The commuting from home aspect was just for this year as I wasn’t sure if the pandemic would continue until the fall. I’d switch if I end up committing as the pandemic looks to be clearing up given that 1/3rd of the country is vaccinated and Rutgers requires vaccinations
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At some top universities, they literally only admit a handful of transfers, and, as I said, either “lateral” transfers or “upward bound” transfers, neither of which applies to an upper middle class student from Rutgers.
It’s easier to transfer to Vanderbilt than get in as a freshman (if you’re full pay). Also easier, if you’re a California resident, to attend a community college then transfer to a UC, than to get into a UC from high school.
Those are the only ones I can think of where transferring is easier than getting in from HS.
Basically, wherever you choose to attend, do so with the expectation that’s where you’ll graduate from.
Framed like this, would you rather graduate from GWU or from Rutgers? Entirely valid question, especially with the price differential.
First year is the most important year to live on campus (after that, anyway, most Rutgers students move off campus).
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A bit off topic to the OP (but hopefully helpful to anyone reading this thread for insight later) - crafting a compelling story isn’t inauthentic, it is tailoring your real information to show each specific college how your strengths and academic aspirations match their institution’s mission and focus. It is picking a topic that helps share that information within the prompt you choose. Writing about your wonderful family is a total miss in a college essay. Your family isn’t applying to college; using your limited application space for their greatness doesn’t help the Admission Officer get to ‘yes’ on YOU.
Crafting a compelling story requires a deep understanding that each piece of your application is a chance to put together a coherent story that helps the Admission Officer get to ‘yes’ on you. Understanding the audience of an application is essential in getting the best result. Each college has a different audience which means if you apply to many colleges, you are going to have to figure out what is important to each one. You may even decide not to include every activity or award you ever received in high school, especially ones that don’t support the overall story you want to craft. Editing is just as important in creating a great narrative as content.
It is also understanding how to answer a question like “Why Us”. The college isn’t asking for why you think they are wonderful (trust me, highly selective colleges think highly of themselves, lol). They are asking what makes you special and what specifically about you and them together is going to create something wonderful. Writing that answer well is a lot harder than fluffing a college’s ego. Understanding that is the question being asked is fundamental.
If someone is a high stat student, there are plenty of wonderful colleges across the country where they can find a high quality, reasonably priced college education with little stress when it comes to admission decisions. If they want to apply to a highly selective, holistic admission schools - they are going to have to figure out realistic safeties, targets and reaches, and spend the time to consciously decide how to tell their story coherently and with purpose. While prestige might be a huge factor for many students, wanting prestige isn’t a compelling reason to admit anyone. Figure out how to show a school you want more than their name, or their location, or their amazing financial aid. And why they should want you in return.
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Depends on the student’s situation. For example:
Non-traditional student to Columbia SGS?
NY community college to Cornell semi-public divisions?
But probably very unlikely for a typical traditional college student at a typical college to transfer to one of the most selective private universities.
This ^(post 103) should be pinned somewhere 
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Unweighted GPA? I suspect the reality is that an unweighted that goes with a 4.1/5 weighted simply was not competitive at these or any of the rejected schools.
What stats are you using to believe you had those to get in (even ignoring the fact that a majority of fully qualified students are rejected every year)?
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Unweighted
F: 3.4
S: 3.6
J: 3.8
S: 3.95
Dear OP, I understand your frustration and I wish you all the best in pursuing your higher education. I think it was Groucho Marx that said something witty about selectivity, something to the effect of “I wouldn’t want to be part of any club that would have me as a member”. Think about this quote. As far as what you did wrong…All we do here at CC is read the tea leaves. You did nothing wrong. I disagree about the essay writing part and how high schoolers should package themselves for admission committees. If they wanted a well packaged applicant they should clarify this in their essay questions and their presentations. But they don’t. They could also profile essays of students that were successful in gaining admission, just like they profile the dreaded stats. And some colleges do; these essays are mostly about self discovery (a theme particularly well suited to teenagers) not an elevator pitch of why you would make their college a better place or how you have managed to pad your CV or the match made in heaven between you and said college. And in any case, even if you had the perfect stats and wrote the best “selling yourself” essays you probably would still not get in for who knows what reason. The waters are murky for a reason. Swimming in murky waters isn’t fun even if it’s touted as such as a selective club sport. Good luck again OP.
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You really had strong SAT’s and that made a big difference in you getting into your bottom 3. On the other hand, those scores also may have given some AO’s the impression you were an underachiever. Either way, you had way too many B’s (and maybe C’s) to be admitted to Northeastern, BC and similar IMO.
Even GW and Penn State were likely nail-biters.
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Never had any C’s and my last B was Sophomore year, Had all A’s and A-'s Junior Year and All A’s and 1 A- this year
Do you have an affordable acceptance? If so, please try to celebrate that. I understand you are disappointed, and that’s ok. BUT if you have an affordable acceptance try to celebrate that!
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Having a child that just graduated from GWU, initially freshman year we did not get much in terms of Fin Aid. (but did get some merit, a bit more than the OP). I would see if they could provide a bit more merit for you. Say that you want to commit but your parents are hesitant, could they increase your merit. With unpredictable yields they may do so , if they think this is your top choice. Also if you come in with enough AP credits and take the full amount of credits or more, you can likely graduate in 3 years instead of 4.
Please dont just look at rankings. For what you want to do, being in DC makes GW > BC. If they dont offer the money , you still do have Rutgers. (and yes I get how you feel, many many years ago Rutgers was my safety school and close to home, and I went to a more expensive school just to be able to spread my wings)
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If they gave you $ 3-5k more in merit $, would that make a difference to your dad?
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If I had to make a suggestion, I would have told you to include a few schools that sit somewhere between Rutgers/Penn State and Harvard. That is a very large leap.
Boston College, Northeastern, NYU and George Washington are all excellent schools, and it appears you got into one, and waitlisted for BC.
Penn State is still ranked an A+ by Niche, but I get that they are a good state school, with SAT scores closer to the 1200 range on average. They have a very diverse and wide body of accepted students.
Also in play is your major, and how many available “slots” each school has. Schools like NYU/Northeastern all saw increases in applicants, and there are only so many spots available for those majors.
I also do not know where you went to HS. If it were a mediocre school, or, on the flip side, if was prestigious and schools had already taken kids from those schools.
You could certainly aim for a backdoor transfer if your ultimate aim is a piece of paper from a top institution.
I attended Rutgers because it was what my family could afford. I did well and went on to get fully funded offers from T-20s for my graduate degree. Rutgers and Penn State are respected flagship universities with depth in just about any major you could want. I’d pick whichever is your in state option and make the most of it. You might just end up liking it. Good luck!
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I also want to put in a good word for Rutgers.
I will admit that my knowledge of Rutgers mostly comes from knowing quite a few people who graduated from Rutgers. Several were very strong graduate students in the same program when I was getting my master’s degree (which was at Stanford). A couple are former bosses. A couple more are former coworkers. ALL of them made Rutgers look very good.
@daacquan2 you will find other very strong students at Rutgers. You will find professors who know their stuff. You should go in planning to work hard, and planning to strive for A’s in every class. Look for appropriate internship opportunities. You can do very well with a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers – apparently potentially including taking a master’s degree at a more highly ranked university.
Your major is one where at least to me graduate school looks likely. This means that (i) You want to do very well as an undergraduate student; and (ii) You want to be able to afford graduate school. PhD’s are usually funded, but master’s degrees usually are not.
My understanding is that you will save a ton of $$$ by attending Rutgers. You could use some of this to live on-campus freshman year if you want to, and then save the rest for a master’s (or save all of it).
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GWU is perfect for politics. Go there. If your heart so truly desires, transfer to an Ivy League institution. Apparently, certain colleges may look favorably on transfer students like Columbia and Brown. However, I do not see the issue of attending GWU for politics. It is a fine institution.
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From my experience, improvement stories do not hold the same weight when the student has a 1500+ SAT. Also note that while a small minority of schools are less freshman grade oriented, senior year is far less important in most instances. For you, it helped with the improvement story, so that is great.
My daughter’s friend group will be attending the following colleges:
- Emory
- Wake Forest
- Northeastern
- Lehigh
- U Miami
- Maryland
- Syracuse
100% of them had a better transcript than yours and academics are, by far, the #1 thing that colleges look at when deciding who to accept. Note that GW could have been added to this list if people chose it. We also have a BC waitlist.
To your question about Northeastern and NYU, they get students with better grades, that simple. The larger problem IMO is that I would have made your list differently for you:
Dream+ (means no chance)
All of your rejects besides NYU
Dream (reasonanable reaches)
NYU, BC
Just Right (matches, but NEU and GW would be slighter harder, yet not a Dream)
NEU+, GW+, Penn State
No Problem (90% chance or better)
Rutgers
You really only had one “safety” and Rutgers was not a low safety btw.
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US News and other rankings should be ignored for majors. If that is what it says, it is wrong IMO.
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I have no idea what rankings OP could be using that doesn’t list GWU as tops for his/her major.
They could throw in their lot with the NACAC list but I doubt they can do better than GWU for poli-sci.
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