Please Chance me: Dartmouth transfer to Pomona

Transfer Students
1

<p>My story: I am a freshman student at Dartmouth and I am terribly unhappy. The Greek system is horrible, being a minority student on campus is difficult, even being a woman on campus is difficult because of the domination of athletics and fraternities. I have faced harrassment at school (notes ripped out of my notebooks, stuff destroyed, feminine napkins stuck to my door) Last year, I was accepted to Dartmouth, Pomona, waitlisted at Yale, etc. And I chose Dartmouth. Now I want to transfer to Pomona. It is the only college that really clicked with me, where I felt like I belonged, but I chose Dartmouth for the prestige and because everyone I talked to thought Dartmouth was for sure the way to go. My grades were okay in the fall, (A-, B+, B), bad in the winter because I was clinically depressed (A-, B-, C+), and I expect that they'll be good this spring (straight A-'s). These are my stats:</p>

<p>HS
Latina female, first generation college student, low income
4.5 weighted GPA
4.0 unweighted GPA
33 ACT
800 on Spanish and US History SAT II's
5's on 3 AP tests
active in Mock Trial, Academic decathlon, School speech team (did 3 years of speech team, 1 year of mock trial and aca deca) won awards
did theatre production, was student representative to the school board, basically great extra curriculars
Decisions: accepted to UCLA, rejected from harvard, waitlisted at yale, accepted to dartmouth, accepted to pomona</p>

<p>College:
1st term: 3.33 2nd term: 2.89 (had depression) 3rd term: expected 3.66
took part in student activism, got undergraduate award for leadership in the latino community, was selected for competitive alternative spring break trip, have scholarship that covers all of my expenses and work-study requirements, lots of extra curriculars, my professors love me and would write glowing recommendations</p>

<p>Basically what I'm worried about is the low acceptance rate for transfer students and about my second term gpa (we have trimesters). I am terrified of going through the ardous transfer process, get my hopes up, and stay in this hellhole. Pomona is really the only college I'm considering, although I'm considering Claremont McKenna as well.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading.</p>

2

<p>I’d consider a few othres too if you don’t want to stay a second year. With how competitive top collge transfer is, they will be looking for stellar college grades and someone who made a real contribution on campus, which I’m guessing the depression may have hindered.</p>

3

<p>Write awesome essays about how you feel you’d fit in better at Pomona and be very specific about “why Pomona?” and I think you have a great shot. Make sure to apply to some safeties, as stated above, and hopefully you will be a lot happier this time next year.</p>

4

<p>I would think your chances are very good. My son was initially accepted at Yale, went elsewhere and the transferred there. He was told that his transfer was made easier by his initial admission and that what he needed to do was to explain why he wanted to attend Yale. Your reasons for transferring seem compelling and also explain your drop in grades. I think too Pomona would be happy to have someone who really wants to attend Pomona over Dartmouth and can do the work as you have shown you can do If nothing else it makes them feel good about themselves.</p>