Ivy Transfer

So here’s the rundown, I was waitlisted last year at both Ivy schools I am applying to. I had a good High School record (3.98uw 6.52w 34ACT passed all 14 APs) and I am heavily involved in dance. My reason for transferring is that as much as I love aspects of my current school, the way the system is set up (ew quarters) very much works against the learning disability I have. I am in a specialized science honors program that is notorious for its difficult freshman year, because of this, my college GPA is very lackluster (3.48), this quarter I am already doing much better, but idk if it will be enough. I know that transferring to the Ivies is like pretty much impossible but like does it even seem somewhat possible with my awful gpa? I am applying elsewhere, but a girl has gotta dream sometimes!

Oh yeah I currently go to a top ten school if that means anything idk

Northwestern Integrated Science?

Top 10 is big so if you have strong and defined academic reasons for transferring I think you have a fairly decent shot. The sub-3.7 GPA will hurt but coming from a Top 10 and rigorous program I’d imagine Ivies like Cornell/Penn/Columbia might blink. They don’t release transfer stats but Brown does, and its average transfer GPA of about 3.85 the past few years seems to imply your chances there are a lot slimmer.

Which Ivies specifically are you applying to?

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haha you read me like a book! yes ISP!
I’m applying Brown and Harvard, ik harvard is like a near defintate no, i was waitlisted at both last year, my sister attends Brown. I think it will be rough but this quarter i am doing much better with my grades, i will most likely end winter with a gpa above 3.50

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If you are coming from Northwestern’s ISP, then maybe Ivies will view your first year GPA in the proper perspective & understand the rigor of your academic schedule.

If you plan to transfer–and your reasons are valid as ISP is very demanding academically & the quarter system can be unforgiving–consider applying to more than just Harvard & Brown.

Sorry, but not sure that Adcoms would view this as a valid reason for transferring…(yeah, I get that quarters move really fast, and you don’t have time to get sick, but ~20+% of four year colleges are on the quarter system, including Dartmouth and Stanford and Chicago, and it works just fine. Moreover, you take fewer classes per quarter than you do in a semester…)

NU’s quarter system had me in my freshman fall quarter taking 4 classes and 2 labs (overall 4.6 credits) a Dartmouth ‘trimester’ has a student taking about 3 classes.

At schools where the normal course load is fewer courses, each course is “larger” – i.e. will take up more time per week than a course at schools where the normal course load is more courses. In credit hour terms, a college with three course quarters assumes that its courses are equivalent to 5 credit hours each, while a college with four course quarter assumes that its courses are equivalent to 4 credit hours each (15-16 credit hours per semester being the amount of course work to graduate in four academic years). Some colleges have courses with varying numbers of credit hours.

Note that the above applies whether the college is on the quarter or semester system.

Brown is on the semester system, but with a typical course load of four courses per semester. If you take science courses with labs, they are included in the courses, rather than listed separately. E.g. click on CHEM 0330, 0350, 0360 at https://bulletin.brown.edu/the-college/concentrations/chem/ .

The Dartmouth Plan is unique. Sure, 3 courses/qtr are standard, but the quarters aren’t even 10 weeks long. D has a compacted schedule.

Regardless, think about the message you are sending to the new school: ‘my current [top 10] curriculum schedule is too difficult for me, so I want to transfer…’

Not likely to be a winning strategy, IMO. Much better is an academic reason…

My point is not that the quarter system is too hard, I just believe I would be more successful at a semester school bc I find with my learning disorder and such i don’t learn as well in this environment. For me my classes feel rushed (the professors have told the class that they feel like they don’t have enough time) and with my specific learning disorder, I cannot function to the best of my abilities. Additionally, I think that as is wanting to attend a semester school instead of a quarter one is perfectly reasonable, even without the additional weight of my accommodations and that.

I agree with @bluebayou…wanting to transfer to a school with semesters may be the reason you want to change schools, but it can not be the only, or primary, reason you put on your applications.

I assume you have already sent in your transfer applications, but just like undergrad apps, one has to clearly articulate ‘why us’ on the application…there are thousands of schools on a semester calendar…why Harvard and Brown? Both also have very low transfer acceptance rates (lower than ug acceptance rates)…did you apply to other schools?

Here is a snippet from Brown’s transfer pages (95 of 1,862 transfers admitted per 17/18 CDS):

And Harvard (16 of 1,553 transfers admitted per 17/18 CDS):