Is applying as a transfer even worth it? Advice from everyone would be appreciated please :(

Transfer Students
1

I’m currently a freshman who hasn’t even completed her first quarter of university. I am doing incredibly well in the classes I am taking and expect around a 3.75-4.0 (depending on bell curve grading etc) but did well, not so great in high school :(. I don’t even know what my final GPA (end of senior year) was in high school but I’m assuming around a 3.4ish (maybe even 3.39ish gah). (When I applied as a freshman, it was around a 3.45 but might have gone down second semester)

So basically what I’m trying to ask is, is it even worth it? I would like to apply to Columbia, NYU, and Stanford. Obviously CU and SU are HUGE reaches, but would I even have a small chance? If I, hypothetically speaking, received a 3.8 or above this winter quarter?

BTW the reason why I did not take classes Fall Quarter was that I chose to take a term off and travel to a different country and farm for two months w/ a volunteer group. So I did utilise the time I took off really well. I have continued to do a lot of volunteering…adding up to a total of around 400 hours.

My SAT is a 1910, received a 770 on my US history Subject Test and 2 4s on AP Euro and APUSH. I do have quite a few rewards including 2 state business competition awards (1st place state and Audience’s award 2nd best fast pitch), 1 national award (1st place), and 2nd place internationally in a business competition.

I think my professors (especially one of them) will write excellent recommendations and I have engaged with awesome conversations with one of them

But the thing is, during junior year, i received a D in my precalc class due to personal circumstances/best friend’s death. I made it up the next semester and received a B. So I feel like so many universities, when they see the D, it will be an automatic reject (especially being a transfer applicant)

reason why i feel this way is that well, last year when i applied as a freshman, every single university rejected me except for one(waitlisted me) when I applied via common app. (and the universities using CA require transcripts)

but all the public universities i applied to like UIUC accepted me because they don’t use CA and I feel like they wouldn’t have if they had seen the D when they were reviewing my app? (Public universities usuaully dont require transcripts until you’ve been accepted)

Meh so what do you guys think?

2

Since you don’t have any college grades yet, if you apply to transfer now, all that the places you apply to will have to look at is your high school transcript. And since that final HS transcript is available, they will want it now.

You’ve had “awesome conversations” with at least one of your professors, so what exactly is not to like about where you are? Stick with your current university for another year, and then re-consider whether you want to transfer.

3

@happymomof1 thanks for the response! But my university goes by a quarter system so grades come out in 2 weeks! So they’ll have that to look at hm.

It’s just that as awesome as my university is, I’m searching for one that has a better environmental sciences program and one that focuses more on the climate etc.

4

“I’m searching for one that has a better environmental sciences program and one that focuses more on the climate etc.”

That needs to be what you put in your “why transfer to University X” essay, and it also is important to share with anyone who you would ask for an LOR.

Go ahead and apply this year, but make a good plan for next year in case you don’t get in elsewhere this time around. You will still have the opportunity to apply again a year from now.

5

Thank you for your advice!

6

IMO it’s worth a try at NYU and similar schools but applying to Columbia and Stanford would simply be a waste of application fee, time etc. in your case. They do take transfers with your stats in exceptional cases, but that usually means those accepted are either legacy or very “pointy” and highly achieved in certain areas, e.g. world champion of something. Although your 2nd place in an international competition is fairly impressive, Stanford and Columbia don’t have undergraduate business programs, so that may not necessarily help you. (even if you apply as an econ major)

Also based on what I know, basically everyone applying to schools like Stanford have 3.8+ so that doesn’t really do much to distinguish you from others.

7

Yeah I’m actually hoping to switch to an environmental sciences program! But you make good points thank you @melody2015 :slight_smile: