Senior in High School Preparing for a Transfer after College Freshman year

<p>so... i did not get into any of the schools that i wanted to go to. not surprising, my stats were not amazing. so now i am headed to a small liberal arts school for my freshman year, but i want to know what I should do to make my chances at transfering to places like NYU, Sarah Lawrence, Bryn Mawr, Middlebury and Barnard possible. </p>

<p>SHould I retake the SAT? If I do I am going to study for the summer and then hopefully make around a 2300. </p>

<p>I also plan on working my ass of at my college so that I keep a very high GPA. I will join the newspaper and any other clubs that I can to make me stand out. Any suggestions on things I can do to get into the schools listed above as a transfer? </p>

<p>Also, I go to a high school that is built into a community college and the HS students take dual-credit CC classes. I have the opportunity to take 4 more summer courses in summer school this summer to complete my Associate's Degree. I was going to do this, but now I am thinking I do not want to spend my last summer at home studying all the time. I want to travel, work (save money for college!), and spend time with my family and friends before going off to college. Will that look bad if i don't take the classes?</p>

<p>An AS degree is pretty useless if you're looking to transfer. Not taking courses over summer should be OK though. If you're paranoid, you could always call them and ask.</p>

<p>ya that is what i figured. there is really no point to have an AS degree but i thought MAYBE it would look good because i got it as a high school student (basically). but i dont think the stress will be worth it and then there is a good chance ill be burned out for the fall semester in college. i might take math class bc i didnt get to take one my senior year due to scheduling issues.</p>

<p>what should i do to make myself stand out as a transfer student?</p>

<p>Having a rock-solid reason to transfer besides "I don't like it" or "it isn't prestigious enough".</p>

<p>My old adviser in College told me to get an Associate of Arts Degree (which is usually 2 years)... he said that if I got that I didn't have to take any liberal courses at other institutions which is a load of bull crap. I'm looking at other universities and the ones that have Lib Ed requirements before I transfer won't honor my Associate of Arts Degree.</p>

<p>I suggest you take tougher courses (that's what I've been advised in this board) not only so they look good in your transfer but so they prepare you as a student. </p>

<p>What major are you looking for?</p>

<p>Make sure that you develop a good relationship with at least one professor so that you can ask him or her for a recommendation.</p>

<p>I'd suggest a good relationship with at least two.</p>

<p>Yeah I think that's very important, a good relationship with your professors. Luckily I'm in a Small State University (5,000 students). Most Classes have 20-30 students. I got to know 4 out of 5 professors really good, and they knew me too due to my good grades, questions, class participation, etc.</p>

<p>I'll give you a few stats to keep in mind. This year out of approx. 1,600 transfer applicants only 45 were offered admission, NYU's rate of admission for transfers is around 6%. Bryn Mawr, Middlebury, Sarah Lawrence, and Barnard have a smaller applicant pools, but also have equally low admissions rates around 22% - 30% this depends highly on the incoming freshman class, class registration and available housing. </p>

<p>You need amazing grades (my friend had a 4.0 at a top 20 Liberal Arts College and got into Barnard as a transfer this year.), good extracurriculars, but alot of applicants are going to have amazing grades and extracurrics. To set yourself apart you need great professors recs and passionate, well-written essays that show a facet of your personality. Make sure that next year you reallly connect to your professors and let them get to know you, and when applying make sure your essays are a) well-structured b) unique and c) grammactically impecable. Errors and sloppy writing just reflects badly on you.</p>

<p>thanks for the input! by EC do you think joining clubs at my college and joining a sports team will be good enough? I have never played tennis, but I am hoping to play as a freshman.</p>

<p>also, where did you get that stat about NYU's transfer acceptance rate? according to collegeboard.com 5,355 applied and 1,702 were offered admission. that would be around a 32% acceptance rate, similar to freshman applicants, for a transfer. </p>

<p>also, im going to a school with a student body of 1300 so i think i will def. be able to form personal relationships with the teachers. also, this school is known for teachers giving intense personal one-on-one attention to students in order to get to know them. hopefully, that will be in my favor if i decide i do want to transfer.</p>

<p>that is the total overall number for NYU as a University. When you apply to transfer for NYU you have to choose a school to apply to. I applied to transfer this year to NYU CAS and I received an acceptance to transfer with the proviso that I study abroad for the fall semester. In the letter I was sent, they said that 1,600 applied and they only have 45 spots to admission, (approx 6%). The acceptance rate per school: Stern, Gallatin, Tisch, etc varies....you go by the acceptance rate for each specific school not the total rate of acceptance for the University. I assumed since you were applying to schools like Bryn Mawr, Middlebury etc, that you would generally apply to CAS.</p>

<p>Also that's great if your school is known for its great profs. Yeah, any EC's that interest you are great, as long as they represent your interests go for it! An admission's counselor told me that good stats always helps but the EC's, recs, and Essays set you apart from other people who have similar stats. Definately, Good luck with transferring. </p>

<p>P.S. Also just b/c they have 45 spots doesn't mean they only offered 45 people admission...since there will be some people who do not accept their offer. According to the NYU transfer thread for this year, CAS's acceptance rate is known to be 6%, some girl said only 20 people were waitlisted for transfer this year, and apparently only 30 ish kids were offered the proviso to study abroad for the fall semester (I fall into this category). So if you aren't offered admission right off the bat, there are still several chances for you to attend NYU CAS (or any other school for NYU) through other programs.</p>

<p>thanks SweetPosion. I have not decided if i am going to apply to Gallatin or CAS. Can you even transfer to Gallatin?</p>

<p>Yeah, you can definately transfer to Gallatin. I had to make my choice between CAS and Gallatin this year too.</p>

<p>if i had a low SAT score (1980), should i take it again if i am planning on transfering? does it make a different? i also have about 60 college credits right now (i just graduated form high school). i think i read something that said if you have a certain number of hours they do not look at your SAT scores.</p>

<p>I'm pretty much in the same boat as the OP. I just graduated and i didn't get into any colleges that i wanted to go to. I really want to go to NYU but i don't know if that could happen. I was waitlisted and then rejected for freshman admission to Stern. So now I'm planning to apply to transfer to George Washington, Southern California, NYU (CAS this time), and University of San Francisco after my freshman year. And about the SAT i know NYU does not want you to retake the SATs.</p>

<p>Since I am considering a Science major, and got too much loan as part of my financial package from my current college, I might think of transfering too at the end of the 1st year. I am possibly considering retaking the SATs anyway (collegeboard screwed up my 1st one and mom didn't allow a 2nd sitting... the reason will take long to explain but collegeboard is to blame) and I was wondering when it's the best time to prepare and give the test if I want to transfer in Fall 2008. I would like to transfer to one of the top 10 engineering universities. When I initially applied for Fall 2007 as freshman I didn't apply to that many engineering universities. Not that I had much chance either, despite my overall application, essays, recommendations being good with 4.0 GPA, my SAT I was really bad. My SAT II scores were not that great either (collegeboard sort of screwed up this one too, I had to walk-in, damn mailed registrations) a 770,740 and a 770. Should I retake the SAT II s as well? If so, should I try different subjects this time? How much time should it take a normal international student preparing from his/her own country where HS does not administer the SATs, to prepare for the test if s/he is good with Math but weak in vocabularies, reads and writes slow? I don't mind spending a bit of time to prepare for it but I wonder if I will have time in college to prepare for the SATs.</p>

<p>Those SAT II scores aren't bad at all. I would not take them again if i were you. What was your SAT reasoning score?</p>

<p>How important is retaking the SAT or ACT? I mean, if you do well at a good college and your professors mention you have room for further growth, why should standardized testing matter as much? I'm attending OSU this fall but am already considering transferring to a much smaller environment. Most colleges on my list are either moderately difficult or not difficult to get into at all (according to College Board). However, Barnard and Smith (I was admitted into Smith but can't attend for financial reasons) are two of the more competitive ones.</p>