Last year around march all of my friends had been accepted into great schools, and I was left collegeless. I was waitlisted at every school I applied to including, Purdue, UM-Ann Arbor, Georgia Tech, Duke, and Stanford. I ended up applying to a state school (Iowa State) in late march, and I was lucky enough to get in and get a decent scholarship. Should I try to transfer? Im sort of confused and disappointed, and idk what to do now.
High school:
ACT: 34
GPA - 4.83 weighted, 3.92 unweighted
11th in my class of 512
10 AP - all 4s or 5s
Ap Scholar with Distinction
Illinois State Scholar
IHSA Scholar Athlete 8X
1st chair Alto sax in jazz band (4 years)
Soccer (JV 1 year - captain, Varsity 3 years - captain, mvp)
Tennis (3 years - Conference champ 3x)
Club soccer 12 years
UIC Medical Research Internship summer of junior year
Club soccer coach 2 years
Tutored 4th and 5th graders weekly for 3 years
Tri-M music honors society
NHS
What’s wrong with Iowa State?
What will matter most for transferring is whether you did as well or better in college as in highschool. So, are you a leader? a tutor?
What’s your GPA? Have you joined a research lab/project? Involved in intramural soccer, volunteering, music?
My main problem with ISU is that I don’t really like being here, it just doesn’t “fit” I guess.
I’ve thought about sticking it out and applying to those schools again for a masters, but I want to transfer regardless.
Currently my gpa is 4.0, and I am doing a research project with a prof. As part of the honors program, I am doing volunteering as well.
It sounds like you are doing some great things in school. If you transfer, you will be starting over, which is tough to do with new friends past freshman year, you may lose some class credits, and you won’t have the connection with a research professor.
Once you have started college what you did in high school becomes largely irrelevant. They just want to see what you’ve done in college and why you want to transfer. It’s not like a redo of high school apps. You need to be prepared to give a good reason why you want to transfer. Your long list of high school extracurriculars will not be a factor.
It seems that you’re pretty set on transferring. If that is what you want to do, then do it. I would not rely on other people’s opinions to decide a major change that you know you want in your life.
Where do you plan to transfer to?
Previously, you applied to a number of State public schools. Those schools’ first priority is state residents, so rejections happen often.
Can you afford to transfer to schools? Most schools don’t give decent financial aid to transfers.
Apply, but don’t apply to the same schools because they didn’t see you as a “fit” for their schools and usually don’t change their decisions.
What’s your budget?
You could apply in the Fall for spring admission to your state’s flagship.
Vanderbilt likes transfers with a high GPA but you may end up being full pay.
LACs ranked 30-60 take a few transfers.
Everything else is a crapshoot since it’s harder to get in than as a freshman.
Why do people who got into a school start a thread that says they didnt get it to any schools? Congrats on your admission. Go and worry about the next step later.
@Mothersv UMich rejects most of the oos students with similar stat. Their OOS admission rate was near 20% last year. That should not be a surprise at all with OP’s stat. However, OP does have a great chance to transfer if wanted. Nevertheless, it is going to be much more expensive without the scholarship unless his need is met by UMich.
Is there a reason you didn’t apply to U. of Illinois-UC? (Or did you apply and get waitlisted?) Seems that would clearly be at least as affordable as Iowa State with a “decent” scholarship, and might be a better fit. Don’t know how they feel about transfers, but I’d think someone with a very solid college record could have a chance.
The Purdue WL is surprising (55% admit rate), unless it was for yield protection and/or you didn’t demonstrate enough interest.
What is your college GPA? What is your major?
Go ahead and apply to transfer and see what happens. But, be prepared to be full pay as a transfer, unless you are accepted into a needs-only school. But private need-only schools are extremely competitive for transfers. Stanford, for example, takes only a few handfuls and they are usually special cases, not the run-of-the-mill high GPA transfer app.
OTOH, look into Cornell’s contract colleges which can be transfer-friendly, unlike its Arts & Science college.
First of all congrats on all your accomplishments and the scholarship. It seems to me that you have your mind set on transferring regardless of what you will read in this post, and there is nothing wrong with that. Iowa State is a good school, but depending on your major and career goals, you could benefit from getting into a better program for your major at another school. Since most top colleges only accept fall transfers, I would focus on just striving during this year and being heavily involved at your school and applying to transfer for next year. Good luck! I hope you are able to get into the school of your choice, dont let it affect you too much about being wait listed, use it as motivation. One thing to take into consideration though is scholarships, as the best ones are normally for students coming from high school to college, if price isnt a problem I wouldnt worry too much about it, but if you cant afford it, I would look into schools that will meet your full need.