Importance of transfer criteria - GPA, Essay, ETC.

Transfer Students
1

<p>I know this has been discussed before, but I wanted to put together one sound thread to get some of your opinions.</p>

<p>The point of this is to put GPA in perspective. Many applicants here are freaking out that a lack of a 3.9+ GPA is a death note for their application. This is clearly false: many people are admitted with 3.5-3.8 GPAs, since their interest in the school, potential, love for learning, and talent is apparent throughout the application. In my opinion, a 3.5+ (3.7+, many say) just demonstrates the applicant's ability to work hard. Past that, an applicant needs to demonstrate both an inviting personality and curiosity in the workings of the world. Feel free to disagree.</p>

<p>In short, rank the following in order of importance BY PERCENTAGE in the transfer admissions process.</p>

<p>College GPA
Essay
College Recs
HS GPA
College ECs
HS ECs
Work Experience
Other/Luck (ex: sincere interest in the school, fit):</p>

<p>For EXAMPLE (do not take seriously):</p>

<p>College GPA - 30%
Essay -20%
College Recs - 15%
HS GPA - 10%
College ECs - 15%
HS ECs - 5%
Work Experience - 2.5%
Other/Luck - 2.5%</p>

2

<p>I don't think it's possible to rank these criteria in terms of importance. All schools value different things and weigh criteria differently. For example, my state university, University of Texas at Austin, doesn't even consider HS record or SAT for transfers. It's not even required for admission (it is for enrollment though.) </p>

<p>In general though, the higher up in selectivity an university is, the greater the "subjective" criteria (essays, recommendations, EC's) are weighed.</p>

3

<p>
[quote]
In general though, the higher up in selectivity an university is, the greater the "subjective" criteria (essays, recommendations, EC's) are weighed.

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</p>

<p>I agree with this only to the extent that the applicant has competitive gpa and test scores.</p>

<p>In addition, ranking without differentiating between soph and jr transfers is not meaningful.</p>