How many should I apply to? Visiting? Teacher Recs?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Ok, I have three questions. This is kind of long, so bear with me.</p>

<p>1) How many colleges should I apply to for transferring? I've searched and searched through the Transfer threads, and haven't found any good answers, although maybe I'm just not searching for the right things. I know that to apply as a freshman, you should have a couple reach schools, a few matches, and a couple safeties. Is it the same for transfer admissions?</p>

<p>2) I know visiting schools is very important, especially when you are transferring, but as a low income student, it's going to be more difficult for me to get to the schools I'm looking at. Plus, I would like to go when class is in session at the schools I'm looking at, but I can't just take off and miss my classes here. I'm looking at schools in New England and I live in the South, about 12-15 hours away by car. I have seen a lot of Transfer threads on visiting where people say they're waiting till they find out if they get in to go visit, but is this really feasible? Don't you only have a few weeks after the decision comes? I really don't want to waste money on traveling to schools where I end up not getting in though. I was thinking of maybe visiting during my spring break (I am going to ask for a plane ticket for my Christmas/birthday present) and trying to hit schools I like the most. But I can't rent a car, because I'll only be 19 or 20 when I go. But I know we can't afford two plane tickets for my mother to come with me. Maybe I could take a train or bus? Does anyone know about ease of traveling in this way to schools in New England like Smith, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Wellesley, etc.?</p>

<p>3) I know you usually want to have 2 professors recommendations, but I can't decide who to get the second one from. I know I will get the first one from a professor in my department (History) who knows me pretty well and likes me a lot. I have made A's in the two courses I have taken from him, and I participate often in class. For the second rec, my options are:</p>

<p>a) My adviser for my major. He knows me fairly well, and he is aware of my interests and educational goals. I have taken one class with him and he sees my progress in other classes, so he can speak for my academics too. But I can see this rec being very similar to the first one. Should I try for a rec that tells something different about me? Also, he is on sabbatical right now and very hard to reach, as he is traveling through China. I would have to wait till January to ask him, and some of my applications are due in early February. Is this enough time?</p>

<p>b) My religion professor from freshman year. This was a GenEd requirement, but he liked me a lot, and I did very well in this class, participated, etc. He knows from talking to me about my interests in international issues and could definitely speak to that in his rec. However, I haven't had a class with him since my first semester of college.</p>

<p>c) My professor from an interdisciplinary course freshman year called Media and Society. He can speak to my thoughts on global issues, especially ones involving the media. He also told another student that I was a very good writer, and he can comment on that. However, I didn't know him all that well outside of the classroom context, except for when we took a trip with the class to Atlanta, and I talked to him a little then. Also, this class was also first semester of my freshman year.</p>

<p>d) My political science professor this past semester. He can speak to my academic abilities and views on global issues, especially involving politics. He liked me a lot, but I haven't had too much of a chance to get to know him outside the classroom. I would go visit him this week, just to chat, but he had surgery about a week ago and is home recovering. I would not be able to ask him for a rec in person till next semester, like my adviser, and I would like to chat with him in person and explain my reasons for transferring. I also worry that this would not be enough time, with early February deadlines.</p>

<p>e) My political science professor from my freshman year. He can speak to my academic abilities, especially writing abilities, and my views on global issues. However, I didn't know him extremely well outside the classroom, and I haven't had a class with him since then. I did sign up for one with him this semester, but I dropped it to take a different class.</p>

<p>Which one of these seems like it would be the best option? I don't want my second rec to sound exactly like my first, but I feel like all of these would be similar and not tell too much else about me. What should I do?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this super long post and responding!</p>

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<p>I'm appyling to 10 (at the least), all LACs so there's a chance I'll get rejected by all of them. So I'm also going to have 1 safety and then if the worst happens I'll have the option to stay or go there. I don't really know what would be considered a match while transferring though, it seems a lot different than regular admissions. Anyways, this is my strategy because I'm concentrating on finding a better fit not just getting out of my current school. If you just want out I suggest you go for half reach and half match/safety, just my opinion. Good luck!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
1) How many colleges should I apply to for transferring? ..... I know that to apply as a freshman, you should have a couple reach schools, a few matches, and a couple safeties. Is it the same for transfer admissions?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It's not necessarily the same as for freshman year, partially it depends on on how much you want to leave your current school. If you're not completely sure you want to leave, you may just apply for high match and reach schools; while if you're sure you want to transfer, you should have the full range of safety, match and reach schools. The number you apply to will also depend on the selectivity of the colleges. For instance, if you're applying to colleges that only accept 10% or less of the transfer applicants, you might apply to more than if you have colleges on your list that are more "transfer friendly". One thread that may give you some idea of what others have done is last year's transfer results:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/503123-2008-official-transfer-results.html?highlight=2008+transfer+results%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/503123-2008-official-transfer-results.html?highlight=2008+transfer+results&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>2) Can your mom rent a car? I don't know much about travel to the schools that you listed other than the obvious.</p>

<p>3) Not your advisor, LORs are intended to come from profs/TAs that you took classes from. I don't think when you took the course matters as much as the strength of the LOR, it's a little different from HS LORs, which are usually not from freshman classes.</p>

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<h1>19, I'm also looking for a better fit. But I'm also quite focused on getting out. It's about half and half, I'd say. I'm looking at maybe 6 or 7 schools right now. (Really though, I only want to go to Smith.) I'm having trouble deciding where else I might be happy, so I'll probably apply to a wide range and then do my best to visit most of them.</h1>

<p>entomom-Thanks so much for your advice on the number of schools to apply to. I want to get out pretty badly, but I wouldn't completely die if I had to stay, I guess.</p>

<p>Also, I did actually take a class from my adviser, if that changes anything. He also traveled with my classmates and me on a Maymester to China.</p>

<p>I will look into rental cars companies' policies on renting cars to parents and letting the child drive, but I was under the impression that the driver had to be at least over 21. In a PM, someone advised me to use trains and buses, but never having done that before, I'm a little scared, especially since I've never traveled alone before, except to drive a couple of hours. It would be sooooo much easier to just rent a car though.</p>

<p>Thanks for the 2008 Results thread! Very helpful!</p>

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<p>Agree with the answers above.</p>

<p>Re the recommendations, my opinion is that any of those options would be good for your second recommendation. Congratulations on having so many good alternatives to choose from. IMO, prof recs for transfer are mostly about academics.</p>

<p>Re visiting, that is a tough one.. as I think it's possible to end up with a poor fit for transfer (I've seen it happen) if you don't have a real feel for the place. But it's true that if you wait for acceptances, many of them come so late in the process that it's too late to visit a school while classes are in session. Often, reading period/exams are underway or the semester is completely over.</p>

<p>I do think that, if you do as much research as possible, there's a reasonable chance that you can pick a good option without having visited.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Also, I did actually take a class from my adviser, if that changes anything. He also traveled with my classmates and me on a Maymester to China.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Aha, in that case, he's a good option too. I think you're on the right track picking a second LOR that will compliment (not repeat) the first LOR.</p>