I want to transfer out of Cornell

Transfer Students
1

Hello everyone! I really need you to help me out! I’m a freshman at Cornell University (class of 2019). I’m currently in the college of arts and sciences studying economics, but now I want to study business. I’m an international student from latin america. My overall experience at Cornell has been pretty nice, the campus is gorgeous, the students are great, and my classes are excellent too. However, I think I would be much happier at another college.

Reasons I want to transfer:

  1. I don’t like Ithaca
  2. The social scene (for an outgoing person) is based on frats only… if you want to go out to a party, you can only go to a frat house or annex
  3. Cornell is not as diverse as they call it to be… There are very few latin american and european students (internationals)
  4. I really want to go to a school with school spirit. Cornell students don’t have a drop… (A sporty school with football would be really nice)
  5. I want to study business now

I would like to transfer for 2016 fall semester… I’m planning to give Cornell a try for an entire academic year to see if it gets better. However, the deadline for 2016 fall transfer is on may 2016. Hence, I need to start making a list of colleges and getting recommendations…

My question is: Is it that bad to change an Ivy league school, for a non-ivy school? :S :confused: I don’t know if its the right decision to make…

Can you help me on making a list of possible transfer schools? The only ivy schools I like are Upenn and Columbia!

These are the ones I really like:

  1. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) Is it really difficult to get into Wharton as a transfer?
  2. New York University (Stern)
  3. Georgetown (McDonough)
  4. Notre Dame (Mendoza)
  5. University of Texas (McCombs)
  6. Columbia (Business School)
  7. George Washington University (School of business)

I appreciate any feedback/advice/suggestions…
Thanks :slight_smile:

2

What about USC?

3

If you can afford those schools, go for it!

4

What gpa do you recommend me to have? Also, do you think I will have a better chance as an international student?

5

Transfers are hard anyway, but international transfer students have it harder.

You’re coming from Cornell, so that helps. Try to maintain a high GPA. Many schools will look at your courses. Some courses will not transfer. Some schools only take Junior level transfers. You need to check admission level criteria for each campus.

It sounds like you need a UCLA or USC school.

6

Other than Notre Dame and Texas, I don’t think any of those schools really fit your 4th criteria, at least as far as being a “sporty school” goes.

7

Why is it more difficult for an international student to transfer?

8

The U.S. universities were built to educate US residents first. Coming from Cornell helps a lot.

I hope you don’t need financial aid.

9

If you don’t like Ithaca, you won’t like South Bend. Both are small cold towns … SB just doesn’t have the scenery. NYC would obviously more exciting and urban, Phili is not a world city or particularly nice. Georgetown and GWU are both in DC, that could be more interesting. Texas, hmm.

What are you trying to get out of Ithaca anyway, there are 30,000 young people on Cornell campus and likely tons of free entertainment and activities on campus?

I would be a bit more engaged in finding social outlets, for example, I am sure there are lots of clubs and organizations maybe service organizations for example that would love a very social person to join. Some fraternities are service organizations. I wouldn’t immediately feel excluded from fraternity life due to being international or latin american. An international student organization would also be good.

What are you looking for, drinking, sports cheering?

It’s wildly early to look at a transfer, you need to give Cornell and yourself some time to find each other.

Doesn’t Cornell have a business school? Certainly there will be lots of opportunities for recruitment at Cornell.

I’d be really selective this round, including longish trips to schools you are considering so you aren’t even less happy in your next school.

10

Michigan?

11

Here is what you should know-- the seats at Ivy-plus schools that are available for transfers is largely tied to attrition. Since attrition is almost non-existent in the top Ivy schools, so are the seats available. By way of example, recently, Harvard had over 1500 applicants and admitted about 15, and Yale had over a 1000 applicants in which about 2 dozen were offered seats. Brown is close to 5%.So, while being qualified is certainly a criteria, the other portion must convey why these schools; typical reasons are that these schools offer programs and/or degrees not offered at your existing institution.

Second, that you could have obtained admission as a freshmen applicant. Third, that you have perfect scores at your current institution. Long story short…it is much more difficult to obtain admission as a transfer than as applying for a freshmen seat…

Now, you are in a better position than most coming from an Ivy. By way of example, the largest percentage of successful transfers represented at Ivyplus schools are from other Ivyplus schools. I do like some of the suggestions above: specifically, Columbia (but in no way a “sporty school”), UCLA, USC, Georgetown and UMichigan, all fit the bill in one way or another.

12

Ann Arbor is also by no means a big exciting city, although it may have more to offer than Ithaca.

Cornell’s school of business is ranked #16, likely has a lot of undergraduate offers as well. Many people go to Ivy league schools to head into business.

If you want a lot of Latin American, European students at your campus, you will have to look for a school that offers that. Or maybe a UK school would be more cosmopolitan in that way.

13

Could you stick it out and maybe do a year abroad in your junior year? Does Cornell participate in domestic exchanges with other elite colleges and universities? Maybe a year away would be enough.

14

I get the need to be away from Ithaca, especially if you are international and used to being in a vibrant area.

My dd and our family visited there, about 9 years ago, when we were selecting colleges. She did not like the weekend vibe. She had classmates who hated the isolation on the weekends.

I understand why you would like to transfer.

If you can afford it and have the grades, try the California schools (USC, UCLA, Berkeley) and GW.

15

I’d get involved with the local international student organization, and if I were looking for specific info on a school I was considering, would contact their reps as well. They can give you some idea on how active that organization is, how many students participate, and probably geographic info.

World cities with European atmospheres in US would include NYC, DC, SF, Chicago (maybe), Miami, maybe LA. LA and Miami have large spanish speaking populations, in LA, more hispanic americans, in Miami obviously more international flavor. European colleges may also offer some very good experiences. Boston is considered a very fun college city. LA is really sprawling and other than walkign to Westwood from UCLA, not sure you will get a city experience there.

I see you liked UPenn, but hopefully not for some dream of what Phili could be, it’s an older rustbelt city. Train to NYC is probably 2 or more hours.

Our small towns, especially very small towns like Ithaca, are not very cosmopolitan. You would have to rely on your college environment for both other interesting international students and entertainment like football games.

I would travel as much as you can afford time and money wise to various schools and see if you feel more excited by their environments, both location and school wise.

After only a month, not sure you have really experienced Cornell. Do you know you would enjoy the football-heavy party culture in US (These are not typically small schools, but big state flagships)? Frat schools typically just have more social partying events, without frats, there may be even less going on. Small schools may just not be very exciting socially at all, and definitely less people to pick from.

16

Happydad and I were in Ithaca for seven years in grad school, and we never ran out of interesting things to do. My advice is to give it a bit more time.

If you don’t like the frat scene, look around for other organizations to become involved with. Ask at the international student office for some ideas. They have a list of all the international clubs, and probably organize weekend excursions.

Nothing happening this weekend at Cornell? Take the city bus up the other hill, and see if there is anything going on at Ithaca College.

Football is not a big sport at Cornell. Ice Hockey is. You have time to learn something about the rules before the season starts.

17

Peer private schools with D1 football or otherwise strong athletics:

Stanford - strong in multiple sports
Duke - great in basketball, decent in others
Northwestern - great in women’s lacrosse and sometimes decent in football
Notre Dame - top-three tradition in football. Decent in basketball and hockey
Vanderbilt - sometimes decent in basketball
Georgetown - very strong in basketball
Rice - very strong in baseball

But – have you tried going to the Cornell football games?

And I suggest you wait for basketball season before judging Cornell’s sports culture – go to some of those games. Basketball games can be fun.

You’re at a great school. If you are worried about the sports apathy of the student body as a whole, find out if there is a student sports-related club of sorts – maybe there are groups that go to the games together to root on the Big Red.

18

Cornell football games are terrible! :frowning: The thing is… Cornell doesn’t have anything to offer in terms of entertainment… It doesn’t have the city, doesn’t have sports, doesn’t have school spirit, doesn’t have more international students like me (just a very few)… I haven’t find my niche here… I now it would be easier if I was american (but I’m not) and I miss having international latinos around!

19

ND is in a small town too… but it is very sporty and its full of international latin american students
Upenn is in philly (I loved philly when I visited) and it has a lot of international students as well
NYU, GT, GW are in cities where I would love to live in.
UT austin is so cool (my dad studied there) very sporty and very international

Those are a few reasons why I like those schools… just to list a few

BTW: I was waitlisted at UPENN when I applied as a freshman! Does it help somehow?

20

Check out school options in Miami, D.C., NYC, Boston, Chicago, SF Bay Area, and LA.