<p>First of all, don't enter your university planning to transfer. You need to really give it a shot; make sure you make friends, make sure you have good relationships with your professors, and make sure that you do well in your courses. None of this will happen if you're too worried about or consumed by transferring. Certainly don't plan on transferring to Yale, since the acceptance rate is so low. I went into my freshman year optimistic and after I did decide to transfer, made sure not to burn any bridges just in case.</p>
<p>Second, just a) write the essays only you can write and b) make it very clear that you need to study at Yale over your current university for X, Y, Z reason. I don't think they'll care very much if you just want a Yale sweatshirt or to go to the Yale-Harvard game, which are neither academic nor very personal reasons. Don't worry about length; my "why Yale?" essay was four pages and the other was 1.5 pages. Show them who you are, because that's the only part of the application you have any real control over. </p>
<p>I believe that I was rejected as a freshman applicant mostly because my essays were lackluster and not very Yale-specific. I was also wait-listed at Penn last year, so for all the posters who worry otherwise, it is possible to be admitted after a second try.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone! I know how stressful the process can be but you never know until you try.</p>
<p>You’ll only have fr year once in your life, make the most of it. If for whatever reason it isn’t working out and you decide to apply for a transfer, fine, but thinking you’re going to ‘trade up’ in a year or two from the start can cause you pass up so many valuable opportunities, not to mention fun.</p>
<p>I agree. My freshman year would have been miserable if I had gone in wanting to transfer from day 1. Your professors and classmates will pick up on this, which can hinder both your happiness and your application.</p>
<p>My advice applies to attempts to transfer to any school, not necessarily Yale. If you really want to transfer somewhere, articulate the reasons why ONLY that school is perfect for you. I talked very specifically about the programs I wanted to experience at Yale that nowhere else has. This is what will distinguish you from the applicant pool.</p>
<p>I think being involved in research was a definite plus as well. Even though it wasn’t really in the exact field I said I wanted to study (or even was majoring in), it was obliquely related, which I think shows a lot of initiative. I might want to conduct my own research someday, so I figured I would try my hand at it as early as possible. I was extremely nervous about approaching professors, and most of them didn’t really seem interested in me but I was able to secure a position after contacting about ten people. </p>
<p>If you can get yourself involved in a professor’s lab or research related to your field, then I think you make yourself stand out because this is relatively uncommon for underclassmen.</p>
<p>Also, regarding SAT’s:</p>
<p>In high school, my scores were CR 780, M 740, W 740 (2280) superscore, taken in March of junior year and October of senior year. I retook in January of freshman year of college not because I really felt that my scores were inadequate but because I wanted to make sure that I had done everything I could to maximize my transfer applications. </p>
<p>My school has a 5 week winter session in January, so I was not taking classes at the time. I did study quite a bit, starting around Christmas break, and even bought the SAT blue book. If I had been enrolled in classes, I doubt I would have retaken. </p>
<p>My scores were kind of a mixed bag: CR 750, M 670 (haha), W 800, bringing my superscore to 2320. I don’t really think this made a difference at all, so don’t worry too much about retaking the SAT UNLESS your scores are way below 2100. If your college GPA is good, then this will override a score from 2000-2300, which I know people here consider inadequate.</p>