Please Help!

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi, I'm currently a senior in one of the top private HS in my state. Stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.1
SATs: 670 CR/ 700 M/ 640 W (Essay: 10)
APs Taken: English Lit- 3
Calculus AB- 4
English Lang, Stat, BC, Econ- Took this year, haven't gotten
scores yet
ECs: Life Scout (Boy Scouts, one rank away from Eagle), Member of SADD (Co-Chair, 11th Grade), Academic Team, School Newspaper (Sports Editor, 12th Grade), Thespian Troupe Member, 100+ Hours at Local Hosptial, JV Track, JV Basketball, Varsity Basketball...</p>

<p>I'm currently going to Virginia Tech next year (Majoring in Econ, Pre-Med). I'm thinking about transferring to another school if I feel like I don't like Tech (it wasn't my first choice, but I'm still excited to go there!). I'm really new to the transfer admission process so I'm preparing for a transfer if I don't like Tech. I've separated the schools I'm considering to go to into different levels of selectivity: </p>

<p>Ridiclously Hard: Harvard, UPenn, Duke (First Choice), Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Middlebury</p>

<p>Extremly Hard: Vanderbilt (Second Choice), Davidson, U of Chicago, Emory</p>

<p>Hard: UVA/Wake Forest (Third Choice), UNC, William and Mary</p>

<p>Does anybody know how high of a GPA (assuming solid ECs in College) I would need to be competive for a Duke/Stanford type of a school? Vandy? UVA/Wake? I'm striving for to get as close to a 4.0 as possible, but I dont want to waste my time on an app at a school I feel marginal about (Middlebury for example) if I don't have a fighting chance. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I was kind of like you in that I went to high school and took all AP classes and ended up with a 3.3...not near good enough to get me into many of the schools you've listed. If you apply as a sophomore, they're still going to look at your high school record a lot which will be hard to get over. To fix that, I've decided to transfer my junior year (which really sucks being here 2 whole years!) but the admissions commmittee will usually only glance at my high school records compared to someone transferring as a sophomore. Whatever your choice is, good luck, but I had the same problem as you and ended up having to wait. :(</p>

3

<p>If I were you, I would wait until junior year to transfer. I was just accepted as a junior transfer to harvard and had a similar high school record. I went to a private high school school, had a 3.7 gpa (weighted) and similar sat scores. The longer you are at college, the less your hs/sat scores count. So my advice to you would be to take your freshman and sophomore years at virginia tech and really focus on your grades. If possible try to get a 4.0 (3.8-4.0) average. I studied a lot and really showed harvard that I am capable of producing A-quality work.</p>

<p>It's especially important that students like us have strong gpas in the colleges we wish to transfer out of; for, we are competing with kids who had straight A's in high school AND straight A's in college.</p>

<p>Your essays, your reasons for transferring, and your special talent--just one--coupled with a strong gpa are the most important ingredients for being a successful transfer. Don't worry about extra curriculars...try to take classes in which you can get A's and try to relaly focus on your grades. Just try to have 1 or 2 e.c.'s related to your area of concentration/your passion. Good luck!</p>