<p>New here; thought I'd finally post after lurking for months. I just got the email on Friday that I've been accepted to Yale as a sophomore transfer student (Class of 2015), and I couldn't be more excited! I just have a few questions that I'm hoping people here can help me answer:</p>
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<li><p>The Yale website says that the school will try its hardest to find transfers housing in the residential colleges, but that it is not guaranteed. Does anyone know what the chance is of not actually receiving on-campus housing, and having to live off-campus? </p></li>
<li><p>Will my GPA transfer? I know that some of my classes will definitely count as credits, but I'm wondering if I'll start over with a brand-new GPA at Yale, or if my Yale GPA would be combined with my other school's. </p></li>
<li><p>Lastly, if any of you on here are current Yale transfer students, could you talk a little bit about your experiences, and what you thought of your first year at Yale? How hard was it to make friends or get involved?</p></li>
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<p>In return, I'm happy to answer any questions from potential transfer students about my application, etc. The main details: I applied from a large university, and I made sure to emphasize how I would enjoy Yale's smaller and more focused undergrad student atmosphere more than my current one, as well as specific details about unique professors/organizations on Yale's campus. I was really only involved in one extracurricular this year at my current school, but I dedicated a lot of passion and effort to it, and I feel like that really came through in my application.</p>
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<li><p>As you will be a rising sophomore, I would think that your chances of finding residential on-campus housing would be pretty good. For off-campus housing, you can look on craigslist: [craigslist:</a> new haven classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events](<a href=“http://newhaven.craigslist.org/]craigslist:”>http://newhaven.craigslist.org/)</p></li>
<li><p>Depending upon the courses you took at your previous school, credits and grades (and hence your GPA) would transfer along with them.</p></li>
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<li><p>I asked this when D1 transferred as a soph and was told by an earlier transfer that they’d never known of a transfer not getting housing in one of the RCs. And it didn’t happen the 3 yrs she was there. My take is that they publish this ‘just in case’, but it’s an extremely rare occurrence. One year they did house all transfers together in the same RC, which she didn’t think was a good idea socially as it tends to set them apart. </p></li>
<li><p>While credits transfer over, grades usually do not, and I think this holds for Y. I remember D1 commenting on this in regards to PBK and graduating honors. </p></li>
<li><p>I would really recommend attending FOCUS the week before school starts in the fall. You get to know many of the other transfers as well as continuing soph students. The emphasis is on doing some sort of community service within NH. </p></li>
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<p>As long as you get out and get involved with different activities it shouldn’t be a problem. to make friends and learn the ropes.</p>
<p>Congrats and let me know if you have any more specific questions.</p>
What university are you currently attending? (If you’re uncomfortable, you could message me. I’m trying to evaluate my chance based on the school I’ll be attending)
And, how exactly did you do it? ie: What did you do during your freshman year to receive admission to such a competitive program?</p>
<p>Thank you guys for the info! Entomom: about the housing thing, do you know if they assign transfers to random residential colleges, with a mix of all grade levels? Or are sophomores mainly housed with sophomores, etc?</p>
<p>detoidi-- I’m currently attending a large public university. I’ll message you more details if you want. Re: how I did it, I obviously don’t know exactly what it was that made the committee’s decision, but I’d guess that my college involvement (specifically, the one main campus extracurricular I put all of my time into) and letters of rec (which were from graduate students rather than professors; they knew me on a more personal level and wrote extensively on my personality, quality of writing/work, etc) were major factors. I also did well in high school (co-valedictorian, array of AP exams, 2300 SAT, multiple leadership positions). Other than that, I really didn’t have a “hook” or special story; but I feel like my passion for my major and true love of Yale’s programs - which was pretty much what my Common App essay was about - helped a lot. Additionally, my alumni interviewer (from when I applied as a freshman) re-sent their evaluation/recommendation, which I’m told was very strong.</p>
<p>All RCs have a mix of years, and I believe they are back to assigning transfers into any RC that has a vacancy (as opposed to grouping them all together in one RC). While the RC is mixed, you will likely be placed into a suite with other sophs.</p>