I’m on my gap year already. I’m in NY.
Can you simplify the timeline then, I am a bit slow on the uptake. You are a rising college freshmen looking to be at transfer and you are on a gap year. That is all I got.
You got it. I’m starting at NYU next month and I’ll be applying to transfer. I just finished my gap year
As noted by @intheprocess in post #8, only 11% of Brown acceptance scored between a 33-35, and a staggering 28% of acceptances scored a 36. The story is the same for the SAT in which 30+% of acceptances that submitted the SAT scored between 1500 and 1600. In total, over 60% of acceptances submitted scores equal to or greater than a 34.
Yes, a 33 is possible, but for an unhooked applicant it is a reach.
If NYU isn’t a good fit, there are plenty of schools between Brown/Georgetown and NYU.
Thanks, I’m leaning towards signin up for the ACT next month. What do you mean by unhooked applicant?
Do selective universities consider a transfer's ACT score taken so long after leaving high school? OP is already a year out of school and will be (?) matriculated at NYU, that should require some investigation by OP. It might be on a college by college basis.
Unhooked means not an underrepresented minority, a first generation college student, a recruited student athlete, or a legacy.
Yes, an ACT will absolutely be considered when there’s no new information from a gap year.
@Chembiodad and @itsintheprocess , I don’t believe you are reading the table correctly at https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/explore/admission-facts. The 11% is referring to the acceptance rate of students who had applied with an ACT range of 33-35 (769 accepted/6,714 applied). Actually 50% of the matriculated class scored between 33-35 – the last column. Similarly, the 28% refers to the % of students with perfect 36’s that were accepted (which means conversely, 72% of perfect ACT scorers were rejected!). Only 6% of the Brown matriculates scored a perfect 36.
Relevant to the OP, you need to check the admissions rates (and other requirements) for transfer students for the colleges you listed on their Common Data Sets. For Brown, for the most recent reported year, the rate is just over 5%. Also based on it’s latest reported CDS, Brown also requires the completion of 7-8 courses to be considered as a transfer student rather than a freshman applicant. So, if you are applying this year, you would be applying as a freshman. See https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/institutional-research/sites/brown.edu.about.administration.institutional-research/files/uploads/Brown%20CDS_2016-2017_Final_1.pdf (you really should check the current transfer requirements on the admissions webpage in case anything has changed). I think you need to do a lot more homework on the transfer requirements of the schools you listed. Furthermore, I would think your college transcript and possibly college professor LoR’s (required by Brown) are going to be more critical than an extra point or 2 on your ACT, especially given your high school GPA.
All ACTs are active for 3 years.
Where did you see over 5 percent as the transfer acceptance rate?
https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/transfer-applicants
It says 8.29% Acceptance rate for Spring 2016.
I was referring to the data in the 2016-2017 CDS that I linked. It shows 96 acceptances out of 1,832 applications for Fall 2016. The Admissions webpage includes the Spring admits as well, so that is a more updated number.
@bsquared, one competes to be accepted, not matriculated. And,yes, since 72% of perfect scores were rejected an unhooked 33 is simply not realistic.
In your original post you said you need financial aid. Transfers don’t get much. How much can your parents afford to pay without borrowing?
You’re better off taking a 2nd gap year and working so you can save your money for grad school. Apply to the University of Alabama. They offer great merit aid to freshmen who have excellent stats.
I said ignore what I said about financial aid. I would like more but it’s not a necessity. My family is paying off the whole cost and I’m contributing a portion as well. We are taking $5,500 in loans a year. I care about the name of my college.
Are there any other schools you recommend transferring to with a 32/33 Superscore ACT?
I’ll summarize my thoughts / advice on your situation.
At the moment, transferring after your freshman year at NYU to most top schools / Ivy Leagues is unrealistic. Due to your low ACT and low high school GPA, you’ll get screened out. Since fall term is nigh, you need to start focusing on your academics, because a bad college GPA hurts you infinitely more than a 32 ACT. If you plan to transfer out of NYU, you’ll have to lower your expectations, which pretty much defeats the point of going to a “better” school.
If you truly want to transfer to a more “prestigious” school, I strongly suggest you transfer after your sophomore year. That way you’ll be able to:
- Distance yourself from your high school GPA.
- Have time to study and take the ACT.
- Strengthen your extracurricular activities.
But, a disclaimer. A lot of people, including myself, said that transfers get bad financial aid. I want to make it very clear, it is very possible you’ll still have to pay a quarter, maybe even half of the tuition. That may be 20, maybe even 30k in bi-yearly loans. That’s not even accounting living costs. Talk to your parents about this.
Another thing on med school: grade inflation / deflation does not work in your favor. AAMC (the organization who deals with medical school admissions) accounts for grade inflation / deflation. They are well aware that a 3.0 at Brown isn’t the same as a 3.0 at NYU.
At the end of the day, remember that medical schools do not care about which institution you attend. They care about your GPA and MCAT, among other things. Havard Med looks at state school students and Ivy League students the same way.
@Sybylla OP was accepted to NYU ED. That means he wasn’t rejected at the schools on his list. If he applied, he had to withdraw his application upon acceptance ED to NYU.
OP is on a gap year, the NYU was from the second application round, safe to say that was plan b.
Exactly what I wanted to hear. I just signed up for the September ACT after doing a few sections in a practice test.
I wish a college can give me half my tuition in aid. I’m receiving close to nothing.
That should be no surprise from NYU. You don’t have to go.
@Sybylla if I were him, I’d withdraw from NYU, enroll in a SUNY / CUNY community college, kick butt in my classes, and apply to the prestigious universities I want to attend.
You save a ton of money, get a decent education, and you have time to flesh yourself out as an applicant.
But hey, that’s just me.