<p>^once again an individual is not representative of a population - a good part of being a rhodes scholar does not have to do with being academically proficient. And mostly, most people just don’t know/don’t care about that. Most students are quick to judge transfer students. Speaking from a personal experience, while some transfer students seem alright, others really aren’t. The stigma might partially originate from the fact that most of those kids go into the contract colleges too.</p>
<p>From my 4 years experience, I don’t think there is any anti-transfer bias. Quite honestly, academic background is something rarely discussed. The two people who I know were transfers didn’t seem to have any problems, though maybe it’s because they transferred from excellent school (BC & NYU). Anyone who gives transfers a problem is misguided anyway. As much as people might like to stand on their high school accomplishments, performing well at college for a year is a much better indicator of where you stand academically.</p>
<p>You say an individual isn’t representative of a population then you judge the entire transfer student population based off talking to maybe 20 or 30 of 'em? And the point of mentioning the Rhodes scholar was to say that some transfers can and will be great and others… not so much. Y’know, just like the regular Cornellians.</p>
<p>20-30 is 20-30x more representative than 1.<br>
“some transfers can and will be great and others… not so much. Y’know, just like the regular Cornellians.”
I actually agree with this point. I see a lot of kids here that I really don’t think belong here (the kids that live in the present, only thinking of getting drunk, basking in the Cornell name without knowing where their major will take them, etc). They are not going to get anywhere.
Anyways, i was just talking about the bias. I usually reserve my judgement on those students, but somehow their first impressions matter more to me than say other students. Saying that is like waving a red flag for me to be judgmental.</p>
<p>The link posted in post #1 was from 2007. People have better understanding now, it looks like - they know some colleges has below 10% transfer admit rate. It isn’t easier to get in as a transfer. (other colleges with higher admit rate take a big chunk of their transfers from Transfer Option, or called Guaranteed Transfer in the past, whose stats are about the same as the regular admits so the higher admit rate is inflated.)</p>
<p>My D was waitlisted Cornell CoE and MIT when applied for RD. And Cornell encouraged her to transfer. So she enrolled in our state university honors program, fulfilled all requirements, got straight A’s and transferred to Cornell as a sophomore. (Her stat. is above 75% the regular admitted and is a strong leader, she just didn’t pay much attention to her application essays when she applied as a high school senior.)</p>
<p>After the first semester at Cornell, her conclusion is “I am much happier here.” She made more new friends than she did in her freshman year in our state university.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the individual. Don’t let others discourage you from transferring.</p>