need words from the wise...

<p>Dear parents:</p>

<p>I am looking to transfer to either Cornell, emory, NYU or UNC Chapel Hill. I am 19 and currenly a sophemore are Kennesaw State Univercity out side of ATL. </p>

<p>My highschool carrer was rather disasterous..3.3 and SAT1080 (deaths in family) but will transfering as a junior with about 60 credits....taking all senior level classes in philosophy this year and honors student</p>

<p>I now have a 3.63 (by end of coming semester a 3.72)
Great EC ( translating a book from russian to english..internationally ranked model UN, ethics bowl,ect.)
Great rec's...</p>

<p>what can i do at this point to strengthen my chances? in what tone should i write my essays? Explaining to them why if failed in highschool or taking a creative approach?? what do u think they look for? </p>

<p>also, what do they look for on the "why do u want to transfer" question?</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p>I have looked at a number of Transfer Admission websites recently, and it is my impression that the hs record is not a factor in most admissions decisions once a student has 2 or more years of college. I recommend you check this at each school which interests you. Unless a given school's Admissions website says differently, I think you can expect them to focus on your college credentials (which are strong) and not worry re your hs stats.</p>

<p>I don't know, though, if you are competitive for the very selective schools you have listed, or not. They are difficult to get into for most anyone. How did you select them? If you are planning to transfer, then I think you need a full complement of reach/match/safety schools. This is how we are looking at transfer possibilities for DS. Have you looked at your list in these terms?</p>

<p>I recommend against using the essay to apologize for or explain your hs record. Your essay is the opportunity for you to show your strongest self. In terms of waht they look for, you must respond to the specific prompts for each school. At least one on your list does not use the CommonApp, so you need to tailor the essays to that school. An essay might take a "creative writing" turn, for at least part of the essay. </p>

<p>The overall approach I recommend is to focus on the future school - why it is the right place for you, based on its academic offerings and other characteristics, what you hope to accomplish there that you cannot do as well where you are. This will help in the "why transfer" also.</p>

<p>Giving us more info on why you want to transfer and how you selected your list of possible schools will enable us to help you more.</p>

<p>Thanks for your response....as for the reason to applying, they all offer strong programs in what i wish to study...philosophy and political theory....</p>

<p>Emory is a great school and is quite close to home....
UNC is, I think, quite possible as a transfer student and also offers, like emory, a great program.</p>

<p>Cornell like NYU are great in my field of study, but are a reach...NYU in particular has excellent professors in Political theory.</p>

<p>Most of the prompts are flexible and nearly the same...i could use the same "general" essay for all schools, and tailor the "why us" essay to them seporatly...</p>

<p>your right about the subject, and the notion of creativity....but it seems like there are only so many things to write about the why" question, and everyone else will be writing it....thats why i would like to know if there is anything else, at this point, to make me stand out</p>

<p>Cornell-reach
NYU-reach
Emory-possible but reaching
UNC-somewhat confident</p>

<p>what do u think?</p>

<p>Yes, I know that feeling. It seems like it is often so obvious - "well respected strong program in the field blah-blah." I can tell you that I reviewed an essay from a successful transfer candidate to Harvard last year. He had really dug deep to find the specific research interests of some of the faculty, an unusual specialized EC etc. etc. If you can ferret out such things, that will strengthen your "why us" portion. The why transfer can certainly be about the level of challenge you want and have now proven yourself capable of, the level of intellectual discourse at the transfer school vs. where you are, course offerings your school doesn't have, etc. I think you can stand out by making the intro portion or ending of your essay a little more on the creative side. Or by using the opportunity to submit an extra essay where possible. Or by the type of in-depth knowledge shown by the Harvard applicant I mentioned.</p>

<p>Search for digmedia's thread on writing a good essay and see if you can adapt that approach to your transfer essay.</p>

<p>atlart-
While I agree in general with jmmom, schools like Cornell and NYU aren't likely to have a lot of familiarity with KSU, other than perhaps when Newt Gingrich taught a history class there. It might not be a bad idea to put a sentence or two into your essay saying perhaps that because of the tragedies in your family in the last few yrs of HS you chose to attend college close to home to be there for and with your family. Perhaps that then lets you springboard into a discussion about how these situations resolved, you were able to focus on school, and now you feel able to take care of yourself, rather than the remaining family members. This can lead to the topic of why you want to transfer.</p>

<p>jm mom, your great!</p>

<p>im nearly finished with my essay.....the one im sending to all school...it like a page in length...i hope i could send it to u?</p>

<p>Thank you jym and my apologies to OP for skimming over the family situations which impacted your hs studies. I do think it is important to strike just the right note - in the way jym outlines, rather than an apologia for hs stats. I know that I am always willing to review essays, as are some other parents on the forum, if you would like to PM me or post and ask who else might be willing to review.</p>

<p>I don't know enough to guess at chances. My advice would be to have at least one "pretty confident" verging on sure bet. Unless staying at your current school would serve that purpose for you. If staying there would be fine, albeit not as exciting as your transfer possibles, then having them be mostly reach-y is fine. (DS' situation is different as Tulane is discontinuing his major; so he really must have safeties and safe matches unless he choose to change major instead. This need might not apply to you).</p>

<p>thanks jmmom-
Where is your s. hoping to transfer to from Tulane? That is so unfortunate that they're needing to shut down departments. It's a double tragedy for students like your s. who now really have no choice but to transfer from a school they wanted to attend and would probably have returned to after the school recovers. Such a shame...</p>

<p>your quite right jym with your advice......i thank you! but my appoach to the essay i a bit differnet, and i dont want to seem like that was the only reason i went there (you saw and as will they my HS stats). would u recommend enclosing an extra, and short explanation of this?</p>

<p>Open question as to where, jym. We're in the brainstorming/investigating phase now. Most apps are due in March. Even an open question as to "whether", as he has really increased his interest in Physics. Loving Physics and Math led him to Engineering, and further loving Physics at Bates has opened the question of staying with it. He's off to Tulane for this term; certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, anyway. After that, it's one step at a time.</p>

<p>i sent it PM jm mom...thank you</p>

<p>My s. is loving his double major in Physics and Mech E. at Rice. Let me know if you have any q's. He looked at a lot of the NE schools, and fell in love with Rice. </p>

<p>And sorry to the OP for hijacking the thread.
To answer the OP's question, I don't really know how to advise you about adding a sentence or two about your HS experience as I don't know the topic of your essay. If you can find a way to weave it into your topic without it sounding too stilted, it would be helpful in trying to go from a third (I think) to first tier school. I wouldn't stick it in as an unrelated issue. It'd probably look weird. Review your essay and see if there's a way to fit it in somewhere.</p>