<p>I posted this in the transfer section but I didn't get many replies so I'm reposting it here.</p>
<p>I'm a freshman at Northwestern and I'm thinking about transferring. I'm a pre-med student here but I'm not sure about a major. I just have been dissatisfied with the classes and the social scene and I think I would be happy at another school. It's also tough because I live about an hour away and it doesn't feel like I'm far enough away to get the true college experience.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was just looking for chances at Pomona, Amherst, Dartmouth, Yale, and maybe Duke.</p>
<p>My gpa here is 3.925 and I made the Dean's list last quarter. I had a 33 ACT and I was ranked 2/934 kids in my public high school. I took 12 AP's in high school and got 5's and 4's on all of them. I was a national merit commended student, ap national scholar, and an illinois state scholar.</p>
<p>My main ec's were national honor society (secretary) and president's council. I also did some small stuff like spanish club and some activities with fbla. I also registered voters and campaigned for a referendum during my senior year.</p>
<p>I also worked as a lifeguard, swim instructor, and election judge.</p>
<p>Thanks for any input. And if anybody has questions or is considering NU, feel free to ask me. Its really a good school, just not right for everyone.</p>
<p>It would be helpful to know what you don't like about the classes and about the social scene. Also, to what other colleges did you apply last year?</p>
<p>Your record sounds rock solid and transfer likelihood seems very very high to me. I must say, 12 AP's???? Is that humanly possible? With those EC's? Are you allergic to kryptonite?</p>
<p>I'm looking into Northwestern, so I will PM you :)</p>
<p>I feel the same way about college. The parents have been pressuring about me going to Rice if accepted next year, but it is 5 minute away from my house. I definately would not enjoy that.</p>
<p>Pomona: Match
Amherst: Match-Semi Reach
Dartmouth: Match
Duke: Match
Yale: Semi-Reach (But a good friend transferred from NU to Yale last year with sim stats easily).</p>
<p>Most of the schools you are interested in, perhaps with the exception of Duke, do not except transfer students in any appreciable number. Most spots are reserved for special and unusual cases such as the exceptional kid from a community college or a state university, an URM or a student needing to move closer to home for personal issues. </p>
<p>I think you'll have a tough time getting real attention at these places, irrespective of your grades at Northwestern. Best to stick it out, work through your issues and make an accomodation. </p>
<p>Right now, I think you run the risk of coming across as a malcontent. Most adcoms at the top schools see the college transition process as an important part of growing up and do not look well to knee-jerk reactions of students wanting to transfer.</p>
<p>I disagree. A 3.9 from Northwestern will be welcome anywhere, except Princeton, with valid reasons for transferring. Northwestern's academic reputation is superb. Dartmouth, Amherst and Duke all offer great alternatives. A proposal to permit cross study at Dartmouth, Stanford and Chicago has been made by a student senator at Northwestern University. Check with the academic committee.</p>
<p>I think you misunderstood my point, which is this. Most spots reserved for transfers at top schools are for special situations, not for the "I am unhappy at this elite university and so I want to transfers to yours" situations. Northwestern's reputation has little to do with the issue at hand.</p>
<p>Here are the most recent transfer admission numbers at the school the OP mentions: </p>
<p>• Amherst -- 18 acceptances out of 276 applicants (6.5%)</p>
<p>• Pomona -- 19 acceptances out of 181 applicants (10.4%)</p>
<p>• Yale -- 30 acceptances out of 681 applicants (4.4%)</p>
<p>• Dartmouth -- 41 acceptances out of 497 applicants (8.2%)</p>
<p>In addition, a few of these schools including Dartmouth has been overenrolled the last couple of years. Transfer rates are, at best, half those of regular admission. </p>
<p>OP -- if you want to transfer to these schools, I suggest you have a better reason than "I don't like the classes and the social life here at Northwestern."</p>
<p>Funny, someone in another thread was just saying that we never see people on CC wanting to transfer out of top privates like NU.</p>
<p>I'd say you have a good shot, given that you're coming from a rigorous school, your GPA is high, your high school stats were great, and your ECs are good, too.</p>
<p>BalletGirl: I agree with you that transfer spots are rare at these elite schools. However, I also think that wanting to get further away from home and wishing to experience a different social culture are legitimate transfer reasons. Some schools may not even have one transfer spot available. Because Northwestern, Stanford and Dartmouth are on similiar schedules, students can apply to study during the summer at one of these other schools. The OP may wish to consider this, or to contact the student senator at NU proposing an "exchange" during the normal school year for one to three or four trimesters/quarters. These are three schools, along with Chicago, that belong together due to similiar academic standards and a variety of locations-- East Coast, West Coast and Mid-West (Chicago).</p>
<p>
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Most of the schools you are interested in, perhaps with the exception of Duke, do not except transfer students in any appreciable number.
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Duke has overenrolled in recent years. I don't have the most recent stats, but two years ago Duke admitted only 16 transfers out of ~400 applicants. </p>
<p>Duke is so crunched for space that many juniors will be allowed to live off campus. Duke normally requires three years on campus.</p>
<p>You wan to transfer after one quarter? Northwestern has a very strong Greek system (but it doesn't really have to interfere), how would going to place like Dartmouth change things? How is it that being close to home make it feel like you're not having a true college experience? I was just hoping you would elaborate on your circumstances.</p>