The 2016 college admissions process has come to a close and I am extremely disappointed. I applied to 22 colleges and received acceptances to only my safeties. I have a cumulative 3.6 W GPA, so that’s probably why. I had a rough transition during my underclassmen years and my grades showed it. However, I ended up getting a 3.8 UW the last four semesters of high school and scoring a 2200 on the SAT. I thought that the upward trend coupled with unique essays and ECs would get me into at least a match, but life is just unfair sometimes. I’m headed to my safety school and I’m looking forward to transferring to some of the elite colleges that have just rejected me. I REALLY want to transfer after the first year so that I can spend as much time as possible making my second college my home; that leads me to the million dollar question of how badly I will be hurt by my high school record as a sophomore transfer. For more context, I got a 3.8 UW 4.34 W GPA first semester this year and I’m hoping for a 3.83 UW 4.4 W GPA this semester with mostly 5s on AP exams.
Since you will only report 1 semester’s worth of grades, high school gpa and standardized testing will still weigh heavily. It becomes less important the more years you are at college.
Assuming I land above a 3.8 GPA with great ECs and letters of recommendation, how are my chances looking for transferring into a ~top 30 as a sophomore? @olliegt
Shouldn’t be that hard to get into a top 30 with a 3.8+. Of course most likely its going to be in the top 20-30 ranges and not the Ivy’s and Stanford tier.
@mdorbust SAT score looks great, and if you do very well for both semesters in college, I think you definitely have a shot at a top 35 university. Just remember that you will most likely have to send in midterm grades if you decide to transfer, and it is always a good idea to keep up good grades in case you don’t get in. That being said, you should also make sure that you don’t slack off with senioritis like most seniors. You need to work hard and maintain a good GPA for 12th grade, because 11th and 12th will have a bigger impact than 9th and 10th grade.
how do you know what you got on your AP exams? the tests are in May. Also, usually transfer admission is harder since there are less spots available, but some schools aren’t as difficult i.e. UNC, UVA, Vandy.
@olliegt That SAT score is a superscore BTW. Single-sitting is a 2150, but most top 30 schools use superscoring so it doesn’t matter anyways, as far as I know. I’m definitely going to work as hard as possible to maintain my GPA this semester. And sorry if I didn’t explicate that well, my 5s on APs are on those that I’ve already taken: Psych and Lang, with a 4 on Euro junior year. This year I’m taking APES, Eng Lit, French, Macro, Micro, Stats, and Gov. I’m aiming for 4s and 5s this year.
How are my chances of transferring to schools that rejected me this year? I understand that Ivies are VERY hard to transfer into, but are my chances even further hindered by already having been rejected once before, or is that irrelevant? Do schools like UMichigan, Duke, etc. also consider that you may have already applied? Thank you!
No one really knows how colleges will view transfer applicants who have been rejected before, as all schools have different policies. There have been transfer applicants who have gotten into schools they were rejected from as high school seniors though. Ivies and top schools will be extremely difficult, but It isn’t impossible. I’d probably say that you would have the best chance at trying for UMich. Some schools will have transfer acceptance rates as low as 5% and maybe lower, so prepare yourself.
@olliegt I’m thinking of schools along the lines of UMichigan, UNC-CH, Emory, UW Madison, Vandy, Georgetown, Cornell, USC, Boston College as realistic options and HYS + Penn and Dartmouth as reaches. What do you think? I’ve already applied to UM, UW-M (waitlisted currently), Cornell, USC, HYS, Penn, and Dartmouth unsuccessfully.
@olliegt This is assuming a 3.8+ GPA in an Honors College with ECs stemming from sorority involvement, volunteering on political campaigns, community service, internships, being in a few clubs, and maybe TAing, tutoring, or being an RA.
you won’t be a TA or RA in your freshman year. But yea, you should join a few clubs, stay active, get good grades, build a relationship with professors, etc. From what I know, UNC, Umich, Vandy, Wisconsin, and Emory look like realistic prospects. Ivies, georgetown, and BC look like reaches, but hey you never know what might happen. Also you won’t be able to RA or TA in your freshman year…
Wow, you’re scenario is literally the same one I was in last year. We both have really similar grades/scores, and I too was only accepted at my safety schools. The only different is that I apply we to 15 schools instead of 22 hahaha
It seems like you’re a really good student, and from my own college experience, you shouldn’t have any issue keeping your GPA high for admissions. Your high school record will probably be taken into consideration since you wil transfer as a sophomore, especially if you have less than 30 credits. However, some of the schools you listed have low transfer acceptance rates, the higher ranked schools are more difficult to get into because they have a higher freshman retention rate. It’ll also be more difficult to get scholarships, if those schools have any available at all.
@asdfghjkl13 that’s crazy! hahah.
Yeah, I know some schools like the Ivies are really difficult so I don’t have high hopes for them. At the same time though, some like UCs are about twice as easy to transfer into than to get into as a freshmen.
I’m not too concerned about scholarships as the school I’ll be attending next year is pretty cheap for my family, so the money we’ll save can go towards whatever school I transfer to, not to mention that most top colleges will offer 100% need based aid anyways.
Are you planning on transferring yourself?
@mdorbust yeah UCs are easier to transfer into. Are you a CA resident? If not, you have an even better chance because they accept more out of staters to get more money - unfortunately for me.
Good thing about the scholarships, though. One less thing to worry about!
As for me, I’m not sure atm. My high school stats gave me a great scholarship at the 4 year private university I go to now (money is a pretty big factor for me). Like you, I didn’t think I would like my school, and ended up enjoying my time here, though I don’t like some students. I like every other aspect of the school like my professors and classes, but I do wish the school was more highly ranked. So rn I’m still trying to decide what i want to do.
@asdfghjkl13 Sadly, I am in state for CA as well. It’s honestly such a tragedy that our parents have been directly funding the UC system for probably decades now through all sorts of expensive taxes just to have UC turn their backs on Californians. Smh; I hope they get sued. Lol
That’s great that you got a scholarship, and even better that you enjoy your school. You seem like an engaged student, and I’m sure more elite colleges would love to have you…however, I think your personal happiness should be a factor as well. See if the benefits outweigh the costs, or just apply and see what happens!
@mdorbust So you know the struggle as well! When I was a senior I was hoping I would be accepted into Berkeley or LA, and throughout high school worked to keep my grades and scores up but I wasn’t accepted. I think it’s so unfair that they put money over merit in so many cases…I know people who had way better stats than me and STILL weren’t accepted smh.
And yeah, I’m really glad I was able to receive a good scholarship so that I can actually attend a university, and I’m happy with the rigor of all my classes as well! If I do plan on applying, it’ll be for the Fall 2017 semester so I’ve still got a bit of time to think about all of this.
Thanks for your kind comments! I’ll have to do some more research before I decide, but I might just apply and see what happens haha
I think something worth noting is that although high school GPA will still be considered, your earlier years of high school are becoming less relevant with the passage of time. It’ll have been five years since you were a high school freshman instead of three and a half.
@asdfghjkl13 Honestly though. It’s such a shame too because our parents’ generation could basically pick and choose which UC to go to, whereas now the acceptances rates are basically 1/4 of what they were before. If you don’t mind me asking, are you attending college in CA right now or are you OOS? And no problem! Yeah, I mean you like your school anyways, so worst case scenario you stay right where you are!
@mdorbust yeah honestly…both my parents attended ucla with no problem at all. @ UCs why you tryin to make my life miserable?? Hahaha
Yeah, I’m attending a 4 year private rn in CA (Cal Lutheran). I like the school, which is a plus, though I definitely wish it had better name recognition and a better ranking but what are ya gonna do
@asdfghjkl13 This trend of increasing applicants is just super scary. I really wonder how low these acceptance rates are gonna drop in a few years. I feel you on the latter aspect, but it’s comforting that its mostly on the individual student to take advantage of resources and what not. What schools are you maybe thinking of transferring to?
Yeah, I mean you like your school anyways, so worst case scenario you stay right where you are!