I would check each to see which don’t have TAs. That might be a school by school investigation.
Is there any aid requirement? Because it may not be there for transfers.
Rice seemed a solid choice. Maybe Loyola MD - I only see heavy hitters with low acceptance rates in the suggestions.
That’s true, but with his GPA and coming from WF, I don’t think those suggestions are unreasonable. Of course, he should apply to a range of colleges.
Absolutely not unreasonable.
Just wanted to throw in a ‘less rejective’ school is all.
Middlebury is no where near Portland, ME.
Most colleges outside of the top 20 will use TA’s to teach some introductory classes.
Hopkins? American?
We live in DC . He’d like to be at least 4 hours away.
No financial requirements but schools in MD/DC/Northern VA off the list because it is too close to home. The TA thing is not a deal breaker, just something that he really likes about Wake (getting to know professors, easy access etc.)
Yes we do need a range. While his grades from Wake are good, his high school transcript is just ok. He had a 3.7 unweighted GPA and 31 ACT. He took 9 APs. I was hoping his full year at college might mitigate the need for relying on high school transcript and test scores but based on what others have said, maybe we are shooting too high?
College extras:
Sailing club
Model UN
Law Fraternity
Alexander Hamilton Society
Campus Kitchen Volunteer
They probably won’t look at his high school stuff tbh. He will most likely need some good prof recs for schools like Tufts and BC.
I thought about both of those, but I don’t think they have spring admits for transfers. Looking at this aggregator of transfer application deadlines, there weren’t any listed for a spring entry.
My secondhand understanding is that some of the NESACS/SLACS on your list or that have been mentioned have such a nigh percentage of varsity athletes that even without Greek life there is still an us (athletes) vs them (NARP) mentality on those campuses.
I have heard some schools mentioned more often than others, but since I don’t have first-hand knowledge I don’t want to unfairly indict any particular campus. I would do the research, though, and not assume that the lack of Greek life means a school is socially inclusive.
For one year transfers, his HS record will carry some weight. For transfers entering as juniors, the HS record is weighted much less, if at all.
With that said, I expect he will have some good options…full pay is an advantage for transfers. Just make sure to have a range of schools. I do like the suggestion of American too, but understand he might not want that location. He is going to have to make some tradeoffs when building the list, for example, his likelies/safeties won’t be ranked as high as Wake.
Is he going to take the fall semester off?
Tufts used to have spring transfers but it looks like that is no longer the case from their website.
This similar CC topic may be of interest: Considering transferring from WFU.
Since he intends to transfer as a second semester sophomore or junior, note that junior and senior level courses tend to be smaller, so more contact with the faculty instructor (whether or not there are also TAs). However, in popular majors at large schools, junior and senior level courses can still be large.
Another thing that is sometimes done by students unsatisfied with the four year college they enrolled as frosh is to do second year at a low cost community college while applying to transfer to different four year colleges. However, this may be more commonly done when the target colleges are state universities where transfer credit from the community college is known in advance.
No, he plans to return for Fall semester.
One thing to check into at BC is the school’s core curriculum. In general, Jesuit colleges have large cores with classes such as theology/philosophy etc. that he may not have taken at Wake. Be sure he can complete the core plus all required classes for his major and graduate on time (look through online course catalog). FWIW my S had a friend who transferred to a different Jesuit university and he had to go an extra semester to meet all the graduation requirements.
USC has a new undergraduate legal studies major. USC’s Gould School of Law is one of 7 law schools in the country to offer an undergraduate legal studies major. If that is too specialized, there are options for minoring in law-related areas and majoring in one of the fields in Dornsife College of Arts and Science (like political science, econ, or whatever his interests are) or in the Price School of Public Policy.
I believe the first cohort was admitted for fall 2022. My son is at USC and based on my observations, it checks every box on your list. It allows junior year transfers (although housing is not typically available for juniors and seniors). Yes, it has Greek life but it is not necessary to be part of a fraternity to have lots of social things to do at USC.
https://gould.usc.edu/about/news/?id=5038
Northwestern is another place to look. They have a great undergraduate legal studies program, including an undergraduate law journal.
Law school can be done after any undergraduate major. While taking a legal studies course or few may help determine interest or lack thereof in law, would it be too one-dimensional for a pre-law student to major in legal studies?