<p>I didn't apply to UMich as a first-year applicant, but I've come to realize (after the deadline -_-) that it's a great fit for me. And because of this, I intend to apply as a sophomore transfer. I'll be majoring in Actuarial Math at Pitt this coming fall, and want to concentrate in the same thing at Mich. However, from what I gather, it seems that getting into Michigan as a sophomore transfer is very difficult. Is there truth to this?</p>
<p>I know more weight would be put on my high school career. From that, I have a 2240 SATI (1490 Math + CR), 2270 SATII (770/770/730), 3.93 UW/4.62 W GPA, I'm in the top 2% of my class, and I have all right ECs. Even if I can get in the 3.9-4.0 GPA range freshman year and actively participate in some clubs and organizations at Pitt, would it still be highly unlikely that I could get in as a transfer?</p>
<p>You have a great chance because you also had a great chance of getting in as a freshmen. The only time a sophomore transfer gets in to UofM is when they could have gotten in as a freshmen, otherwise UofM seeks students with ~60 credits and a >3.5 college gpa.</p>
<p>“The only time a sophomore transfer gets in to UofM is when they could have gotten in as a freshmen, otherwise UofM seeks students with ~60 credits and a >3.5 college gpa.”</p>
<p>Completely untrue. I transferred during the winter semester of my sophomore year and I did not have the stats to get in freshman year. I have friends who got in the fall semester just falling short of acceptable criteria during high school.</p>
<p>OP, with your high school stats, you could even probably get in the winter semester of freshman year.</p>
<p>It’s difficult for a sophomore transfer that was not accepted as a freshman. In your case, however, you likely would have gotten in as a freshman so if you’re pretty sure that you want to transfer to Michigan, you might even want to try this winter term of your freshman year. My friend’s sister worked in the admissions office for a time and she said that for transfers, they don’t really take it too seriously because all the focus is on the freshmen. They basically only care about your grades and credits. I know a couple people that were accepted that went first to a different school and then transferred in as a second semester freshman. Although you weren’t already accepted as a freshman, it’s still worth it for you to give it a try. This way you can get started at Michigan without wasting too much time taking courses that won’t directly transfer from Pitt. I know for sure that ECON 100 and ECON 110 will transfer to Michigan as Econ 101 and Econ 102 so its definitely worth it for you to take one of those before coming to Michigan as it is also a prereq for actuarial math at Michigan. MATH 220, 230, 240 and 250 also transfer into Michigan as Math 115, 116, 215 and 216, which again are all prereqs. I’m not sure if you can first semester but take ENGCMP 0200 at Pitt if possible so you can avoid first year writing at Michigan, which I’ve heard from some of my friends can be challenging.</p>
<p>Anyways I think its pretty cool you’re going to Pitt because I went to Pitt at first as well before transferring to Michigan and I’m now majoring in actuarial math. Which dorm are you in? Pitt has a nice campus but it was a little too urban for my taste. Since your location says you’re from NJ, make sure you try Pamela’s if you haven’t already. They’ve got some great breakfast and the one on Forbes Ave. always has a line that goes out the door on Saturday mornings.</p>
<p>Although you may have been an anomaly, don’t suggest it is common for many students to transfer in such a manner, that is wrong. In fact, if you would read the UofM external transfer website, you would see they state it so.</p>
<p>My point remains that the original poster is likely to be accepted, regardless of the semester, because of his high school stats. However, if someone was not in a similar position, with worse HS stats, they would most certainly be rejected.</p>
<p>@anthonyxy21 - You are most certainly correct in saying that all they care about is grades and credits for transfer students. I recently had my transfer application migrated for Winter 2013 admission and they are not requesting me to write any essays, fill out the new Common App, describe extracurricular activities, or pay an application fees. They just want a college transcript.</p>
<p>@Albo23 - Sorry, I did not mean to suggest it is common. I just wanted to emphasize that it is entirely possible to make a case getting in as a sophomore regardless of high school credentials.</p>
<p>@albo23 - Ah, really? Awesome, thanks for the reply! I was feeling pretty distraught about the whole matter. </p>
<p>@Sneakerhead91 - I saw that option of transferring as a 2nd-semester freshman. I guess it’s worth a shot to apply for that, then? That would be ideal. </p>
<p>@anthonyxy21 - Ah, so I see you’re suggesting to apply for the winter semester as well. I took notice to the prereqs that are directly transferrable like ECON 100 and 110, so I tried to build my course wishlist around that. However, would AP credits transfer from Pitt to Mich? For example, I got a 5 on AP Lang and Comp, which gives me credit for ENGCMP 0200. Would this credit then satisfy my first-year writing requirement, or would I still have to take the actual class for transferrable credit? And the same for Calculus and Macro/Micro. It would be ideal to start off in Math 240, so long as I managed to get a 5 on Calc BC this past May. Would that AP credit also satisfy Actuarial Math prereqs like ECON 101 and 102 and the lower-level Math courses, even though I’m transferring? I know I can’t use AP credit for distribution requirements, but if it can satisfy some prereqs, that would be pretty awesome. I probably have to contact UMich admissions.</p>
<p>Haha, wow, what a coincidence. Do you think the Actuarial Math program at Mich is a solid one, then? I haven’t found out about my housing assignment yet, but I’m hoping to get the honors housing in Sutherland. I don’t really want to be stuck in those towers. I heard about Pamela’s, but I haven’t tried it. I guess I’ll make that one of my priorities before I (hopefully) transfer out.</p>
<p>@dppilotmets, AP credits will be accepted by any school depending on their policy. It’s not really transferring them from Pitt to Michigan but rather seeing if Michigan will accept them based on the score you received. Basically, if you received at least a 4 on the majority of AP tests, Michigan will accept them. There are a few exceptions where a 3 is accepted or where only a 5 is acceptable. I’m not sure if you can get out of FYW (first year writing) at Michigan with a 5 on the English APs so you’ll probably want to check that out. I’m almost certain that AP credit is acceptable as completing a prereq, you’ll want to make sure, but the only ones you can directly complete with APs are Econ 101 and 102, the rest of them for actuarial math, EECS 183 and MATH 215-217 don’t have an AP test available for them.</p>
<p>I think the actuarial math program at Michigan is excellent. It’s one of the best in the nation. Some people I know who have taken some of the more upper level actuarial exams have talked about how well the courses prepared them for those and how simply saying that they go to Michigan has helped them find internships. Michigan’s actuary program has a very strong reputation. Besides, you know a school has a good math program when a bunch of students try to avoid taking math there because it’s so hard. A rumor I heard was that Michigan math is as good as MITs but I have no clue if its true or not.</p>
<p>Sutherland is much better than Towers for sure but the only bad part of it is that you have to walk up The Hill. That’s a total b****. Be sure to take the escalators in the Pete if you can, hopefully when the one going up is working. I don’t know what it is but the up escalators at Pitt always seem to be broken while the down ones always work. Anyways, good luck!</p>
<p>@anthonyxy21 - Thanks for another comprehensive response! From what it looks like, I can’t use AP credit for FYW, so I guess I’ll be aiming to get ENGCMP 0200. Are you sure that this class will transfer as FYW credit? </p>
<p>That’s encouraging to hear. I can’t believe that I didn’t realize in my college search how great of a program they have at UMich. Is the workload incredibly demanding, though? Obviously studying for the actuarial exams is time-consuming, but do you find yourself drowning in the rest of the coursework? </p>
<p>Yeah, maybe that hill will prevent me from ballooning as part of the freshman 15. Again, thanks for all of your advice!</p>
<p>@dppilotmets, no problem. I’m not sure if every single ENGCMP 0200 will be accepted now after I successfully petitioned to get mine accepted as fulfilling FYW but if you get yours accepted without question, be sure to come here and thank me. jk. Anyways, I had Nicholas Coles as my professor and his based on the courseload, it was enough to match what Michigan considers to fulfill FYW. I was told that they wanted something like 5 six page essays and lots of revision for every essays or something like that. I think you should ask to make sure. </p>
<p>The math courses here are undoubtedly challenging but not unreasonable. It’s definitely possible to get an A if you put in the work. A lot of times when people don’t get the grade they want, it’s because of a lack of effort. I would say make sure you know what kinds of courses you’re signing up for when taking them with your math classes because you don’t want to take a bunch of other time consuming and high effort classes with your math class. Make sure you have a mix of easy and hard classes. Spread the hard ones out and you should be fine. I still had time to be involved in a few things and had a social life.</p>
<p>Oh yeah and you should make sure you get that tier C meal plan because there are only two dining halls on the Pitt Campus, Market and the Perch and you’ll never be able to use all your swipes if you have anything beyond 100. My freshman roommate got the 200 swipe option and still had about 90 unused by the end of the semester. The Perch is just a smaller and worse version of Market in Sutherland, except they always seem to have the best bananas. You’ll find that the awful pizza, tasteless fries and never changing salad gets old real fast, but the stir fry and Magellans are pretty good though. I’d say get the one where you have 100 swipes and something like 700 dining dollars because dining dollars are a lot more versatile and you can use it at some pretty good places like Pasta Plus in the Pete, the Union and Einsteins.</p>