Hey guys. Last spring, I applied to a load of schools, and got waitlisted or rejected at all but my safety (admittedly still a top-rated state school). I did, however, apply on a whim and get into several schools in the UK, which felt like a better fit than UMich at the time (I wanted a smaller, less fratty- footbally vibe).
I’m headed off to UCL this week, but I’m already realizing that it’s definitely not what I want. The UK system is crazy specialized, and I didn’t really think through quite how big the school & its drinking/party culture were when I committed.
Maybe I’m still just really bitter about being rejected everywhere last year, and maybe I’ll feel better about it in the next few months, but I’m starting to look into transferring just to know I have a way out, if that makes sense?
Anyway, I wanted a bit of advice on where to start/what to do. I’m working on a list, and I was encouraged to apply for transfer to Harvard and Barnard (for reference, I was waitlisted at both, and my other tops last spring were Northwestern, Brown, and Swarthmore). I’m looking at maybe Georgetown and W&M, too, but I’d love to find some that I could probably actually get into and aren’t way too big.
Also, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with transferring from the UK to the US? Class credits are really different there, and I won’t have a proper GPA to convert over, and all of my classes are a full year long and end in one exam. I could probably get letters of recommendation, but I’m not sure if I’d even fulfill transfer requirements.
Sorry for the wall of text; I’m just trying to clear my head and would really appreciate any advice anyone has!
I’d consider taking a gap year & reapplying as a freshman. Given what you wrote above, you would have been better off at umichigan in either the honors college or residential college.
I was admitted to Michigan late (to be fair I applied late) and received an email to apply to the honors college, but was rejected because they’d already filled all of the spots before I applied apparently? If I’d gotten into the honors college, I would have seriously considered it, but I couldn’t wrap my head around having such big classes.
I wanted to take a gap year, but my parents are really, really down on the idea and insist I’d be better off just going abroad for the year.