Schools that fit my specifications

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi,
I want to transfer out of my current school. I'll list some things about me below and it would be greatly appreciated if you could toss out the names of some schools that you think would fit me.</p>

<p>I'm halfway through my first year at a small liberal arts college in Mass. I want to transfer out of this school because it's very easy and I want to be challenged by my coursework. The school isn't great academically, and I would like to be around smarter people, frankly. </p>

<p>I did poorly in HS, my GPA was a 2.5 until senior year when I got motivated and got all A's. I did many extracurriculars and worked part-time during HS. My ACT composite was a 24 and my SAT Superscore is: Critical Reading 620, Math 500, Writing 560. Now that I take academics seriously; I'm in the honors programs and I have a GPA of 3.94 and take an 18 credit course load. </p>

<p>One thing that has been holding me back from applying to schools are tuition rates, I can't afford to go to a school that has a combined tuition and housing cost of around $30,000/yr based on the rates of my home state NY. I will try to get scholarships but I doubt they will add up to more than a few thousand.</p>

<p>I need to go to a school close to the East Coast, and no schools too far North or South. The furthest South I can go is North Carolina. This is because I can't afford to fly back and forth from school and I don't currently drive.</p>

<p>I want to transfer into a school as a Biology major so they must offer that major (I'm interested in the plant side of Biology).</p>

<p>I am also Hispanic.</p>

<p>I want to go to a school that focuses on academics and not partying or experiencing college.</p>

<p>I've taken many online quizzes to see which colleges match my specifications and I've applied to James Madison University, SUNY Stony Brook, and SUNY Binghamton for Fall '12.</p>

<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this, any suggestions will be of a great help to me.</p>

2

<p>JMU is a great school, but it can be a bit of a party school. I go there a lot cos I’m an instate kid and it can get quite out of hand there. But their science programs are amazing espcially chem! Hope thia helps</p>

3

<p>I don’t mind if there’s partying going on as long as the entire feel of the school isn’t based on it. I read that even though it can be a party school that the academics are still good, so I decided it would be worth a shot.
It does help, thanks a lot.</p>

4

<p>No problem! And just to let you know a couple years ago they had a near riot at JMU so security is upped a lot more (they’re just now starting to loosen up) and the students are a bit more restrained</p>

5

<p>That’s also good to know, thank you</p>

6

<p>Try going to the Transfer Forum to get more recommendations and assistance.</p>

7

<p>Even the honors courses at your college are not challenging? Now, do remember, you have only had your first semester of courses, which I assume were probably at least mostly gen. ed courses. Those for your major will be much more difficult, especially if you are pursuing the sciences. Unless you aim for mostly “tier 1 schools”, I would think many schools will have a party feel, and maybe students who are less intellectual acting than you are hoping to meet. Every school has “intellectuals” though, so maybe you just have to try to meet those people at the school you are currently attending.
Remember, too, that transfer students may not get the best financial aid offers, so if you have a scholarship from your current school, you might want to think about staying.
Your SAT scores weren’t that hot, so even if it was just that you didn’t try hard during high school, they still would be higher if you were just an under-achiever. If you go to a more demanding school, you may not like your GPA…if you are planning on grad studies, you might want to get a high GPA at a slightly easier school, and just seek out challenge, and research opportunities, etc to excel.</p>

8

<p>Thank you, I’ll check it out.</p>

9

<p>I took honors courses this year and did not find them challenging. I’m taking more next semester so I’ll see if those are more difficult. Although I did take gen ed classes this semester, I was almost always the only person participating in class discussions. Even if the curriculum at other schools is more challenging, I want to be in a community of learning instead of a community of students texting under their desks and going on Facebook during class. I’m dying to be challenged so I don’t mind if my GPA suffers a little if I get the opportunity to learn and apply myself.
I didn’t know that transfer students get less financial aid, so thank you for telling me that. I’ll keep that in mind while applying.
Regarding the SAT, because I was an underachiever in HS, I had never even seen much of the math so I wasn’t able to do it. Regarding my other scores, I would be more than happy to go to a school that a CR score of 620 and W score of 560 is in the middle 50. At the school I currently attend, those kinds of scores are extremely uncommon.</p>

<p>So having this knowledge of my scores and school history, are there any schools that you would recommend for me?</p>

10

<p>Since you are from NY you should probably look at the SUNYs (though even in-state those are in the $20K range the majority of which is room and board). JMU would cost you $35K/year.</p>

11

<p>The SUNYs would seem like your best bet, and you have picked two good ones. Why not add SUNY Geneseo to your list? It’s supposed to be the most LAC-like, honors college of the SUNYs. I don’t know how your SATs would stack up there for admissions, though.</p>

12

<p>I actually applied to SUNY Geneseo last year but I wasn’t very interested in attending so I barely looked at the school. I was offered admission if I attended their summer program. I might look into it again, thanks</p>

13

<p>I was under the impression JMU would come up to about $28k or $29k per year, where did you see $35?</p>

14

<p>Are you sure you were looking at the Out-of-State Tuition?</p>

<p>Cost of Attendance:
In-state: $21,956
Out-of-state: $38,438</p>

<p>Tuition and Fees
In-state: $9,266
Out-of-state: $25,748</p>

<p>Room and Board: $9,050</p>

<p>Books and Supplies: $900</p>

<p>Other Expenses: $2,740</p>

15

<p>If you end up staying at your current school, look into cross registration with other nearby colleges. That could really help with the caliber of students to interact with. (I saw that Williams would be that school near you…can’t get much better than that!)</p>

16

<p>Oh wow thank you so much for showing me that. I was only considering the tuition and room and board rates.</p>

17

<p>Yes Williams is very close and that’s definitely a possibility.</p>

18

<p>Hi,
I’m considering applying to North Carolina State University and Appalachian State University.
Does it seem likely that I will be accepted into those? I was thinking App. State would be a safety.</p>

19

<p>I’m sorry to quadruple post but I’m busy looking up schools right now.
This is an updated list of schools I may apply to:</p>

<p>George Mason University
UNC Asheville
NC State U
SUNY Geneseo
U of Mary Washington</p>

20

<p>UNCA is a good college, but it is not the most transfer-friendly. Their graduation requirements are the most extensive of any college I’ve seen; students picking up a minor or second major usually take an extra semester or year to finish, and a transfer student likely would as well. The other problem is that UNCA offers LAC-like class sizes but is a fair bit larger than a normal LAC. This results in massive demand for pre-req classes, and many students find themselves in the peculiar situation of having to take their intro courses as juniors or seniors. The good news is that science courses are less difficult to get into. </p>

<p>NCSU has a great botany program and top-notch programs in related fields like agriculture and entomology. It is not overly generous with financial aid even to in-state students, however, so I’m not sure it’s a good choice for an OOS student needing money. The same goes for App State, though it does have a good bio program and an awesome location. On the other hand, these three NC schools are reasonably cheap for OOS students (~$25K per year for tuition + room/board), and they’re certainly good options aside from cost.</p>

<p>Honestly, I think your best bet is either to stay in-state or find a good private college that would offer you a lot of money. If you want to do anything related to plant science, you’ll need at least a master’s, so your undergraduate institution is not extremely important. SUNY Geneseo was a good suggestion, and SUNY ESF should also be considered by anyone seriously interested in plant science. </p>

<p>Among private colleges, consider Connecticut College and Juniata. Conn College has a great ecology and biology program with a plant track and is loan-free for those making less than $50K a year; it has reduced loan burdens for those making $50-75K a year. Juniata is less generous but also has a good biology/botany program.</p>