<p>I'm currently at a freshman at a state university in New England (ranked 101 by US News, ore something like that...not that it's relevant, really). Anyway, I'm looking to transfer to for many reasons. Mostly, though, I'm just looking for a NEW environment (i.e., not in New England, perhaps (?)) and somewhere where academics are taken more seriously (so a school that is ranked higher, I suppose). A good music department is a huge plus, as well. My high school stats are pretty rough since I was planning to pursue music performance (GPA around 3.1 UW--thanks to music classes--1670 SAT, class rank 14/250ish) and, to be honest, I didn't care about my academics at the time. In college now, though, I have a 3.92 GPA (after one semester) as a biochemistry and molecular biology major in the honors program. Since my high school record --for lack of better words-- sucks, I'll spend my first two years here and apply to schools for junior standing. Of course, I know it's hard to tell which schools are appropriate since I'm only in my first semester, but I'm positive that I'll maintain a GPA of at LEAST 3.7 (It's really likely that I'll get a 4.0 this semester...). So, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations as to which schools sound like a good "fit" for me. While "prestige," as it were, is cool, I don't really care if anyone has heard of the school (cheap schools ARE pretty cool, however). Also, does anyone have any tips for strengthening my application? I still have a while, so any tips that would help to augment my profile are warmly welcomed! Thanks, guys.</p>
<p>*or…</p>
<p>Bump, as well.</p>
<p>First of all, i want to congratulate you on doing so incredibly well this time. I didn’t think your HS record was as bad as you feel it was, but I can see that you are going to have all kinds of options with your current college GPA! </p>
<p>What state of residency? I am new to the transfer thing, so I can’t suggest privates that offer merit for transfers, but do a search to see what comes up. I think there are some pasted threads with merit known schools for transfers, so I’d start there.</p>
<p>Bump…</p>
<p>Any advice, guys?!</p>
<p>USC
10char</p>
<p>You and I are in almost exactly the same boat. It would certainly help to know your state of residency, but it looks like you’re looking to get out of state so I won’t worry about it. What sort of music program are you looking for? Jazz? Instrumental or vocal performance? Do you want a big school or a small school? UMich, NYU, Indiana, Michigan State, Oberlin, Northwestern, University of Miami-Frost, Baldwin-Wallace, and University of North Texas are all relatively prestigious schools outside of New England and have some of the best music programs I can think of off the top of my head. Again, I don’t know what type of music performance you want, so some of those schools may not satisfy your artistic needs. I don’t know about molecular biology.
By your junior year colleges will pretty much forget about your high school grades, so keep it up. Just get involved in as many things as you can. They don’t have to be relevant. Any combination of clubs, honor societies, intramural sports, volunteer work, or internships will do the trick. Or if you’re involved in just one thing that takes up all of your time, your application will reflect that.
Best.</p>
<p>I’m interested in violin performance, but again, it’s not my biggest concern. I got into Indiana the first time around, so maybe that’s an option…thanks for your help, Joesilvahhh!</p>
<p>What about CIM (you might like it if you liked Indiana)?</p>