I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I have searched the forums and found nothing that really answers my question.
My daughter’s guidance counselor, who is doing a fantastic job under a heavy work load, suggested that in the event she failed to get into any of the schools she really hopes to she should enroll at a local, still very good, college for a year and then transfer. It sounds logical enough but what I don’t understand is why a college that rejected you once would offer you a place a year later after you have been studying at a supposedly less rigorous school?
She has a 1470 SAT, a 33 ACT and has taken every AP class her school has offered. Extracurricular activities include a paid internship doing research at a prominent Mid Atlantic University, tutoring refugee children, theater, school paper, mock trial team,all the usual stuff that makes a parent think their child would be a good fit for their school of choice if they only had the space to take all suitable applicants.
She hopes to stay in the Mid Atlantic, North East region so as you can imagine the colleges on her list, for most, have pretty low acceptance rates.
Safety schools have been hard to find as the major she hopes to take is offered at relatively few colleges.
– I agree with you and don’t like the guidance counselor’s idea. Barring any tremendous accomplishments during the year, it would be hard to get into a college as a transfer that one did not get into the year before. It can happen but it certainly cannot be counted on.
– If you need aid, it is very difficult to get merit aid as a transfer student.
–It is not so easy to be a transfer student as many friendships are formed during freshman year. And academically the school would be new to your D while her peers would have been there a year. There are definitely cases when it is worthwhile to transfer, but recognize that it is not always an easy transition.
–In general I think it is a terrible idea to start one college with the intent of transferring out. This will stand in the way of your D making meaningful friendships, developing relationships with professors, and getting involved on campus. Then if the transfer doesn’t work out she will feel really stuck.
– Your D has done very well and should have many fine choices. I don’t know what her major is but I’d work hard to find solid match/safety schools (so a transfer would be optional, not required). Some colleges allow students to create their own major – you didn’t say what she wants to study so I don’t know if that might be an option for your D.
It sounds like he feels she doesn’t have a few good safety schools. I agree that going somewhere with the intent of transferring is not the best plan but having a list of schools that is top heavy is not a good plan either. However, relying only on schools that just based on numbers have to turn away qualified applicants could is not a good plan either.
It is not too late to get a safety school - one that she’d like to go to, you can afford, and she will be accepted. Is that your state flagship? Is it an LAC that isn’t in the top 20? Is it a school that isn’t in NE or Atlantic coast?
I really encouraged my kids to pick a school and NOT plan on transferring. Transferring is an option and my kids knew that they might have to for financial reasons (or take some time off), but they both intended to stay at their chosen schools (and have).
Do you really want to go through all the applying again next year?
Instead of planning to transfer, which may not work out and has many drawbacks as noted by happy1, your daughter should be looking for ‘match’ schools that have similar characteristics to what she likes in her favorite schools, but are easier to get into.
Her stats are good so there should be a lot of options available to her. Go through a guidebook like Fiske or Princeton Review or Ultimate Guide or Insider’s Guide, for colleges that have similar appeal but easier admission, then check these colleges’ websites for her major. Or start from the major in a guidebook that lists best places to study that major, and then read up on the other characteristics to see what the school is like. You can also share her prospective major and the schools she likes on this forum and ask people to suggest similar match and safety schools.
IMO, one should never start out at a college planning to transfer (unless someone needs to start at a community college for some personal reason— which your daughter does not). It is the wrong attitude. You should go in thinking that you will take advantage of every opportunity to challenge and stimulate your mind academically and to become connected to the school community socially and through extracurriculars.
Is it something that might be a subarea of another major at some schools (e.g. environmental engineering) or which can be emulated with another major and electives (e.g. neuroscience or computer game design)?
She will be the first in our family to attend college so the whole process is new to me. Transferring is not the plan, it was something that came up in a conversation. You often hear stories of students who get accepted to every school they applied to so, by my logic, there have to be some unfortunate students who get rejected at every school they apply to. What then?
Money is an issue.Twin sisters in high school. Apparently, we are solidly middle class which seems to mean we are working class and just about getting by. For various reasons, the logistics of going to college further afield are not really workable.
We have spent a lot of time visiting colleges and researching online. The Fiske guide is falling apart. We have compiled a list of Reach, Possibles (Target or Likely) and Safeties.
It is not a scenario I expect to have to deal with rather it was something I couldn’t see the feasibility of.
She will be the first in our family to attend college so the whole process is new to me. Transferring is not the plan, it was something that came up in a conversation. You often hear stories of students who get accepted to every school they applied to so, by my logic, there have to be some unfortunate students who get rejected at every school they apply to. What then?
Money is an issue.Twin sisters in high school. Apparently, we are solidly middle class which seems to mean we are working class and just about getting by. For various reasons, the logistics of going to college further afield are not really workable.
We have spent a lot of time visiting colleges and researching online. The Fiske guide is falling apart. We have compiled a list of Reach, Possibles (Target or Likely) and Safeties.
It is not a scenario I expect to have to deal with rather it was something I couldn’t see the feasibility of.
Reasons an institution that reject a student as a freshman applicant might accept them as a transfer student:
-they showed, through their grades and letters of rec, they are capable of success in college. Many students at the university where I work transfer from the local CC, and many of them were denied as freshman.
Universities love transfer students, think about it, you admit students as freshman, they don't all continue on to complete their degree at your institution. Now you have seats to fill in the upper level, how do you do that? Transfer students!!
-I know of a student that was denied at the institution where I work. She spent her first year at a near by school then applied again in the spring. She was accepted and transferred here as a sophomore.
Yes it is true that some students don’t get admitted anywhere. However those are students who didn’t find at least one rock-solid dead-on safety that they could definitely afford, where they were flat-out guaranteed admissions for their grades and test scores, that offered their probable major, and that they would be happy to attend. For many students the safety plan does end up being two years commuting to the community college and then an automatic transfer to an in-state U. In didn’t-get-in-anywhere situations, often the Plan B ends becoming a gap year to work and re-think the application list.
Provided your daughters have real safeties on their list, everything else is gravy.
If she has a safety where she is assured both admission and affordability, and it is a school that has her intended major and is otherwise one that she likes, wouldn’t that avoid the possibility of being shut out?
Possible reasons for being shut out:
a. Not having any admission safeties.
b. Assuming a college is an admission safety, but it considers “level of applicant’s interest” and tends to reject or waitlist “overqualified” applicants whom it assumes will not attend.
c. Not taking affordability into account when designating colleges as “safeties”.
d. Not actually liking the “safety”, or it does not have the desired academics.
I agree that other then the scenario of going to a CC for financial or personal reasons and then transferring to state flagship, entering college with the intention of transferring doesn’t make sense.
The better strategy is to have some good match and safety schools in the mix and see what happens come April. If there are truly no good options, a gap year might be a better option than enrolling in a local college and hoping to transfer out.
Respectfully, I think we’re getting a bit off track here.
This is not the game plan, it was a somewhat hypothetical question arising from the likelihood that someone might find them self in such a position.
Some very insightful responses and thank you for that.
No, I think it’s not a good idea. Why start at a school you mean to leave, unless it is a 2 year school and everyone graduates and goes on? You CAN do that if you have no other choice but IMO it’s best to find a school that’s a good fit and a pretty sure admit and stay for four years. For social, financial and academic reasons.