<p>I'm a sophomore at Central Michigan University (not a great school, but not a bad one for those who don't know it), and my friend started me thinking about transferring to another Michigan college. I talked to my parents and they said I should try and "The worst thing that could happen is you get in and have to make a decision." I'm not looking for a huge difference in tuition so I want to stay public, and that leaves Michigan State or Michigan. I'm not as interested in MSU. Some background:</p>
<p>-My HS GPA was a 3.3
-ACT was a 27
-College freshmen GPA was 3.03 but the thing is I did pretty bad first semester and turned around second semester (over a full grade point).
-I'm set to finish with a 3.8 this semester and I'm confident I could finish with something similar in spring
-I'm an eagle scout, been on three mission trips with church (one abroad), had an internship with a law firm this past summer, football captain for a year in high school, I'm in state, mom is faculty at Michigan (don't know if this matters), lifelong football fan (know this doesn't matter but had to add)
-History major so I would be applying to LSA</p>
<p>My question is when should I apply to Michigan? Do I apply after this semester when I will have roughly a 3.3 for next fall? Or do I wait to get that up another tenth of a grade point or two after this spring semester? If I wait I will have to apply for Winter or Fall '11.</p>
<p>It's not life-or-death important to me if I get in, but I would really like to. I know my GPA isn't up there, but if it wasn't for that first semester I would be in a much better position.</p>
<p>I can't think of any other questions now, but I'm sure I will have more.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>I would apply whenever you’ll have the highest gpa. I had the choice between applying with a 3.2 in the Fall and a 3.5 in January, I applied in January with the 3.5 at the advice of admissions and got in. I don’t know about fall vs winter semester admissions, sometimes winter admissions are more selective because they have fewer spots but I don’t know how it is at Michigan, I would guess it’s the same but you’ll have to look into it. </p>
<p>The average gpa of an admitted lsa transfer is a 3.6, fyi. So you’re on the lower end of the range but might be able to get in still. Bear in mind you can’t transfer more than 60 or so credits, and the more credits you have the less weight goes on high school and ACT performance. </p>
<p>Why do you want to transfer? Transferring can be a major pain and it is usually much harder to adjust at a new school, academically and socially, as a transfer rather than as a freshman. There are circumstances that make transferring the ideal option, but it’s nothing to put yourself through if you are happy enough at Central.</p>
<p>I don’t feel the need to transfer, but the thought of going to Michigan over CMU is appealing to say the least. I like CMU, but I think having a degree from Michigan would open more opportunities for me in terms of internships, jobs, and law schools (I probably should have mentioned that I’m pre-law). Not to mention I would get a better education, it’s closer to home, I like Ann Arbor a lot, I have friends there, and it’s big ten football (heh not a deciding factor but it’s still awesome).</p>
<p>Where did you find that the average GPA LSA transfer is 3.6? I’m not questioning your info, I would just like to see if there are similar stats.</p>
<p>So, let’s say I applied right after this coming spring semester. I would have somewhere between a 3.4 and a 3.5. Which semester would I be eligible to apply for? Doesn’t applying for fall semester start at the end of summer?</p>
<p>Oh and I forget to mention that after this semester I’ll have completed 47 credits. I already looked into their equivalents at Michigan, and 33 will transfer, so I’m not worried about approaching the 60 credit cut-off.</p>
<p>The average GPA for admitted LSA transfers is really only a 3.6? I felt like everyone at my transfer orientation had a 3.85-4.0 if they transferred from a CC, Eastern, UM-Dearborn, Western, MSU, or other in-state schools. The only people that I encountered that got in with 3.4-3.6’s were the few transfers from Penn and NYU. Maybe, last year was a tough year for transfer admissions, but alot of my friends with 3.5’s from schools in-state didn’t get in that tried to transfer. Then again, there’s like 9 or 10 transfer orientations so I only met about 1/10 of the people who were admitted.</p>
<p>I THINK I was told the stat by admissions themselves, that I could get in with a 3.0 but admissions is competitive and the average is more a 3.6. I am looking to see if I can find it in print anywhere, I could have sworn I came across it somewhere recently. I’ll find it and get back to you shortly. </p>
<p>My transfer experience has been bittersweet. On the one hand, had I not transferred I could have never gone to a school like UM (not to mention that I had no choice coming from a CC). On the other hand, it has been a CONSTANT, stressful, painful battle to get my credits to go the way they are supposed to (having been told they would all transfer and meet certain requirements), to fit in all the requirements I’m missing in two years (many cannot be taken out of residence) and still have room for what actually interests me, and to not feel completely left out of the Michigan community-- that last bit being the most pervasive problem and the most difficult to cope with. All sorts of measures are taken to make sure freshmen make the transition and feel comfortable, but for the most part you are just thrown in and expected to figure it all out, and everyone will assume you already know what you’re doing. You have to be really self motivated and prepared to branch out in ways you didn’t have to at CMU to meet people you fit in with and to figure out how things work at the school, and it may take more time than it did at CMU as well-- meaning you could very well be midway through junior year or already a senior before you find your groove. Like really, I talk to people in classes, joined clubs, the whole shebang-- doing great in my classes but after a semester still have no regular friends. I still talk to a few kids from orientation and it seems most people are in the same boat, a few are doing okay socially but were really not prepared for the academics here. </p>
<p>Now, as a disclaimer here, some people transfer and everything goes fine-- especially students who were really unhappy at their original school. It does happen. I think most people are probably somewhere in between. I just want you to realize what you may be walking into. It’s not easy to be a transfer student. I wish I could have stayed at the same school all four years, and had I gotten to go to central or northern out of high school as planned I would have stayed there.</p>
<p>Well if it isn’t Kiel himself…if you don’t recognize my username (it’s what i use for aim), type my username into facebook and you’ll know who i am.</p>
<p>Michigan doesn’t really look at your high school grades, and if they do, they will primarily only look at your senior year grades. All that really matters is your college GPA and the number of credits you will have completed by the time you matriculate into U of M. My advice: wait untill your fall grades have come in and then apply. Honestly, if you 4.0 i can almost guarantee you will get admitted. I 4.0’d my two summer math classes and that pretty much sealed the deal. </p>
<p>Apply for the Spring/Summer 2010 term. If that doesn’t work, update your application for fall 2010. If that doesn’t work, update your application for winter 2011.</p>
<p>You know I went through alot of **** to get into this school so i know the ins and outs of transferring. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in person.</p>
<p>kmart, CMU is a good university, so don’t feel obligated to transfer. That said, if you like the thought of attending Michigan, you certainly are in a good position to do so. I agree with TwistedxKiss; if your first semester was less than stellar but are now pulling 3.8 GPAs, wait another semester and apply to transfer in the fall of 2010.</p>
<p>I talked to admissions and the person I talked to said that for 2009 for community colleges (not what I asked him) it was 3.7, and when I asked if that statistic was applicable for 4 year institutions he said that “most competitive students have a 3.5.” So I would guess it’s somewhere around there, it didn’t sound like they had the 2009 statistics readily available and I haven’t found them online.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for all the help everyone!</p>
<p>No way, Seena? What gave me away? Thanks for the info though, I was actually thinking of asking you about your experience.</p>
<p>So what I’m getting from Alexandre and Twistedxkiss is to wait to apply till this spring semester is over, so my GPA will be even higher. I did the math and it will be in the 3.4-3-5 range.</p>
<p>But what I’m getting from stbighouse1 is to apply right after this semester, which will put me at a 3.3. And if that doesn’t work, apply after spring.</p>
<p>Is there a downside to applying twice? And on the office of admission’s website, it says the deadline for transfers applying to LSA is February 1 for fall, spring, and summer, and October 1 for winter. This puts me in a bit of a bind. My spring semester grades won’t be in til early May. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I would wonder if they reject you at a 3.3, would they be impressed enough by a .1-.2 improvement to change their minds a second go around. But I really have no idea how that works. There is a live help thing on the prospective students page at the umich website where you can talk to admissions, I would recommend asking them. I drilled them myself on my own circumstances in figuring out when to apply.</p>