<p>If someone starts out with around average SAT scores and highschool grades for a rather elite college/university(Cornell as an example) but gets rejected, will the chances of getting in as a transfer be helped much by keeping a 4.0 GPA over two years of college(taking average to difficult courseload)? This is with maintaining a similar level of extra curricular activity as in highschool. What about for trying to transfer to a rather elite college/university(again, say Cornell is the example) which had waitlisted the applicant out of highschool?</p>
<p>Totally depends on where you're transferring from. If SATs were low, take again.</p>
<p>I should perhaps rephrase part of my first sentence. The SAT scores and highschool grades in question are around the average for such elite institutions.</p>
<p>Then a 4.0 from a respected college should make you a contender.</p>
<p>SAT scores at the 50% mark for non-hooked applicants in RD makes a college a reach. </p>
<p>For transfers, they don't care about your high school grades, and don't care that much about your SAT's. The main thing is how you performed in your college classes, and recommendations from your college professors. The recs count more because they are coming from doctorates and not high school teachers. Don't count on getting a 4.0 in college, though. It is at least two orders of magnitude harder to get a 4.0 in college than it is in high school. The grading is harder, and so don't stress during freshman year.</p>
<p>There isn't alot written about transfer admissions to the elite colleges, and so most of this is personal opinion. I don't think it is easy to transfer into an ivy from a college that they think is inferior. Transferring from Yale to Harvard is one thing, but going from a State U to an ivy is very hard. I think they feel like they are being cheated in having to accept credits from a "lesser" school. The longer you wait before transferring, the harder it will be. I know that Yale doesn't accept transfer applications of anyone after sophomore year. Having said this, they do obviously take some transfers.</p>
<p>"it is at least two orders of magnitude harder to get a 4.0 in college"</p>
<p>I was just wondering what constitutes an "order of magnitude." Forgive my ignorance! :)</p>
<p>Getting a 4.0 or a high 3 in college, especially in a non-engineering/science heavy major should not be difficult at all -- it'll take a big commitment but it's very possible, especially at some of these non-engineering/science schools. Note I'm in a "grade deflated" school myself.</p>
<p>IMHO.</p>
<p>Well, if you get into the pre-med weed out courses (intro bio and chem), they give out as many C's as A's.</p>
<p>Of course, there are as differences between the colleges just as there are between the high schools. Some colleges, including some ivies, have big grade inflation, but others are doing everything humanly possible to combat grade inflation. Frankly, getting a 4.0 in college seems out and out impossible to me, but I think possibly one person might in each graduating class at a typical college. I am comparing this to some high schools where 40-50 people are tied for val.</p>
<p>An order of magnitude literally means ten times. Of course, I'm using the term in a subjective way.</p>
<p>The discussion of the difficulty of getting a 4.0 in college made me laugh a little as I've not found it to be terribly difficult. My situation isn't quite what I described in my original post as I meant this thread to be general discussion. </p>
<p>My actual situation is that I spent my last year of highschool away at a small engineering-focused university(pretty good, not nationally known or anything) where I got straight A's taking standard freshman classes for an engineering or science major. So the first time I applied to Cornell I had one semester of A's in college although the way my situation was I was applying to be a freshman at Cornell. I did however get into Case Western Reserve, which I've grown to somewhat despise, and earned another semester full of A's taking a pretty rigorous courseload(Modern Physics, Calc III, O-chem, o-chem lab, freshman writing class, and intro philosophy). I'm pretty sure that I could continue to maintain A's at Case until I graduate but I'm sort of thinking of getting out of here what with how I hate it here. I'm just trying to decide whether I should bother giving Cornell, and some other selective schools, another shot when thinking of places to apply.</p>
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The discussion of the difficulty of getting a 4.0 in college made me laugh a little as I've not found it to be terribly difficult.
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<p>This is a website I just quickly found showing the average gpa of accepted applicants to med schools. As you can see, a 3.7 is pretty damn good. After all, these are the people who are the best of the best and going to Harvard med school with a 3.7 (more or less). Have you found that others are getting 4.0's as easily as you are?</p>
<p>Dufus, your blanket statement that college will be harder than high school is just plain incorrect. There are many high schools where students leave and find elite colleges less difficult.</p>
<p>The first college I was at had several people(in the early college entrance program I was in) get 4.0's the first semester and only one other who got straight A's the whole time. At Case I know one other person who got a 4.0 the fall semester but he wasn't a science or engineering major.</p>
<p>I have heard anecdotes about people who got to an ivy and were bored out of their minds. My purpose in the statement was just to prepare people to expect lower grades. Certainly some colleges grade easily. I recall that one ivy (forget each one) practically gives all A's. Still the typical elite college will say that the average high school gpa of accepted applicants is around 3.8, and the average gpa of graduating college seniors is about 3.4.</p>
<p>Because people hear that it is so difficult to get into med school, some of the people on CC have thought that a 4.0 in college was absolutely necessary for acceptance to med school.</p>
<p>Actually in my school they give more Cs than As. 20%+ are Cs and 12-15% As.</p>