Just some questions

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hey. I’m a sophomore premed at BU majoring in human physiology and am applying for transfer. I currently have a 3.89 GPA. I don’t think it will be taking too much of a hit this semester. So far I’ve taken Chemistry I and II, Biology II, Calculus (life sciences) I and II, Italian I and II, Writing 100 (basic writing course). This year I’m taking Orgo 1, Cell Biology, Eastern Religion, and Psych 101.</p>

<p>My SAT scores aren’t particularly high: 660 verbal, 590 math, 650 writing=1900 overall.
For extracurriculars, I have a leadership position in a club, teach a student piano for community service, and am a lab assistant in a neuroscience lab at Harvard Medical School (I don’t take part in the research, but I do work with the monkeys. It could be considered grunt work, I’m not sure). Next semester I will also be an assistant in the Biology II labs (help teach, answer questions).</p>

<p>So, now that we’ve gotten the logistics out of the way, I was hoping you guys could answer a few questions I have:</p>

<p>1) What do you think would be some match schools for me? I have my reaches picked out, but I wouldn’t mind applying to a few schools that weren’t total crapshoots. I’m more of a city-oriented person and diversity is a must.</p>

<p>2) Most schools are asking for two recommendations. If I submit a third from my boss at Harvard Med, would it be useful/impressive or is it just an annoyance? I know Stanford takes one extra from a non-professor, but am unsure how other schools feel.</p>

<p>3) I’m considering going to California for school (if I get into any of the schools). Is it very uncommon for a non-resident to apply to UC Berkeley? It’s an excellent school, which is my reason for applying, but from the stats I’ve seen, it seems very rare for non-residents to even apply.</p>

<p>4) My SAT scores are very low for many of the schools I am applying to (Duke, Columbia, ect). I was considering explaining why in my main commonapp essay (I was pretty apathetic toward the SATs and didn’t realize how important they were). Would that be a bad idea? It wouldn't be the entire topic, but a minor part of it.</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>Why do you want to leave BU and what are you looking for in a transfer school? It would really help to know for suggesting match schools. </p></li>
<li><p>It all depends on how well your boss knows you and your work and how good a LOR he writes for you. It's not WHO writes the LOR, it's WHAT it says about you.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, it is harder to get into CA state schools if you're OOS, particularly for transfers as they take a lot of students from CCCs. And if you do get in, don't count on very good, if any, FA.</p></li>
<li><p>Since you'll be a jr transfer, your test scores and HS record won't matter as much as what you've done while in college. I'd recommend NOT explaining your test scores in your essay, save the essay for saying something interesting about yourself. Leave it to your college accomplishments will show that you've matured and gotten more serious about academics.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>I have a few reasons for wanting to transfer. I grew up in the Boston area, so I'm pretty used to the sights and I'll always have a place to come back to in Boston, so I would like to explore a different part of the US. Second, BU is a good school, but for the amount I am paying, there are definitely schools with better academics. Also, I feel I could get into a better medical school if I went to a better undergrad. Also, I would like to be in a more intellectually charged environment. There are definitely kids that work hard at BU, but I would say they are the minority. I can’t say I’m unhappy here, but I also can’t say that I love BU, which I personally think is a problem. I feel that if I don’t love the school I’m going to, then I’m going to the wrong school.</p>

4

<p>Maybe Leigh, Northwestern, Vandy, Rice, Emory though these are all more selective than BU and so might be low reaches rather than matches (transfers are harder to gauge than freshman admissions both because there's less "data" to go on and because there are more admissions factors involved). How about some LACs?</p>

<p>As far as preparing for med school, while the undergrad school has some impact, grades are probably more important. If you haven't already, take a look at the sticky threads on the Pre-Med Topics forum, they have a lot of good information.</p>

<p>Also, there is a negative with transferring as a premed, which is that you'll be disrupting med related factors (research, LORs, ECs) that you've developed at BU and will have to start all over at your new college.</p>

5

<p>Thanks! I didn't even know there was a pre-med forum. It's very useful.</p>

6

<p>You're welcome! That forum is very helpful as there are three posters who are current med students (norcalguy, BigRedMed and BlueDevilMike) and give excellent advice.</p>