<p>I'll be starting college here in Singapore this fall but I'm aiming to transfer into Arts & Sciences in either UPenn or Cornell in fall 2008.</p>
<p>What should I do in college to have an edge in transfer admissions? I will NOT be applying for financial aid. </p>
<p>Do I have to take the new SAT ? My "old" scores were V690, M720 for a total of 1410. The June 3rd test is coming up and it's my last chance for the year to take it.</p>
<p>Also, what sort of ECs make me stand out from the mass of internationals applying to Penn/Cornell ? </p>
<p>So far, I've helped start my high school orchestra, kept goal for my school's (field) hockey team and moonlight as a youth writer for Singapore's national English daily ( c.400,000 ). </p>
<p>Currently I'm doing an internship at a stock exchange. Weekends are spent volunteering with a home for the intellectually disabled - I'm kind of in the process of planning & conducting activities and stuff.</p>
<p>Oh, my compulsory 2-year stint in the Singapore army is also done.</p>
<p>Somehow something seems to be missing but I can't seem to identify what. </p>
<p>Don't take the SAT again. It'll waste your time, and I think seeing that you took it a while ago with a 1410 is better than taking it now with a higher score. Keep it as it is. Look to get into some research if you can. Talk to professors about what they're doing for their research, and see if you can do any work for them. Then when it comes time to apply, you'll have that, and a great recommendation. It sounds like your days are jam packed. Keep your grades up, and drop some of the things if necessary (volunteer once or twice a month for the weekend thing, etc). Sounds like you have a lot going for you. Why didn't you apply for normal undergrad? Are you planning on going on one of the government scholarships? Good luck, and enjoy your time in college!</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply, yo, I didn't apply for normal undergrad because I ain't able to pay my way through 4 years here in the States. In fact, anything more than one year in America is already pushing it.</p>
<p>Besides, I didn't have any confidence then. </p>
<p>Most of my activities e.g. youth writer, community service etc etc were done during my 2-year arny stint - I was free on weekends.</p>
<p>Research sounds interesting but most, if not all, of the student-researchers in my college are juniors. Perhaps I can be the first soph!</p>
<p>Yeah definitely go for the research. You won't know as much, but you'll pick it up as you go along. Even if you do apply for financial aid, it doesn't matter with the ivy's, because they're need-blind admissions. Why Cornell or Penn? do you want to live in the US after you graduate?</p>
<p>Hello Soccer, I'm afraid you've got it wrong about the aid ; I'm an international student applying for transfer admissions to the ivy's - applying for financial aid will reduce my chances of admission to almost nil.</p>
<p>One negative point is my lack of any individual awards of any sort. </p>
<p>Stuff like math olympiads or excellence awards. </p>
<p>Will this act against me, in light of what I've already done ?</p>
<p>No, I really don't think your lack of indivdual awards will hurt you. I don't really have any individual awards. In HS, I played team sports, I was never part of the math team. I did well in a science fair my sophomore year of HS, but I didn't really feel that was important enough to mention on anything. I also got rejected from Cornell, but I think it was b/c of my grades, not lack of individual awards. I had enough under my belt to make up for it.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don't know how to answer the why Cornell/Penn question without bringing in the usual stuff about breadth and depth of academics, tradition and, yes, prestige. </p>
<p>The reason why I want to leave Singapore at all is that this place is intellectually stifling - it's too small to have any real diversity of thought. </p>
<p>I've been to many countries ( USA, Japan, Korea, China, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, etc etc) so , unlike most Singaporeans perhaps, I realize that there's a world beyond this bizarrely safe island.</p>
<p>It's a sweeping statement and fellow Singaporeans reading this may disagree, but most people here have a "don't rock the boat, don't break the rice bowl" mentality.</p>
<p>(Plus,over here in Singapore, not graduating from an Ivy/oxbridge -almost- disqualifies one from certain industries like IB and MC.)</p>
<p>hey everybody. just like happycosmos i am a senior who is going to attend not the collge he wanted, but thinking of transfering for the fall year of 2007 or 2008. Now the questions i have are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Will they need my HS GPA or just my freshman year GPA (or freshmen +junior if i apply of fall 2008?)</p></li>
<li><p>In his first post of this thread happycosmos said that he wanted to take sat once more, and, that his last chance was june 3rd. May i know why june 3rd is his last chance? The only reason i could think was that one can not take the SAT in college time if he want to apply as a transfere. Can u tell me if this is true, because in such case i should absolutely hurry because i have to retake both SAT reas and SAT subj</p></li>
</ol>
<p>any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much...</p>
<p>hey, recently i heard that it is much easier to transfer to a good university (or college) if you apply there as a student who has just finished a community college (especially when the community college is located in the same territory whith the college you apply) than a student who wants to transfer from another 4 years long college in his sophomore year. Is this true?! If so i think i will go in the uni i have been accepted, in my second year transfer to a community college in the same state of the universty in wich i love to go and than apply there as a student who has just finished a community college. what do you think about my idea???</p>
<p>Olsi: You have to specify the school which you would want to end up in. Your plan works pretty much only for California and few other state schools. </p>
<p>My advice: go to the best school you can go to now, excell there and then apply for transfer.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hello Soccer, I'm afraid you've got it wrong about the aid ; I'm an international student applying for transfer admissions to the ivy's - applying for financial aid will reduce my chances of admission to almost nil.
[/quote]
Harvard, Yale and Cornell (go to its website before you try and respond with "lawl cornell's not need blind to internationals". They are need blind, but they will rarely meet your need) are need blind to internationals.</p>
<p>I hear Dartmouth is pretty generous with international aids as well.</p>
<p>well the college i wish to end up si university of texas at austin or texas A&M univ... i will apply to this universities because they ahve enouhg spce and usually accept a lot of transfer due to their large nr of student... about fin aid i think i can manage to make my budged up for a state university...</p>
<p>Nope, Dartmouth has limited aid for international transfer admissions. Remember, I'm not applying as an international freshman ; it's transfer I'm gunning for.</p>
<p>About Cornell, that's cool, yea, they do have limited resources for international transfer students. But we've got to get real here - it's probably not much.</p>