looking to possibly transfer out of davidson

Transfer Students
1

<p>hello, I was thinking about transferring out of davidson, where i am currently a freshman this year. not that i really hate being here, its just that i think i might fit in somewhere else a little better, and since i am receiving no financial aid, i think i could probably get some more bang for my buck</p>

<p>anyway, I had a 3.43 gpa this past semester (the avg. gpa is around a 3.0, and lower than that for freshman, i think, so i could be around top 10-15%).</p>

<p>I took Econ 101- B+
Anthropology 205- B+
International Politics 141- A-,
and Philosophy 160- passed (took P/F)</p>

<p>and I'm on the wrestling team at my college, planning on receiving a letter this year</p>

<p>i did alot better in college than in high school, compared to the rest of my respective classes at least, seeing as how i was probably below the 50% mark in terms of class rank. my high school credentials are as follows:</p>

<p>SAT: 2280/2400, (730 Verbal, 750 Math, 800 Writing)
GPA: 88/100 (no class rank)</p>

<p>AP Scholar With Distinction
National Merit Commended (i got THE cutoff score, by the way- heartbreaking, lol)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars include:</p>

<p>Wrestling (3X letterman, Conference champ, 2X prep state placer, state national team member in high school, NCAA Division I college varsity letterman I hope)</p>

<p>Scientific Research (3 summer working in research labs, chemistry, hematology, and pathology/genetics, also listed as a co-author on a paper published this year in a scientific journal)</p>

<p>Community Service (home repar, special olympics, research); i received a Presidential Gold Volunteer Service Award for over 300 hours of community service in a year</p>

<p>I was thinking about transferring to Duke, Stanford, Amherst, Williams, Chicago, or Penn or Cornell. Are these schools too much of a longshot? </p>

<ul>
<li>I really hope they take class rank in college into consideration. Do you think they will?</li>
</ul>

2

<p>Just to put things into perspective, all of those schools have very competitive applicants. Most recent data indicates that they had the following transfer acceptance rates:</p>

<p>Duke ~5%
Stanford ~4%
Amherst ~14%
Williams ~10%
Chicago ~21%
Penn ~14%
Cornell (CAS) ~8%</p>

<p>In other words, it's very tough at all of those. Davidson may be known for tough grading and colleges may compensate for that, but no one really knows to what extent. Either way, it sounds like you are a smart student but Davidson is just really tough. I would get out of there ASAP - i.e. apply to some matches as well that are on par with Davidson and that have a decent transfer rate. As of now, your high school grades and SATs (which are good) will be important: the longer you stay in college, the more your college GPA matters in the transfer process, and it doesn't sound like it's easy to get a 3.7+, which is what you'll usually want to be competitive at the schools you're interested in.</p>

3

<p>(1) Is financial aid an issue?
(2) How do you feel about Davidson?
(3) In what ways do you not fit?
(4) Are you a North Carolina resident?</p>

<p>That's the three questions that came to mind. The answers would better help us asist you. Duke, Stanford, Amherst, Williams, Chicago, Penn, and Cornell are very different. Each of them are different interms of the social and intellectual scene, the enviornment, level of apathy, curriculum, etc...</p>

<p>I guess the question is: What are you looking for with respect to transfering?</p>

4

<p>1) fin. aid isn't an issue and i'm on no scholarship</p>

<p>2) davidson is allright, but in some ways i feel limited in my interests outside of straight academics. most of the clubs and associations have a very small following, and even academically theres not alot of options if youre really interested in something such as international affairs, which i am pretty interested in-HOWEVER, the teachers here are really extremely top notch, and i really enjoy most of my classes. another issue is the workoad, i don't know why they have such a high workload if davidson isn't really reputed for being hard. i feel like i could achieve a much higher GPA with the study hours i'm putting in, but who knows</p>

<p>3) i haven't really found too many people i can relate to... my friends back home were completely different, and i feel like i would find ppl more like me somewhere else. the diversity here is kinda bad, since the student body is like 75%+ white. since i'm part asian, and my high school was pretty white, i was kinda looking forward to some more asian togetherness in college, but that didn't really work out. on the other hand, since i have no social life, i study pretty hard and it pays off.</p>

<p>4) I am not an NC resident.</p>

5

<p>ohsix:</p>

<p>If you choose to stay at Davidson, see if you can do an independent major/interdisciplinary concentration. As for the clubs, since the college is small, that can't be fixed--unfortunately. As for more people like you, few colleges are very diverse. I'd suggest looking at schools with larger Asian populations, although that should not prevent you from getting involved at Davidson (since it's good for your transfer chances, and a good topic to address when applying to a more diverse college).</p>

<p>It's too bad about not being a NC resident, as Duke is slightly easier to get into from in-state. Look at UNC-Chapel Hill, but be aware that if Davidson's workload is not heavy, then UNC's will be light in comparison.</p>

<p>Amherst is very small, although you can take classes at the other consortium schools. Williams is more isolated than Davidson. Duke and Penn are similar with respect to the social scene. Cornell can be a grind and is huge (not necessarily a bad thing). Stanford is a bit more PC than the others, while Chicago is intense and the social scene is a bit milder.</p>