ivy league transfers?

<p>You want to talk about amazing stats? Let's talk about Harvard and Yale. Several months back someone active on college conf. got accepted as a transfer to Harvard. I believe she transferred from U of wisconsin. She's aspiring to an actress and she's acted in multiple roles on certain soap operas and other film productions. This person's resume was decked out. It was insane. I believe she went to duke though because people there were friendlier. Everyone who applies to harvard and yale has a near perfect SAT scores and high school grades. It's only in the ec's and the essays can they really differentiate the various individuals. Your writing ability has to be exceptionally talented to catch the attention of those adcoms. At this level, stats don't even matter. Many perfect scores and GPA's get turned down from Harvard and Yale. They want to see you think outside the box. That's what ultimately separates HYPSM from the other elite schools.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I believe she transferred from U of wisconsin. She's aspiring to an actress and she's acted in multiple roles on certain soap operas and other film productions. This candidate's resume was decked out. It was insane. I believe she went to duke though because people at Harvard were cocky and rude.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Nattie. Haha, she is now on my facebook friends list.</p>

<p>small world nspeds</p>

<p>Great post #21, eternity_hope.</p>

<p>
[quote]
You want to talk about amazing stats? Let's talk about Harvard and Yale. Several months back someone active on college conf. got accepted as a transfer to Harvard. I believe she transferred from U of wisconsin. She's aspiring to an actress and she's acted in multiple roles on certain soap operas and other film productions. This person's resume was decked out. It was insane. I believe she went to duke though because people there were friendlier. Everyone who applies to harvard and yale has a near perfect SAT scores and high school grades. It's only in the ec's and the essays can they really differentiate the various individuals. Your writing ability has to be exceptionally talented to catch the attention of those adcoms. At this level, stats don't even matter. Many perfect scores and GPA's get turned down from Harvard and Yale. They want to see you think outside the box. That's what ultimately separates HYPSM from the other elite schools.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I was simply talking about the difference between "stellar" and "very good". Your post is correct and yet a reiteration and a self-evident truth. Why make me an invisible opponent?
The 3.85 of the girl from my school that you are talking about is certainly great; she has a place in any of the top schools because of everything that you mentioned and she certainly impresses me as well. However, I was taliking about numbers and ranks, not about Harvard, Yale, extracurricularsacting, writing, acting, Natalie Portman, or peanut butter. A 3.8 is worthy of any top school if accompanied by everything else that we all know we need. However 3.8 is not stellar. Being below the top 15% in two classes is not stellar. Stellar is when you ace everything. Indubitably it won't get you in HYPSM but that was not my concern. I know that stellar stats won't help you in a pool rife with applicants that have perfect scores as I will be made an example of in two months. So let's just be friendly and get along.</p>

<p>I agree with martini, this is simply obvious. In addition, one would be hard-pressed to make it into Harvard with the most "decked-out" resume but relatively poor stats; for instance, a person with an 1100 and maybe even 1200, and a mediocre gpa, say 3.5, would most likely not get in even if they demonstrated the most eloquent writing, original insight, and active spirit on other parts their application.</p>

<p>It is a shame, but numbers are the determining factor of our future. </p>

<p>So -- is it just me -- or is anyone else entirely opposed to this? Honestly, how long is this generation going to sit in complacency over the quasi-mental slavery that we are aligning ourselves with. We have literally allowed the entreprenuerial ventures of a few testing companies to redefine the meaning of academia; and no matter how dubious we admit their methods to be, we continue to acquiesce. </p>

<p>ENOUGH.</p>

<p>factoid 1: there is a very cynical theory that maintains that some people with not so good scores and academics get in because every class will have students who will end up on the left side of the bell curve. allegedly, top schools want them to be people that won't go on prozac because of it. A "happy bottom quarter". factoid 2: writing and ecs are nice but the personality cathegory is not as well defined when it comes to HYP as it is for MIT for example. i can quote here if anyone is interested. therefore you don't know what anyone needs besides perfect scores to get in
factoid 3: yale claims to be mainly an academic institution, looking first at academics. they also claim that 200+ plus are basically quaranteed a place simply because of stellar academics</p>

<p>"Between two and three hundred students in any year are so strong academically that their admission is scarcely ever in doubt."</p>

<p>You idolize one person and think that you can make a schema of what people need to get in. You can imitate anyone accepted but that won't help. There are published adcom evaluation sheets that you can look at and see the things ranked. However, we all know them. Beyond them it might take one sentence in your essay, it might take one word to get you in. You will never know what happens at the round table at Harvard. However you come here, you pick someone who started talking about something that you are insecure about and you extrapolate bland theories. In doing so, you don't realize that while talking about trite things like "thinking outside the box" you are enclosing yourself in one. I better stop.</p>

<p>It's much easier to work for something when you know how pleasantly attainable it really is. Some earlier mentioned that you need "fantastic" stats to get into Brown making it seem unrealistic to transfer in but after you see how much more demanding it is to get into Harvard and the like..........you suddenly realize and feel much better about trying to transfer into Brown. If anything, I might have suddenly given the OP more confidence about transferring into an ivy league school. He was after all dubious about the possibility of being able to transfer into the ivy league. As far as my deviation into topics involving Harvard and Yale.....I believe I'm perfectly entitled to do that. After all, this thread is talking about transferring into ivy schools and last I checked Harvard and Yale were part of the group.</p>

<p>Furthermore my reference to Harvard and Yale weren't because of you Martini (you are very paranoid). If you read again, you'll notice I started off with "amazing" stats which was brought up by someone else. You aren't my invisible opponent and I still cannot understand how I'm supposedly enclosing myself "in a box".</p>

<p>Martini I find it amusing how you just lashed out at me with such animosity. Did I hit a soft spot? Is there something you aren't telling us? You're really screaming at me from behind those words...something or someone I mentioned set off a fire inside you. What is it that's making your composure so unstable and ridiculous? Really it's quite entertaining watching you get so emotional right now. You really are bleeding through your words. Please don't stop now.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, Martini I'm glad you took the time to read my essay on peanut butter. I thought it was lost in the depths of the cc archives forever.... It was one of the last few satirical pieces that I wrote.</p>

<p>martini - you might want to re-consider your application to Cornell if you dont consider a 3.8 to be stellar. This isn't a state-school where an above average student can squeeze by with all A's. You'll have a very hard time if the only think you've come to expect are A's.</p>

<p>shut up martinibluex. You dont have a clue as to what you're talking about. I don't even know what your point is. Stop rambling aimlessly and stop wasting everyone's time. </p>

<p>Now back to the op's question. from my experience and what i've heard brown and cornell are both transfer friendly. that i know. i'm more into the engineering field and i can say that trying to transfer into cornell engineering is probably not easier than going directly from high school. but the reverse may be true for other majors.</p>

<p>"GT is only offered for frosh? Not what I heard from others. So now I have to just either believe them or you. Why don't you give me a link affiliated with Cornell's website that says only frosh can be considered for GT so we can settle this once and for all. I've been looking online for the GT program and can't find any solid info. about it in Cornell's database"</p>

<p>here lies a problem. Yes, you have to either believe them or me. Before you rule my opinion out, here's some stuff to consider: i volunteer for Cornell ILR ambassadors, we talk to prospective students (both freshmen and transfer). Part of our work deal with talking to admissions to get fact and figures straight. I have been told not to bring up the idea of a guaranteed transfer to freshmen prospies as it is something only 40-50 out of 800 applicants will get ... the majority will either be accepted or rejected. Those who are "borderline" and Cornell thinks would benefit from one or two years at another school to prove themselves are considered for a GT. I have talked with dozens of people with GT's since working for the ambassadors. Cornell actually encourages student to attend a community college with the idea of not wasting money at another private college. Also, I live in a dorm at Cornell called the "transfer center." As its name implies, it is full of students who transfered into the university this past fall. Roughly 40-60% of students in the transfer center had a GT prior to enroling at Cornell (more than half of my friends had one as well). They said that the academic advisors at Cornell constantly helped them pick out which courses to take in order to ensure a smooth transfer of credits. They've also all confirmed the fact that GTs are given to freshmen applicants (as they all applied as freshmen). TheMaddenBus IM'ed me months ago with questions about his guaranteed, and he confirmed it's given to freshmen applicants. </p>

<p>I realize that the websites are very ambiguous about the GTs. I've looked at them myself and havn't found any useful information. It wasn't until admissions fully explained it to me that I understood what it was and who it was given to. </p>

<p>You don't have to believe me if you dont want to, this is an opinion board after all. Just realize that I have pondered the same question as well, and have received an answer straight from administration at Cornell and from other students.</p>

<p>My post is not more of a non sequitur than any of your answers. Look back at #1. I don't see anybody asking you how transfer friendly the schools are per se, nor what are the differences between HS and transfer admissions. </p>

<p>The OP is wondering whether he could gain a comparative advantage by attempting a junior transfer instead of a sophomore. Yeah, Cornell and Brown are transfer frienly but that is not the question.</p>

<p>And here is my answer.</p>

<p>To the OP:
1. It is always better try twice than just once.
2. Being a junior transfer as opposed to sophomore you have a chance to present - a long(er) list of nice hard classes that you have challenged yourself with rather than just the 4 or 5 that you would have come spring freshman year.
3. If your academic institution is very weak, you better try to get out as soon as possible.
4. You must somewhat coordinate time of leave with reasons to transfer as with some reasons it might be harder to justify staying at a school for 2 years.
5. If your post-secondary institution is relatively strong, de facto you will have a very strong case during sophomore year, i.e. doing a junior transfer. However, I would still advocate trying to do it twice (assuming yopu don't succeed the first time). So don't wait.
6.(and probably what you are looking for) Many times when it comes to the ivies, there are more junior than sophomore spots open. You go on transfer pages and you read: "we have very few spots open for sophomores as we are the bomb diggidy and freshman people don't leave. check our retention rates."
7. [just a piece of advice] If you do end up doing a junior campaign, be very very careful about the classes you select.</p>

<p>To Leviosa: I am not even going to dignify the first part; as far as the second - nice job addressing #1!</p>

<p>To Gomestar: I wouln't care too much about a 4.00, but as haughty, supercilious, and arrogant as it sounds, I picked a major at which I can distinguish myself on the national level. As far as the rest, I will do my best.</p>

<p>i'm guessing you mean pre-med. There's hundreds of them here at Cornell - but there's also a large proportion of "once premed" students as well. I just dont see how a pre-med track can "distinguish yourself on a national level." I would reserve that statement until, perhaps, you earn a 3.8+ gpa at a school like Cornell in pre-med and a 99th percentile score on the MCAT. That, my friend, is distinguished.</p>

<p>
[quote]
but as haughty, supercilious, and arrogant as it sounds,

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I hope you realize the redundancy.</p>

<p>My premedical requirements will be covered by the end of this semester. The premedical track is not a major. It was one of the many things I wanted to do as an undergrad.</p>

<p>I mean mathematics. My distinction will come from publications and competitions like the the William Lowell Putnam Competition.</p>

<p>so none of your pre-med courses will be from the ivy league schools you applied to?</p>

<p>I am not applying only to ivy league schools so chances are none of my courses would be from them. Should that bother me? It didn't bother Harvard Medical School when they took one of my friends from my school with a 4.00. Also, I plan on following up with relevant courses on higher level regardless of whether I get in anywhere or not.</p>

<p>i dont think he meant that to be an attack. so defensive!</p>

<p>Coming from a guy that has been an agdressor on at least one of my posts, that too sounds realy sincere. Is it common here to gang up on the competition and then upon retaliatory retort to step back with a grin and say "Oh my, what a paranooid fellow." How could I have taken your genuine concern for a hypocritical affront.</p>