I hate these threads ----- Oh well, what are my chances at Duke, Penn, Ivies, etc....

Transfer Students
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<p>I really hate these threads, so I will just apologize right now for posting one. I have done so in the past, and gotten results on this site that were a fair bit better than what ended up happening (damn reality). Anyways, figured I’d go for it, and see what people thought.</p>

<p>I am currently a sophomore at William and Mary. Grades break down this way…..
1st Semester Freshman: 3.63 (A,A,A,A-,B-) <em>Dean’s List</em>
2nd Semester Freshman: 3.14 (A,A,A,B+,B-,C+,W)
Summer: 3.95 (A,A,A,A,A,A-)</p>

<p>Overall: 3.58</p>

<p>Obviously that 2nd Semester killed me, and I had some medical issues that forced me to withdraw from the one class (missed several due to appointments), and probably hurt me in the others. Summer helped me a lot though, and two of the As were in a high level 400 and a level 300 class. </p>

<p>This past semester I did an internship on Capitol Hill with a Senator, and also took 12 credits worth of classes. I got a great recommendation out of the experience, and it really was interesting. I probably will get between a 3.6 and a 3.8 from this semester, which would bring the overall GPA to about 3.61. </p>

<p>I am majoring in Government, and currently have a 3.81 for my gov GPA. I came into school with 28 credits (20 from AP, 8 from Harvard Summer School), so I have 79 right now. You need 120 to graduate, so I am already more than halfway done my junior year technically, and I may graduate in 3 years if I stay at WM (obviously if I transfer I have to do two more). I also am almost done with my government major, and will try to finish a double major with philosophy. </p>

<p>High school stats were decent; 3.4 sophomore year, 3.6 junior year, 3.8 senior year; very competitive school. 1580 SAT; 740 Math I, 740 Writing, 710 Math II, 690 US History, 690 Chemistry. Got into UVA and WM, rejected from Duke, Amherst, Stanford, Penn, Dartmouth, and deferred and rejected from Harvard (not a great week). I applied to transfer last year, and was rejected from Duke and Penn. Still want to give it one more shot. </p>

<p>ECs are debate team, tutoring, and basketball coach.</p>

<p>School I want to apply to are UVA, Harvard, Penn, Duke, and Colombia. Also might consider others, if anyone has suggestions based on my stats. Any other advice would be great, or thoughts on my chances. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Also, should I try to explain the bad grades in a letter, or will that look bad?</p>

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<p>Maybe in at Penn and UVA, but out at the others, in my opinion.</p>

<p>It's worth a try, and yes, you should try to explain your grades.</p>

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<p>Every year schools get more and more competitive in their admissions and the fact that you were declined from Duke, Amherst, Stanford, Penn, Dartmouth, and deferred and rejected from Harvard I doubt I see the optimistic light...unless you qualify for a fee waiver give those schools a try once more, other than that save your money. Your college stats are not bad and I think you do have a descent shot at UVA...again considering you've already been accepted once...consider schools like NYU or Northwestern. Good Luck:)</p>

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<p>No, not Northwestern. I'm applying there :P </p>

<p>Duke is not known for being transfer-friendly (don't know the exact numbers, but this claim is not unfounded).</p>

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<p>Yah I'm not too optimistic, I probably will only try Penn (know a lot of people there, and like the city), Duke (convenient and I have always liked the school), Harvard (figure I could try transfer there once), Colombia (never applied before, who knows), and UVA. </p>

<p>Anyone have any other tips or advice, obviously I'd really appreciate it. I'm kinda hoping a recommendation from a Senator helps ;)</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I'm kinda hoping a recommendation from a Senator helps

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Unless he knows you very well, it won't.</p>

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<p>I would re-think the list. I transferred from Columbia to Dartmouth and the transfer experience is LEAGUES better at Dartmouth. Dartmouth has certain institutional idiosycracies that make it ideal for transferring. The D-plan means you're still likely to get a study abroad opportunity as a second year transfer, the ability for Junior transfers to begin classes Sophomore summer means you'll meet your entire class when its there that summer. The list goes on and on...it is seriously a perfect transfer destination. In fact it wasnt my first choice before I realized this and I honestly feel it was the best decision I ever made going there.</p>

<p>I think you have a great shot at most of the schools, I had a little over a 3.3GPA, similar high school stats, and I got into Brown, Dartmouth, and Duke as a transfer. </p>

<p>I also would recommend applying to a couple of the easier to get into transfer schools; WashU, Northwestern, and Georgetown.</p>

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<p>slipper, how did you get into Brown and Dartmouth with a 3.3 GPA? Were you recruited?</p>

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<p>slipper, I was wondering the same thing...could you give us some idea of what your stats were and how you managed this?</p>

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<p>HS stats: SAT 1520/1600
Top 5-10% of strong private school class
Excellent ECs (founded major organization)</p>

<p>College: Columbia
First Semester GPA: 3.35
Second Semester GPA: 3.67 (I wrote all my schools in February with notes from my profs saying I was on course to get a much higher GPA second semester)</p>

<p>ECs: Excellent (I did alot here...really made an effort to make Columbia work for me, I think this came across)
Recs: Great recommendations</p>

<p>My advice is to try and take care of your weakness. High school does count. I believe for me having a great high school record (and attending an Ivy) compensated for my weaker first semester GPA. Then Great college ECs that were a continuation of what I did in high school pushed me over the tp. </p>

<p>Smilarly if you had a weaker high school record you need to do very well in college, with no exceptions. Ideally, you have both a strong high school and strong college record but I know many with weaker high school record who got into schools as transfers by doing very well in college. Also, the SAT does matter at most of the Ivies. Try to re-take if you didn't do as well in high school. You're bound to do better.</p>

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<p>Why do you keep applying to (and get rejected from) the same schools??</p>

<p>They're great schools but why not find similar schools a little less selective...expand the list.</p>

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<p>Well just looking at the stats it seems as if those would be a match, but what schools would you suggest.</p>

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<p>Two of the classes came in at B+s for fall semester, that cant help.</p>