Lots of transferring questions

Applying to College
1

<p>If you did very mediocre in high school (I have a 3.0 GPA UW), got nearly all As your Senior year, and got 3.8/9+ your first year in college...</p>

<p>Is that enough to shoot for a top school? Obviously they have very high retention rates so there's borderline no chance, but some schools like Cornell do have a half decent chance of being able to transfer in (seems around 25%).</p>

<p>So my question is, what exactly are the factors that colleges look at for transfers? Obviously your GPA, but my concern is that -- and this is before I've gone to college so I'm talking a bit out of my ass -- if you have academic talent and truly apply yourself during college, getting a very high GPA for one year isn't all that totally difficult particularly if you aren't at an already amazing school. Or is is the opposite, where many kids that do extremely well in high school are LESS likely to get those grades in college and so you NEED to have more innate academic talent to harness in order to get that GPA? I'm also particularly confused because when you'd be applying to these schools you'd only really have 1 semester of college under your best -- is that really enough to make an impact? On one hand, it should, especially if you did excellently and you've shown a great upward trend. But on the other hand, it's still only one semester.</p>

<p>Also, what about the ECs? One year at a college really isn't going to be too helpful for you, right? You can join many things but you're obviously not going to be leading anything anytime soon. I'm not worried about my high school ECs -- they're very unique and different -- but how much would you say colleges look at high school ECs versus college ECs? Especially if you've only recently taken up sports. I'd want that to be factored in too but I wouldn't have 4+ years of one under my belt.</p>

<p>SAT (/ACT) scores. Most of us have taken them twice before we go off to college. If you take them again and do around ivy league numbers, are they going to weigh that more than your previous 2 tries, even though the amount of time passed between the test takings isn't really exponential?</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
So my question is, what exactly are the factors that colleges look at for transfers?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>As you pointed out, GPA matters. Though colleges will start to care less about your high school GPA after you've begun college, officers will still pay quite a bit of attention to your high school GPA. However, once you've completed your sophomore year, your high school GPA really shouldn't matter too much at all. Also keep in mind that college GPAs are different than those in high school. Still shoot for your best, but realize that it's simply a lot harder to pull that 4.0 in college than it was in high school. Additionally, as you pointed out, certain colleges are easier than others; some give out A's more frequently than do other institutions. </p>

<p>As long as you've continued in the activity for which you showed interest in high school, your 'meager' extracurricular record in college should, for the most part, be overlooked. </p>

<p>Yes, colleges will use your best scores. Admissions officers are not evil people looking for ways they can throw away applications.</p>

3

<p>I'm curious, though, if you're looking to transfer after one year, I would assume colleges would look at your senior year of high school, AND your first semester of college -- and that with a mediocre senior year of high school but a great first semester of college isn't going to erase those high school years, correct?</p>

4

<p>What about SAT scores- do the count when you transfer out of a college after freshman year?</p>