Seeking some advice

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm an entering freshman attending SUNY-Binghamton School of Management scholars program. I did very well in high school, but I guess a combination of weak EC's and bad choices of schools forced me to attend basically my last choice school. I'm looking at transfering after my 1st year and seeking some help as to choosing schools. I am definitely reapplying to Penn and Columbia to which I was deferred and waitlisted, respectively. I was also looking at NYU, Georgetown, Northwestern, UChicago, UC Berkeley, and Harvard. My criteria for schools is a strong econ program, close proximity to a major city, and semi-generosity with financial aid since my family really has no money to pay for school. </p>

<p>My stats are:</p>

<p>2160 SAT (730/720/710)
770 US History SAT II 740 Math 1C SAT II 700 Chem SAT II
aprox. 99/100 weighted GPA
5 APs/ semi-rigorous courseload (mostly APs and honors courses)
ECs - decent nothing extraordinary never won a nobel peace price or any national honors</p>

<p>All advice(course selection, school selection, etc.) is appreciated.</p>

2

<p>NYU is bad with their financial aid so that would be a deterrent.
Harvard - consider retaking SATs/SATIIs
Same for Penn and Columbia.</p>

3

<p>NYU is horrible with financial aid so I dont know if you want to count that out. As for Harvard, Penn, and Columbia I definately think you have a good shot if you do well your first year. Your high school stats are real good, just try and get a 3.7+ for those ivies your looking at. Ivies are also real good with financial aid considering the position you are in.</p>

4

<p>Another note to make...I've heard that UChicago and Northwestern DO take financial need into consideration for transfers, even though they say they don't. I've heard quite a few ppl get rejected with incredible apps and they believe it was b/c they asked for aid...something to consider.</p>

5

<p>berkeley will be tough since youre out of state. they prefer CC students within cali when it comes to transfers (as if this fact hasn't been repeated 10000 times in this thread lol)</p>

6

<p>I wouldn't worry too much about you SATs....I had similiar scores and got in transfer at several places.</p>

7

<p>Stich - if you are happy with SUNY-Binghamton as your safety, your new set of schools is reasonable. Because if you don't get into any, you could happily stay where you are. If you do not want to stay at SUNY, you need a different set of schools. Your list is full of reaches.</p>

<p>Your SATs are good. Your college fall term GPA will be important. I would need a little more info on your hs weighted GPA. Around here, where our hs also grades on the 100-point scale, a good student is usually 94-98uw and then 122-125weighted. Maybe it is different at your school. What would you say was the highest weighted GPA in your class?</p>

<p>If you followed andi's son's saga on the Parent Forum (if you didn't, you should search and study it), you will see that he had similar results to yours for his Freshman apps. Only worse. He got in NOWHERE. For his transfer apps, he again applied to 2 schools which rejected/WL him. Both schools rejected him for transfer as well. However, for transfer, he made a new BALANCED list. He was accepted at a number of places with substantial merit $$ at several, including a prestigious scholarship to Brandeis. He was also accepted with a livable financial aid package to MIT - that is where he will be going.</p>

<p>For course selection, I suggest you look at what Freshmen Econ majors would be taking at your favorite transfer schools and model your freshman program on that. For schools which would make up a balanced list, perhaps consider: BU, Rochester, Villanova, UMd-College Park, Vanderbilt, Syracuse,Pitt, Case Western, GWU, Santa Clara U, Babson, Bentley, Tulane...</p>

<p>Not clear on your comment about "semi-generous" finaid and family has "no money" for college. If you need 100% of need met, that is somewhat limiting. OTOH, you will qualify for merit aid at some schools, but they won't be the schools on your list in the OP most likely - most don't give merit aid and/or you wouldn't be in the top 10% of their applicant pool. NOthing wrong with that, but it's another reason to re-evaluate your list.</p>

<p>Good luck. With wise planning, you will end up at a good place next year.</p>

8

<p>You don't need to retake the SAT I or IIs. Take a combination of courses you want to take and have to take, GET INVOLVED at your present institution, get awesome grades, write a killer essay. Apply to some match/safety schools, and hope for the best. Oh yeah, as St. Augustine advises, don't think about your situation too much. You're now in COLLEGE (w00t) –*enjoy it!</p>

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<p>jmmom i forgot to mention my rank 12/850. The top of my class had a 104 weighted average, so my average is very stellar. As far as aid, what I meant is i need atleast some sort of financial aid. My college education is going to be financed by grants/scholarships and loans. I'm really look for a school where I'm not at the top of the class and have to work for it. Not to be arrogant, but throughout my school years thus far I have not really had to work hard to be at the top. I want to be at a place which will push and challenge me to really reach my potential.</p>

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<p>Stich - with that class rank, your stats are really excellent. So, as I said, stats are not the issue with you. Rather the low acceptance rates of our target schools are the problem. So, make sure you have safeties and matches which you would be excited to go to (or be happy to stay where you are). Don't put too much hope on acceptances from the places that were "no" last year. It definitely can happen, so go ahead and go for it. Hope, but not too much hope ;). The most important thing is to make sure you give yourself some good options this year. You don't want a repeat of only having one choice, which you don't really like. Keep us posted.</p>

<p>Re challenge and push - you truly do not have to be at only a "top 15" or so school to find this. I applaud your goal of wanting to be pushed to work hard and achieve your potential. You appear certain that will happen at the very most selective schools and for you it probably will. But it can also happen at other schools. The professors at a huge number of schools all got their BA/PhDs at top schools and will give you what you are seeking. </p>

<p>PS I personally don't see any reason to re-take SATs, but I can't claim expertise on the subject.</p>

11

<p>jmmom, thanks for the advice. As for safeties and matches, I'm really not sure, I guess I will have to do more searching. GWU and BU are possibilities. The problem is I know more about the top universities so they're really the only ones I have been looking at thus far.</p>

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<p>I had the same problem as you...all you really need is one true safety.</p>

<p>Think of something or somewhere you'd really like to be. For me, it came down to skiing, because that's what I love. So I checked out UC - Boulder and University of British Columbia. Both have good academics and I'd be happy at either if it came down to it. </p>

<p>So, academics aside, where would you like to study (area) and what do you like to do in your spare time. Some guidelines make finding a safety much easier.</p>

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<p>anyone else?</p>

14

<p>any other ideas as far as match/safety schools considering my criteria</p>

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<p>Go for a 4.0. Also, make sure you talk to the transfer coordinators at these schools and ask them what courses to take. This helped for me. After you know what courses you need, make the perfect schedule, using ratemyprofessor.com as guide. That's what I did and I was able to get a 4.0 at the University of Pittsburgh and now I'm headed to South Bend in August!</p>

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<p>I have thought about this, and I think I am going to apply to three groups of schools. Ivies: Penn, Columbia, Harvard<br>
Next group would be Georgetown and Northwestern
The "safeties" if you could call them that would be Boston College and NYU</p>

<p>Does anyone think this would be a safe approach to ensure that I get in somewhere as a transfer?</p>

17

<p>you've got good stats, but I wouldn't call NYU a safety...just to be safe. </p>

<p>I DEFINITELY wouldn't call BC a safety...ppl that got into Harvard were rejected from BC b/c they only take around 13%. If anything, it'd be a match/high match for most transfers. NYU for you is a match.</p>

<p>You should look around for some definite safeties. Doesn't mean you're going to go there, but you might have to think outside of the box and look somewhere besides the top US schools. For me, I chose UBC in Canada b/c the campus is beautiful, it's relatively cheap, and everyone goes skiing. Do I want to go there over other schools? No. But I'd be happy there, and it's a true safety. You don't have a true safety yet.</p>

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<p>The logistics of getting to UBC are just a little too much for me, visa, travel, etc.. I just assumed BC was a little easier to transfer into because the average SAT for transfer last year was around 1260.</p>

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<p>Easier to get into does not = safety.</p>

<p>A safety school (for transfer) needs to have a transfer acceptance rater of around 40% - or more.</p>

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<p>stitch that would be a good thing (1260 SAT) if you have a much higher one, but that should be combined with a high transfer rate - like jmmom said, 40% or more is good. Look into some state schools. And I wasn't really recommending UBC for you lol, but hey worth a look I guess. What state do you live in?</p>