Looking for transfer advice...

<p>Hey all, I'm about to enter my final semester at a Community College and am curious to hear your opinions as to how competitive I may be as a transfer student.
I am 22 y/o and I served in the military after graduating HS. I switched to the National Guard and got a job as a professional firefighter in a major city. I worked for the Fire Dept. for 2 years and am still employed as I attend college. </p>

<p>As far as accolades are concerned I have:
From the military I received top awards for valor, leadership and Meritorious Service. In addition, I was distinguished graduate of my MOS school, and received the top PT award.</p>

<p>In college I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa, President of our Psi Beta chapter(psych. honor soc.), Vice-President of psych. Club, and member of the catholic club.</p>

<p>My stats are...
GPA. 3.9 @ 57 credits
SAT: 1800 (610, 600, 590...Essay 12)
and amazing recommendations</p>

<p>I do appreciate your comments, and direction. I don't have much knowledge of the college transfer app. process, so any help you can send my way I will gladly take. Thank you!</p>

<p>How's your financial situation? What types of schools are you interested in? Willing to consider privates or looking solely at state schools? What's your prospective major? Are you willing to relocate to another setting for the remainder of your education? Are you planning on graduate or professional school?</p>

<p>With the answer to some of these, I can make some helpful recommendations.</p>

<p>Financially I am good. I am interested in going to a large University to study biology/psychology. I am absolutely open to all schools and more than willing to relocate.
The schools that I have been looking into thus far are:
Brown, NYU, Tulane, BC, BU, UMiami, and George Washington.
I am shooting for as high as I can reach, rankings wise.</p>

<p>in that case apply to yale and harvard too- One of the very few students from collegeboard who got into yale was a 'non-traditional' student.</p>

<p>Good to hear. It sounds like you have some ideas on schools already, so I'll leave it to others to recommend more. As for admission, I think you are looking great everywhere with the exception of your test scores. If you have the time, I would recommend retaking and trying to get over 2000 for the top schools on your list. As a student who has recently transferred from a community college, my best advice is that you need to prove your GPA and academic ability. As all CCs are not created equal, a strong test score can quell any doubts the adcom may have.</p>

<p>Go through non-traditional programs. Brown has the Resumed Undergraduate Education Program and Harvard has the Extension School. I would not bother much with Yale since they're in the middle of reorganizing the Eli Whitney program and I think they only accepted two people last year.</p>

<p>Tulane is almost obnoxiously recruiting Phi Theta Kappans -- I'm so tired of the mail! -- and I think BU gives scholarships. I know Miami does.</p>

<p>Which courses have you taken? Any developmental? Mostly 100-level?</p>

<p>Strong Liberal Arts courses (4 honors courses) with a concentration in Psychology.</p>

<p>Oh, good. Not enough people take advantage of honors courses (I do!).</p>

<p>How old are your SAT scores? They won't matter at some colleges, but for others, they can still be a deal-breaker for transfers.</p>

<p>You are very similar to me and I got rejected by 7 elites and accepted to 1 (Brown). I am older than you by a couple of years and did not apply as a Non-Trad or RUE at Brown. Just regular transfer.</p>

<p>SAT is current as of May, and I am awaiting my ACT results.</p>

<p>Two friends got into Brown through RUE and there were a lot of benefits to applying that way, like specialized interviews with department heads (at least for my friend majoring in economics) and the SAT requirement waived. They also got preferential off-campus housing that's going to cost them a whopping $1,000 total for their entire experience there. They have nothing bad to say about it. And, unlike some of the other programs, there's no "degree with an asterisk" knock against RUE. At least look into it.</p>

<p>Awesome! Thanks for the great information. How do I compare at the other schools... BC, BU, UM...</p>

<p>Tulane shouldn't be a problem for you. I have several friends in Phi Theta Kappa (none from my chapter, though) who have been accepted there with less attractive records than yours. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you want to look at it.</p>

<p>The Catholic Club membership as well as your military record (which, in particular, accents leadership skills) might help you with BC. I believe their transfer admit rate is under 10%.</p>

<p>BU does five half-tuition scholarships a year for Phi Theta Kappans, so clearly they have interest in community college students with strong records. A mediocre student from my college was accepted there for fall 2006 (no scholarship), though ended up going somewhere else. Like Miami, they are far more likely to take you if you plan on being a full-time student.</p>

<p>Have you done two science labs, calc or higher, upper-level English, or anything else that would help?</p>

<p>Yes, I have done 2 science labs, and upper level English, as well as intermed. Spanish.</p>

<p>If you're in CA, a UC would be your best bet. They don't look at SATs, which are your biggest issue in my opinion. Coming from a cc with much lower than average SATs will make a school like Brown very tough yet Cal and UCLA are likely if you're in state.</p>

<p>tulanes becoming increasingly competitive to get into as a transfer and freshman...they have a super high retention rate now after hurricane katrina and i got rejected with a 3.8 gpa as a transfer from the university of georgia...i asked the admissions committe what i needed to work on and they said that i was considered an average applicant and to either apply in the winter or next year, but to have some back up schools just in case because they are really upping their standards now that they have recovered from hurricane katrina, and space is very limited because so many students are applying and staying there... their average admitted transfer gpa was a 3.67 which is super high, and their average incoming freshman's act was a 31.8 from what i was told by the adcom's...i somehow got into notre dame and wake forest though and will be attending notre dame this fall..my advice is to apply to as many schools as possible that are top caliber because u may get denied from some and think that u should aim lower, when in reality some higher ranked schools may accept u</p>

<p>Also, what do you mean that money is good? Will your benefits pay for any college? Transfer grants are hard to come by.</p>

<p>At the very best schools, most of which meet 100% of need, transfer grants are typical for the middle-class accepted student.</p>

<p>Is there any other Universities that you all believe I should look into given my academic and experience make-up?
Also, do I appear to be a strong candidate?</p>

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do I appear to be a strong candidate?

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<p>As of now, I think you're average for College Confidential, which is a pretty good thing. You have a strong GPA, a great story and ECs, and relatively weak test scores.</p>