<p>Hi. I'm thinking of transferring to an ivy from a third tier college.
I just finished my freshman year at Temple University in Philadelphia. I am thinking about transferring after my sophomore year.</p>
<p>High school GPA: Not so good. 2.8 with all honors and APs. Ouch.
Rank: top 35%
SAT I: 710m, 680w, 640v (not so good either)</p>
<p>College GPA: 4.0
Very good ECs, recomendations, and essay
My major is physics. </p>
<p>I mainly want to transfer to Upenn. Do you think I can make it? </p>
<p>Some other colleges I am considering are:
Carnegie Mellon University
Johns Hopkins University
Cornell University
Boston University
MIT
Caltech</p>
<p>If I keep up my GPA, do I have a shot at any of these universities? Namely Upenn? And if I had applied after my freshman year, would I have gotten in anywhere? </p>
<p>Well after your sophmore year and your application as a junior transfer, your hs credentials would become irrelevant (well it may matter to ivies but not to CMU or BU). From a cursory glance at your current credentials, I'd say yes you have a great shot; especially at Boston U and CMU. Good luck!</p>
<p>YJF - Check individually for each school, but in general schools will no longer request your HS record if you are applying for junior standing. Some may not request your SATs either, so you may be able to choose whether or not to include them. Your "lopsided" SATs will be ok, because you are science-focused, so the lower verbal will be ok.</p>
<p>My main qx to you is whether you will be content to stay at Temple if you are not accepted to any of the schools on your list. I encourage you to apply to them (if you can afford all the app fees and the time for a good job on all of the essays), but they are reach-y to extremely reach-y (possible exception is BU). If you want to transfer out of Temple <em>for sure</em>, then you need some safer schools (based on # and % of transfers they take).</p>
<p>Who knows if you would have gotten in for soph standing? But your chances are better once your hs record is off the table. Also, be sure to cultivate strong relationships with 2 professors - if you haven't already. Most of those schools will want 2 prof recs and you want them to be stellar.</p>
<p>Good luck. You have done very well and I wish you well. When the time comes, I would be happy to review essays if you want that.</p>
<p>Well that's the case for everyone despite stellar credentials. The ivies are reaches for everyone so don't feel inferior; nonetheless, your credentials tell me to tell you to apply to the ivies. Give it a shot.</p>
<p>I dunno I kind of think your lower high school grades transition to higher college grades would help a bit, but they can also hurt since you're applying for sophomore year. Get those test scores up and I think you'll have a shot.</p>