Incoming Freshman, what can be done NOW?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am graduating high school in two weeks time. I was rejected from all of the colleges I had a significant amount of interest in, and will attend a safety. I do expect to enjoy myself there, but in the interests of my future career, I will be transferring for fall 2009.</p>

<p>Especially for those who have been through this process: what can be done NOW?</p>

<p>Downloading/reviewing last year's applications? Are the essays usually the same?
Getting in touch with your hopeful-university's transfer representatives with early interest?</p>

<p>It's going to be a long summer, I'll have a lot of time on my hands, so if there is anything that I could possibly do now to increase my chances, I'd like to get started.</p>

<p>I am concerned about starting early because my hopeful-schools are incredibly selective (let's be honest, Ivies) and transfer admissions are even worse than freshman admissions in many cases.</p>

2

<p>What is your safety if you don't mind asking?</p>

<p>Start taking classes this summer or do something worthwhile to show you actually care. Summer classes at your CC seem to be frowned upon, but it can help in regards to transferring over. Honestly, you'll have to wait.</p>

3

<p>Fordham University, with about $20,000 in aid (University Scholarship, Grants, National Merit Scholarship).</p>

4

<p>question... do most schools even accept transfers for rising sophomores? I thought it was mostly for rising juniors?</p>

5

<p>Some schools actually prefer rising sophomores -- they want as much time with students as possible to make sure that the person they're giving a degree is truly a representative and a product of their institution. And so they can get your money for three years. I personally know six people who have transferred, and they all did it after their freshman year.</p>

<p>That's not to say that juniors don't get accepted; they do. You should research and/or contact the schools you're interested in and see if they give preference for a certain class year.</p>

6

<p>to jeydomz,
i plan to transfer as a soophomore in 09 fall too.
do you think it a bit early to prepare transfer essay now?
i will use this summer to study in order to enhance my freshman year GPA.and try to know my dream school better.</p>

7

<p>Which schools prefer rising sophomores?</p>

8

<p>this is a good thread, i'm an incoming freshmen as well (planning to apply to ivies) and need to get started early, help us out people!!!!!</p>

9

<p>Wharton does.</p>

10

<p>Well first of all, try to give your school a try.
I have went to a school that was not my reach, but more like match/safety, with thinking, I am going to transfer out next year.
Well, I got in to one of my choices and will be moving next year,
but my current year has been very stressful, which a large portion comes from the fact that I came in as a different mindset everyone else.</p>

11

<p>true true true. i am in the same boat as you guys. i think the best thing that we can do now is just attend our safeties and bulk up our resumes and our GPAs to the best of our abilities. anyone have any additions or reccomendations?</p>

12

<p>get involved and cumulate more ECs,i think.
any school transfer new information and policy is welcomed here.
Share what we know about transfer tips and information.</p>

13

<p>i was in this exact same situation last year, having been rejected by 5 schools and having no choice but going to state school, so i know exactly what some of you guys are going through.
what you can do right now is look back and think about why you didn't get into the schools you really wanted to go to. i think this is SO important to do because it will save you from disappointment the following year if you're still planning on transferring. for me, i applied to all reach schools that i probably didn't have the test scores for and didn't think to apply to a match school. i also didn't have good reasons for wanting to go to the schools i applied to other than "it's an ivy league."
over the summer, you can also start looking at programs that the school you're going to go to offers such as research opportunities, advanced classes, activities that will really set you apart. the good news is that since you're going to a school that you're overqualified for, you've been given a chance to really stand out, so make the best of it.
when classes start, make it a BIG point to develop a relationship with your professors. i can't stress how important this is, as these professors are going to be writing letters of recommendation. i don't know if this is the case everywhere, but at the college i was at, no one ever visited professors during his/her office hours, so popping in once or twice a weeks to go over lecture, tests, etc really is a great way to develop a relationship. ask them about their research, and chances are they will be more than happy to share it with you.
another thing to consider is to take classes that will easily transfer to other schools such as intro classes like english, math, bio, chem. in my opinion, you should try to avoiding taking classes for your major, since the whole point of transferring to a "top school" is for their program. </p>

<p>a word of caution though, don't get into the mindset that you HAVE to transfer after a year and that you're not going to like the school AT ALL. i think this is more damaging to yourself than anyone else. after all, you've waiting 18 years to go to college so why not just enjoy it? there is so much more to college than just classes, so get involved in clubs, groups, sports, and the more people you meet, the more you'll end up not hating the school. in my opinion, you really should only consider transferring after you've actually given your safety school a real chance. maybe it's different than you've imagined it, and it's not so bad after all. </p>

<p>one last thing: if you do end up applying to transfer to somewhere that you were rejected from for freshman transfer, you really need to show on your application how you've grown in the last year and what experiences during your freshman year has made you more qualified. that may mean re-taking the SAT/ACT or pulling up your GPA, and remember to sign up for those tests early in the year to get scores in quickly.</p>

<p>that's basically all the knowledge i've acquired this last year. good luck to you guys!</p>

14

<p>in my opinion, you should try to avoiding taking classes for your major, since the whole point of transferring to a "top school" is for their program. </p>

<p>definitely match my situation.My major is business,but since I'd love to transfer to LACs,I can never choose business courses for credits transfer.</p>

<p>to scarolina22
thaaaaank you so much for your reply.quite helpful.give my school a chance and try to love it.btw,if my intended transfer school is not the one I applied for the freshman year(maybe better than my first year intended school).I did not applied cuz I think I'm current not qualified for it.How could I show them my working hard to enhance myself qualified?thank you again for your time.</p>

15

<p>what about course difficulty? does the university you are transferring into look at the rigor of your courseload your freshman year? because i'm not sure how that works or how you would sign up for a mixed courseload your freshman year? i'm going to be a freshman at George Mason next year (iIturned down virginia tech for gmu's neuroscience program), and i didn't really apply to any reach schools b/c I didn't think I'd get in.</p>

16

<p>and extra curriculars? which is better research or volunteerism? because have tons of volunteer hours in the hospital, but it's sooo hard to get research, it's not guaranteed?</p>

17

<p>I tend to ask this question a lot, that is how much will my h.s. record matter? MY hs record is NOT good. So what should I do in college to offest it (i know i have to get the highest grades) but I was wondering if I should take summer classes, and extra classes to show them that I really value my academics? (my top choice is JHU btw).</p>

18

<p>Research would be better than extra classes....</p>

19

<p>charlesjeon and scarolina22 give excellent advice.</p>

<p>rmatai, yes and no, colleges will take into consideration the difficulty of the classes you take, but they also understand that freshmen may be taking mostly lower division intro classes. </p>

<p>supindy, as stated in Transfer Admissions 101, your HS record will be much more important if you apply for a transfer during your freshman year as AOs only have a sem/qt of college work to look at.</p>

<p>What you should be doing in college to improve your transfer chances is to pursue your interests to the highest degree possible, using whatever opportunities you can find. Nobody can say if volunteer work is better than research, etc., it depends on what you are actually doing and how that fits into your goals.</p>

<p>I know that's very general, so I'll give you one straightforward suggestion that I think inadvertently helped my D--if your school offers freshman seminar classes, take one. It is an excellent opportunity to show your academic abilities in a small setting and get to know your professor, which can lead to great LOR.</p>

<p>Finally, I would highly recommend AGAINST contacting AOs at a transfer school to show "early interest" . That would send the message that you have no intention of giving your current school a fair chance, and are only planning on moving on to a more prestigious institution. And anyway, if Ivies and the like are the target schools, they aren't interested in your showing interest as their yield rates are very high.</p>

20

<p>gobackto2005, to make yourself more qualified, make sure you have a competitive gpa, i think the consensus is pretty much that 3.5 (or 3.8 for top schools) is the magic number, which in college is doable, but requires you to put in a lot of effort. check out tutoring centers, academic success offices, t.a. if you tend to struggle a bit with classes. if you think it's your sat/act scores that are holding you back, this summer is a really good time to review for those test or enroll in a class if possible. your essays are also going to be very important for stating how you've worked hard and have improved in the past year. </p>

<p>rmatai, if you're majoring in neuroscience, i know for a fact that there are many science pre-reqs that you need to take. for the other classes, i would advise you to just concentrate on getting all your GER's done, and if you still feel like you need to further challenge yourself by taking harder classes, and there are a variety of classes that will satisfy a requirement. for example, for my fine arts credit, i chose to take art history which was notorious for being a class that virtually no one made an "a" in, while my roommate took dance appreciation which just consisted of going to 3 performances a semester.
i'm not too clear about the ec's. i would suggest getting involved in two or three clubs that you're really interested in. for me it was the red cross club and a job as a research assistant, which took up about 3 hours each week. i don't think adcoms prefer any activity over the other, but i know schools like emory and georgetown have an "acitivies" essay that asks you to write about how an activity has impacted you, so just be sure that whichever club you join that you have a good reason for joining it.</p>