Ivy Transfer Acceptee stats/essays for future applicants

<p>congrats! so you're going to Yale?</p>

<p>I am currently an out of state incoming freshman at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, one of the best schools in the country, though public and often overlooked by many due to the ivy-focused hype. However, after looking deeply into the workings of the school and conversing w/ the students, I find the population, location, and academics, dont quite fit me. Largely due to the fact that my family is in large need of my presence at home. I am highly considering transfer in 2006-2007 year to Swathmore or UPENN. Finances are a problem so Im also considering other schools still closer to Philly with improved fin. aid programs. Anyway thanks for the thread, it will be very helpful if I make the decision to transfer. Congrats and goodluck...Ne more threads like this.</p>

<p>I guess I'll post mine...</p>

<p>Accepted: Penn (Wharton)
Waitlisted: Columbia
Rejected: Cornell (CAS)</p>

<p>SAT: 1340 (660V, 680M)
SATII: 680 Writing, 690 US History, 690 Math IC
College GPA: 4.0 first semester, 3.8 second, 3.903 overall at University of Miami
H/S GPA: 3.6 uw, 4.2 w</p>

<p>Recommendations: 2 from professors (one very good, the other I didn't see) and for Penn: 1 from a Wharton MBA alumni, 1 from high school teacher who worked on Wall Street for many years, and 1 from the teacher of my econ class at Penn last summer.</p>

<p>E/Cs: Competitive figure skater (sent video), hundreds of service hours with Special Olympics - both in high school and college. Also in high school I was an officer in 3 of the most active clubs at my school.</p>

<p>I felt my essays were the strongest part of my application. I'm not going to post them all (there were many). If anyone really wants to see them, just PM me. I really messed up on one of my Cornell essays and didn't really explain why Cornell was the school for me, so that may have had some effect on their decision.</p>

<p>Some advice to future applicants: I thought just because I didn't have a 1400-1500+ SAT score and did mediocre in high school (in comparison to those being accepted as freshmen to Ivies) that I didn't stand a chance. That definately wasn't true. Just work hard your first year, get a strong GPA, participate in E/Cs that you really enjoy/excel at or are related to your field of study, start early on the essays, build good relations with 2-3 professors (for future recs), and don't stress too much.</p>

<p>to respond to a couple of q's asked earlier:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>i will be attending yale, im not staying on the waitlists as yale was my top choice anyway</p></li>
<li><p>i began but withdrew an application to cornell, but at ILR not CAS. I did not apply to any of the other schools. i applied to and went to west point, but left after the summer and went to my CC.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Accepted: Harvard
Applied: Harvard
Transferring from: Wesleyan Univ.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.85
major: Sociology and American Studies with a concentration in American Literature</p>

<p>recs: one from my soc prof/advisor who i'm developing a course with and doing research for and one from an english prof who used to be in the afam dept. at princeton and went to harvard for grad school (and more importantly, is amazing) also a letter from my dad's friend from the business school whom I've known since i was born and is now a lecturer at the business school and very active within the harvard community</p>

<p>ec's: developing a support/educational group for students with disabilities (that also would advise the administration and admissions office), femnet (feminist group) fedup (eating disorders group) diplomat (international affairs discussion group and magazine) english tutor, (would be) ta for phil 202: early modern phil. from descartes through kant, research for sociology advisor (and other summer stuff: painting, book club, french conv. course)</p>

<p>jobs: intern at ucsf with the head of ped. radiology and intern at a law and accounting firm</p>

<p>hs gpa: 3.75</p>

<p>hs ecs: created a support/educational group on eating disorders and body image and ran student faculty discussion panels, gsa, intern at CARAL (CA NARAL), intern in the costume department of a major motion picture, chorus, a bunch of painting/drawing courses</p>

<p>sat: 1430 (780 V, 650 M) SAT II: don't remember</p>

<p>essays: I also think these were the strongest part of my application--I really think the biggest thing is WHY you want to go to the school--you have to have a good reason. I chose harvard because they had an academic program that I loved (social studies) and they were great in responding to my needs around my disability (I emailed the SDR while i was applying with questions and they got back to me in a day). I made it very clear in my essay that though I loved wes, the lack of accomodation was limiting my experience of the school, and i came to the school to be a student, not to fight with the administration. I don't want to post it here, but feel free to pm me.</p>

<p>the second essay was about my experience of being disabled and how I have negotiated this over the years (and how it has changed). I also spoke about how I felt about my decision to have two major surgeries to help "correct" my gait and how this forced me to really deal with being disabled (since they weren't ultimately successful at all). </p>

<p>the book Q: two cities by john edgar wideman (i highly recommend it)</p>

<p>How important are high school and college ecs for sophomore transfers?</p>

<p>As far as I understand, they are fairly important but not as important as your GPA and Essay. It probably goes in this order of importance: Essay, GPA, Recs, ECs.</p>

<p>Northrams: where are you going?</p>

<p>
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Northrams: where are you going?

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</p>

<p>
[quote]
- i will be attending yale, im not staying on the waitlists as yale was my top choice anyway

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</p>

<p>Reading is helpful.</p>

<p>As far as I understand, they are fairly important but not as important as your GPA and Essay. It probably goes in this order of importance: Essay, GPA, Recs, ECs.</p>

<p>You're saying the essay is more important than GPA?</p>

<p>"Reading is helpful."</p>

<p>So is being a smart ass, apparently. :)</p>

<p>
[quote]
So is being a smart ass, apparently.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Ironic how one need not be smart to fulfill your inquiry.</p>

<p>Accepted: Harvard and Duke
Waitlisted: Brown
Rejected: Columbia</p>

<p>Transferring from University of Wisconsin
College GPA: 3.8
Major: Triple in Ethnic Studies, Women's Studies, and PolySci (easy to do at Harvard or Duke -- students can combine and create their own concentration)</p>

<p>Recs: Two awesome ones from profs that knew me very well, one went to Harvard, other used to be a professor at Princeton</p>

<p>EC's: Up the whazoo...here's a brief list:
Wrote a curriculum that's being published, was a university research scholar, assisted a professor in writing his book project that's also being published, University student body (40,000+ students) multicultural rep, founded many clubs, varsity crew and sailing teams, black belt in tae kwon do, taught English in Malawi, China and Japan, been in national modeling campaigns (United Colors of Beneton, H&M), been in movies and music videos (shooting a film this summer as well).</p>

<p>High School: homeschooled, GPA 4.0</p>

<p>Essays: My "why Harvard?" essay was short and sweet -- right to the point. I stressed how what I wanted to major in (ethnic studies and women's studies) wasn't an option at my school, and how going to Harvard would allow me to not only major in what I wanted, but let me create a special concentration that would let me combine the two.
In my personal statement, I talked about the interesting situation that being a Christian, and being a socially and intellectually open student at a liberal, secular institution presents to me. It was very personal, and I got a personal note from someone in admissions saying that he appreciated my essay.</p>

<p>Books: Thomas Aquinas' philosophy on God</p>

<p>Applied: Penn Engineering
Accepted: Penn Engineering
Transferring From: Clemson University/Honors College (4.0 GPA)</p>

<p>Basically, Penn has a product design focus in their Mechanical Engineering department. I'm really good at art (sent in supplement) and fairly competent in the sciences. I made my desire to bridge the two through their program the focus of my application.</p>

<p>Recs: One from my studio art professor and one from my high school calculus teacher. If they followed my requests, the studio art professor focused on creativity and classroom interaction while the calculus teacher (who knows me better) focused on personality and academic curiosity. I also had my engineering professor send a third recommendation on my behalf a few months after I sent in my final application. I was able to read this recommendation and it focused on group interaction and leadership based on a project we had first semester. My opinion on this effort is that anything helps, just don't send them too many recs (too many = 5 or more).</p>

<p>Most Important Event In History: I said the invention of the iPod was the most important event because it opened my eyes to the connection between the aesthetics of art and the performance of engineering. I admit this was a gamble because it appears insensitive to conventional important events. But this was my application and I figured that in -my- history, an event that made me aware of how I want to spend the rest of my life was most important. If you're a future Penn applicant, you should definitely make this event relate to you personally so you can have a little more room on the application to show who you are (the adcom only knows you from what you choose to tell them).</p>

<p>Standardized Stuff:
SATI 660v/720m
SATII 580 writing/670 chemistry/730 math2c
AP transfer credit (my only 5's)--BC Calc and US Hist</p>

<p>Essays:
1) Why Penn?
I wrote about that program I want, how an urban location will help me learn the ethics of engineering better (maintaining public trust and such), and just in general how I want a new experience.
2) Defining Experience?
Conventional trip abroad essay. I wrote about the global exchange of ideas and cultures I witnessed and the revelations about how countries are not economically and culturally sovereign...instead, the transfer of ideas/cultures (sort of a controlling pun in the essay...since I am transferring) is the most controlling element in the world.</p>

<p>Art Supplement:
Sent in 12 or so 4x6 digital prints of my paintings and drawings and attached a description of my concentration intent and formal endeavors...also told penn how my art and my engineering support each other (when i'm exhausted with one I turn to the other).</p>

<p>I think that's everything. Oh yeah, i'll be a sophomore.</p>

<p>Accepted: Harvard, Brown, Stanford, Swarthmore
Waitlisted: Duke, Dartmouth
Rejected: Yale, Penn</p>

<p>I am a caucasian female, no legacy, and I had not previously applied to any of these schools except Swarthmore (accepted the first time too). I do not wish to post my stats on this forum, but my scores are definitely in the lower percentiles for most of these schools. I did very well in high school but I never planned on applying to these schools and I certainly didn't track my life for "ivy success."</p>

<p>What I did do was pursue what I was passionate about: working with a certain nonprofit in the very urban city in which I live. I also went to a very alternative experiential education school for a semester in high school. I drew upon these combined experiences as primary sources for my college app essays, which gave my application an unorthodox angle. </p>

<p>While it may be trite, my advice is really just to do whatever it is you love doing and capitalize on it - it shows through on the application. Explain why that school's programs/resources are such a good match for you. Do your research and be specific - I named unique professors, centers, courses, etc. It's easy to tell which essays are cookie-cutter-name ones, so personalize it like crazy - it takes extra effort but hey, that gets you points too. Get some good recs - ask former teachers, employers, who ever knows you best -- you really have nothing to lose by sending extra ones. </p>

<p>Nobody thought I had much of a chance of admission (myself included) but I applied anyways because I knew I'd regret it if I didn't at least try. I had some good fortune, but you really can never predict what will happen/what your chances are, nor should a college admission or rejection define your life. Things go on regardless and a good education is possible no matter where you go if you work hard at finding it. </p>

<p>That is all =)</p>

<p>"Ironic how one need not be smart to fulfill your inquiry."</p>

<p>Because the term smart ass most certainly connotes intelligence....</p>

<p>
[quote]
Because the term smart ass most certainly connotes intelligence....

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Sorry, I was not aware that I stooped to your level of colloquial expression.</p>

<p>how about people stop cluttering this EXTREMELY HELPFUL thread</p>

<p>northrams,
Could you post your Brown essay?</p>

<p>north - how did you get rejected from cornell and georgetown (i realize the program at gtown is competitive but i believe yales admissions standards usually supersede those of gtown)....is there solid reason?</p>

<p>Also, you guys all have pretty high SAT scores...did you retake them? Did the universites look down on your retaken scores.</p>