<p>So, I am currently a freshman at Swarthmore College and am deeply unhappy with my college experience thus far. This mostly stems from social issues, but that is another story. I have convinced myself that I want to transfer into the Ivy League, but I know that that is easier said than done. Do you guys have any advice? I expect to end up with a G.P.A. in the 3.75-4.0 range this semester and I play varsity baseball. I recognize that this alone will probably not suffice. What are your suggestions?</p>
<p>Well Harvard accepts 1-2% of transfers per year, and it’s leaning more and more to the 1% side. It’s basically the same with other schools like Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, etc. all with transfer rates of probably around or less than 5%. Penn is “lenient” with probably 10-15%, and Cornell is most lenient with around 20% (?), although I feel it may be skewed because of guaranteed transfers and recruits. </p>
<p>Overall, be really really good at baseball, do a crapload of ECs, and work hard. Even from a school like Swarthmore it will be relatively difficult.</p>
<p>Identify the reason(s) why you want to transfer to a particular school and that will greatly increase your chances of admission. What would Harvard – or Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell or any other school for that matter – offer you that you cannot get at Swarthmore? Unless you can play at a D1 Level (in which case you should contact the baseball coach), focus on the academic programs offered at the new school and your interests in them.</p>
<p>You need to look hard at why you came to Swarthmore and why it is currently failing to meet your expectations. What are you hoping for at Harvard that Swarthmore can’t or isn’t giving you right now. </p>
<p>Keep in mind, Harvard is not necessarily the place for the ultimate undergraduate experience. It’s #1 college reputation comes from it’s astounding graduate programs. </p>
<p>Keep in mind it is only six weeks into the academic year right now. It can take a long time to settle in. It would probably be of greater benefit to you right now to focus on nurturing social relationships and embracing good mental health.</p>
<p>Your GPA is going to be the biggest factor. Get the best grades you can while trying your best to find a social niche. Focus on those things now, and revisit the transfer question in January or February when you have grades in the can and more experience at Swat. Good luck!</p>
<p>You just started! I ran around on the verge of tears because I was so flustered and off-balance for the first two weeks of Harvard, but I would’ve done that at any college. And I know people who had much longer (although not that intense the whole time) transition periods than that. So, the question of “what can you find at one of the Ivies” (you’d be happier at any of them than your current school? Penn and Dartmouth are not very similar) “that you can’t find at Swarthmore?” both has implications for helping you get into one, by making your application more convincing, and in reassessing whether the strategies you take to get through Swarthmore until you can reasonably transfer could be so successful that you decide not to transfer. Roommate issues might be a cause to move housing, or maybe people will warm up and you’ll find friends, etc.</p>
<p>Sorry to revive a dead thread, but I figured I’d give an update. I decided to give Swarthmore a little more of a shot and stick it out through my sophomore year. That said, I still hate it here. To answer the “why did I end up at Swarthmore” question, it’s because I got rejected literally everywhere else. One thing I know I would prefer over Swarthmore is a big city campus (Penn, Harvard, Columbia). In addition, D1 (Ivy League at least) is a genuine possibility for me. Will this aid in admission like it does for freshman applicants?</p>