to adjust to a new environment and there are huge opportunities at UMass for undergrads to do research and to take challenging courses. You just have to seek out the opportunities yourself and make the most of your experience. UMass grads are recruited at many businesses and some get into great grad programs.</p>
<p>Take your education seriously and have fun and it is up to you to decide whether you want to go to UMass this fall. Have fun and enjoy your time and the environment before worrying about transfering.</p>
<p>Thanks IndianPwnerDude for the input, my high school record is not so great so in that case, I’ll probably be transferring in as a junior (if I choose to). Also, when you said that the courses at Umass are as tough as those at the really top/prestigious schools I kinda got scared. Is that really true? Because since it’s a state school, I would assume it to be quite a bit easier than let’s say Harvard or something of that caliber. But, yes I’ll definitely keep that in mind.</p>
<p>I don’t think that the courses are necessarily as difficult as, let’s say, Harvard, MIT, or Cornell. However, the material covered is similar and many of the science and engineering courses are by thier nature difficult wherever you take them. Keep in mind that a 4.0 means you will have to get an A in every course and it is likely that you may get an A- or B, which will pull your GPA down to a 3.8 or so. </p>
<p>For the lower ivies and georgetown, you probably would want a 3.8+, for NYU or UVA.</p>
<p>However, if you work hard, a 4.0 is not impossible and you might well be able to achieve it.</p>
<p>There are some very challenging courses out there and some that you will find to be ridiculously easy (although you probably won’t want to take all easy courses because it would be harder to transfer). The </p>
<p>However, the courses are not a joke, simply because it is a state school. The quality of the student body varies more between UMass and the schools you mentioned more than the difficulty of the course or the quality of the professors. UMass (and many other state schools) have quite low graduation rates as a result. Many science courses are curved and many students taking them are very motivated and work hard, so you should keep the competition in mind.</p>
<p>Many people feel disappointed about college rejections, although the feeling of disappointment subsides once you are having fun wherever you go. I was rejected by many of my top choices, such as MIT and Cornell. Ultimately, however, your success will be defined by how you do and not by where you go.</p>
<p>I also have another question, do I get to select the courses I want to take freshman year do not? If so, how do I do that will they mail me a course catalog or something or will I have to go online to do so? </p>
<p>*I wanna major in business (got into Isenberg School of Management) if that helps any.</p>
<p>You will register for the courses that you will take Freshman year during the freshman orientation, which is about a week (if I am not mistaken) before courses begin, and will also be able to discuss and choose your housing. You should consider some of the RAPs if you want to be with students in the honors program or in Isenberg.</p>
<p>You will be able to discuss your course schedule with academic advising, which is not exactly one of the strongest aspects of UMass. I believe you will take an English writing course first semester as well as a few general education classes, which you may or may not place out of depending on AP Credit.</p>
<p>Isenberg is a very good business program and the building is beautiful. </p>
<p>Btw, You can see the course catalog of courses available using your OIT Spire account (<a href=“https://spire.umass.edu%5B/url%5D”>https://spire.umass.edu</a>) and your umass account name and password. I don’t think they posted the courses offered for the fall, but you can see what was offered last fall or the entire catalog. You will mostly be taking introductory classes in business.</p>
<p>I wasn’t daring enough to try school like UNC. I’ll transfer out. The problem is I’ll absolutely need a perfect GPA, even then it’s hard to transfer out. Plus I lose scholarship money to elsewhere.</p>
<p>I don’t see what is so “DARING” to transfer to UNC. You don’t need a perfect GPA to transfer there. For UNC, you need a 3.6 or 3.7, as residency does not factor for transfers, as it does for UCs and some other state schools.</p>
<p>As for Ivies and other top schools, you need close to a 4.0. Even if you did poorly in HS, you may excel in college because you love the environment. But that is only one of the criterion. You also need excellent recommendation letters that distinguish you and a solid collection of academic and non-academic achievements in college and HS.</p>
<p>Finally, don’t go to a school simply with the plan to transfer, but don’t give up on your dream to transfer. Work hard, interact with the faculty, enjoy your experience, and then if you find your social or academic opportunities to be limited, then transfer.</p>
<p>In addition to maintaining a high GPA, you need to find out what the other schools want you to have taken before they consider you for transfer. This is what can make transferring difficult and often may require a summer session. Each school will have their own transfer requirements, with their own list of courses that they will expect you to have already taken. It can be quite difficult to fit those requirements in with what UMass will be expecting you to take.</p>
<p>Please keep in mind that not every elite-level university accepts transfers - Princeton, for example, does not. At others, you can’t transfer into their elite undergraduate programs; you must instead transfer into their less prestigious “continuing education” type programs - Harvard and Columbia are like that. </p>
<p>But there are plenty of others where you can transfer in, and transfer right into their normal undergraduate programs. Dartmouth is like that. </p>
<p>As others said, while you don’t need a 4.0 to transfer, you do need to keep your GPA up very high. At some schools, no matter how long you’ve been in college, they’ll still ask for, and consider, your HS record and SATs - but your college grades will be held in more importance. At other schools, once you’ve completed a certain number of credits at UMass, they won’t need your HS record or SATs. In fact, you can go to the transfer section of the websites for the schools you think you’d like to transfer to, and learn now what they want from transfer applicants, so you’ll know what you’re up against.</p>
<p>Hey IndianPwnerDude,
You seem to know a lot about how Umass academically works! I have a few questions.( I enrolled into Umass just last week) I applied as undecided but I want to major in accounting which means I’ll be applying to the Isenberg School of Management. I’ve heard from couple of sources that this is quite the challenge and that I would need a 3.7gpa in my freshman year to be accepted. Is it really that hard/challenging? I am not the brightest kid, but I know I’m not dumb. Do you have any insights or experiences that could help me?</p>