<p>Each college does it differently of course, iborpastan, but a lot of the schools I’ve seen say that they don’t weigh the high school grades as much as the college grades, but they will place more emphasis on that if you only have semester of college under your belt.</p>
<p>Another thing that you can do is really work on your essays. Be unique, and talk about the specific aspects of the school. It’s one thing to say that you want to go somewhere because they have a good biology program for example. But if you say that you want to attend that school because you like their BS/MS combined program, and that you really want to work on developmental biology with this particular professor, that shows you are actually researched the school. Use those websites. They are there for a reason.</p>
<p>One last thing is to look at how many credits are needed to be considered a transfer student, and make sure that you are on track. The number varies between schools. You shouldn’t have any problem coming in for Fall 2013 as a transfer if you take a full course load each semester, but a lot of schools won’t let you transfer in for Spring 2013 (in other words, your second semester at college would be at your new school) as a freshman. If you don’t meet the transfer credit requirement, you’ll be applying as a freshman, which is probably not want you want to do after all of your hard work in freshman year!!
Like I said, it varies between schools. Some don’t have a minimum requirement at all, as long as you’ve taken at least one college course, you’re a transfer student. I think the normal range is that you will have completed between 24 to 28 credits during the 2012-2013 school year in order to be a transfer student. </p>
<p>And you may want to be careful when selecting your classes. Definitely go for the Gen Eds, and definitely take things that you know are going to transfer over. It’s unlikely that all of your credits will transfer to your new school, but if you take a bunch of classes in one department (creative writing for example) and that department doesn’t exist at the place you want to transfer to, you are going to get a lot fewer credits. A friend of mine transferred twice, and even though he’s been in college for four years he’s still considered a first semester junior because a lot of his credits didn’t transfer over!</p>
<p>Cakewalk, that’s correct. Most colleges do not have you declare a major until sophomore year anyway. And the Gen Eds are a great way to figure out what you want to major in. For example, if you’re stuck between a French major and a psychology major, take one of each class. They’ll satisfy your Gen Ed requirements most likely, and you can figure out which one you are learning towards. If you are 100% sure you are going to transfer, look at the Gen Ed requirements for the schools you want to transfer to.</p>
<p>If you take a ton of classes related to your major, it’s very possible your new school won’t take them. That’s because the new school wants you to complete the reason you went to college, your major, at their school, not some other school. It wouldn’t make sense to complete your major requirements and then transfer somewhere else for your Gen Eds right? :)</p>
<p>Both my kids decided to transfer after freshman year. Both made this decision quite early. One thing I would suggest is that you be very targeted in your choices of schools to transfer to. Try not to just be trying to get out of somewhere…for mine, there we schools they wanted to go to, for very specific reasons. They developed relationships with the advisors in the majors they were interested in transferring to, and received help in structuring their freshman programs to fit as easily as possible into the next school. And do exquisitely well in your freshman classes. As has been said, you will need recommendations, so you must be assertive in meeting and impressing professors during your first semester. As I said, it really helps if your reason for transferring is positive…“I really like the program here, but it doesn’t offer X, which I now realize is exactly what I want, so I’m thinking about this other school, which has the most highly regarded program in X”. But really, the advisor in the target school should be your best friend.</p>
<p>What if I have the opportunity to take more advanced classes such as orgo, or multivariable calc/diff eqs, as a freshman because of AP and previous dual enrollment credits? Assuming I do well in them, that should help me as a transfer, right?</p>
<p>Honestly, it’s not that complicated or different from fr admissions.</p>
<p>Academics - based on current college (can’t do anything about this one), rigor of coursework (you have some choice here) and grades (you have the most control here, so no excuses ;)).</p>
<p>LORs - from profs & TAs, so take a small class fall semester if possible (think fr seminar, upper level foreign language, etc.). Participate, and get to know your instructors so you can get strong LORs.</p>
<p>ECs - Don’t stop participating just because you want to leave and go to another school.</p>
<p>Reason for transferring/Essay - Totally under your control.</p>
<p>entomom, yes, you’re right. my CR score is exactly where I did not do well in my freshman application! that’s why I got so worried about this! In addition, my junior year GPA is sort of low (3.49), because that year i took a bunch of AP classes, a lot more than before, and I did not present my reasons well in my essays. btw, my cumulative GPA is somewhere around 3.9.</p>
<p>Just make sure, does an A in fr writing course illustrate my CR ability rather than W?</p>
<p>I think it will help for both, because fr writing courses are about reading information, interpreting it and then making a convincing written argument. I also think that it provides the type of setting where interaction with instructors is relatively easy as there tends to be lots of class participation and opportunity for out of class one-on-one discussion of topics, improvements, etc.</p>
<p>Lots of UIUC students here! I transferred from your embarrassing sister school (UIC) last year.</p>
<p>If you are applying as a freshman in college, your ACT and SAT scores will still be important. Thankfully, I applied to transfer when I was a sophomore so I didn’t have to set my terrible scores. ChicagoHope16, you should consider this if you’re thinking about waiting another year. I was an average high school student and I know that my SAT/ACT scores might have hurt my chances, so I’m glad I transferred as a sophomore. I had two rockstar years at UIC for them to focus on. However, if you’re sure you can get in your freshman year, why wait? Apply, there’s always next year if it’s a ‘no.’ If you’re concerned about money, another great thing about transferring with only two years left was that I didn’t have to pay 60k/year tuition for three or four years.</p>
<p>Obviously, your high school GPA and extracurriculars will say more about you than one semester at UIUC/UIowa, so I would say to make sure you focus on what kind of student you were in high school. I really think my high school activities substantially helped my application, especially volunteer stuff.</p>
<p>Transfer credits are annoying. I got screwed and lost 17 credits AND I had to take three of their BS general education classes when I thought I had gotten all of that over with my freshman year. Register strategically! Think about what classes are universally required, like calculus, introductory chemistry classes, language requirements, etc. When you transfer, they’ll look at your credits and try to match them up to equivalent courses at your school. Calc I will be easier for them to match than Underwater Basket Weaving 101.</p>