<p>Hey, by “bad high school grade” do we mean a few B’s, or as bad as D’s and F’s?</p>
<p>If you dig around enough, you <em>might</em> be able to find someone with those stats who’s been rejected, but in the two years or so I’ve been reading CC, I don’t recall every seeing someone with a 4.0 college GPA and a 2400 SAT rejected. I do remember a single instance of a freshman applicant at MIT being waitlisted with a 2400 SAT, but that’s the closest thing I can think of.</p>
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<p>Mostly 80s, a lot of 65-75 recently, a lot of 90-100 early on…in other words a downward trend…few APs</p>
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<p>Yeah but that’s because virtually everyone with those stats did well in high school. Thus, they also probably attended a better FORMER college, which in turn means that they inherently had had a better chance to get into their latter college.</p>
<p>I’ve dug around this site a LOT and for a pretty long time, and my impression is that it is pretty much impossible to transfer to a top school with a 3.3 GPA in high school with no particular story to tell. If you look in a thread like “Success Stories: Bad HS Record w/ Great College Record,” you will see that the majority of those success stories involve people who have had hardships (in high school), people who didn’t shoot as high, or people with otherwise special circumstances.</p>
<p>For example, you virtually never see anyone who has transferred from a CUNY to a top school on this board, even though the first-year retention rate of a CUNY is like 85%. Why is this? Is there anything I can really do? (I know I’m kind of repeating myself here. Just consider this a bump.)</p>
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<p>They may not be on these forums but I know many, many students in the Macaulay Honors program that have transferred to top schools. A friend of mine from Macaulay at Hunter transferred to Columbia last year. This year, I have friends at Macaulay Baruch applying to transfer to Stanford, NYU, Cornell, UPenn Wharton.</p>
<p>The CUNY retention rate may be fairly high because a lot of students transfer from CUNY to CUNY when they realize they hate commuting or if their major isn’t offered. Next are SUNYs and then finally, privates.</p>
<p>^yes, but that doesnt apply to me. i will not be a macaulay honors or regular honor student…so am i hopeless? i want to go to a top college so badly (i just feel like im capable of doing well in one). how can i overcome both a bad high school record as well as the fact that my college isnt prestigious, or rigorous? certainly a 4.0 from a regular CUNY is way less impressive than a 4.0 from macaulay… I wish I had applied to macaulay…</p>
<p>Frankly, you sound like you’re suffering from what poker players refer to as MUBS–you have a psychological syndrome that causes you to see monsters under the bed wherever you look. No amount of reassurance from any posters here is going to get you past your own irrational pessimism.</p>
<p>Well, too late to fret on that now. Macaulay has numerous problems but that’s a different topic.</p>
<p>Even though my friends and I are in the Macaulay program, we are not viewed any differently by other colleges. We are just CUNY students, like you. I had to make it a point in my essay that I was in the honors program just like how you will have to distinguish yourself as an individual in your essay.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind me asking, which CUNY do you attend? </p>
<p>–
Oh, I just saw your other thread. Baruch? I think you, I and my fellow transfer friends should band together and form a club.</p>
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<p>My way of thinking is justified. I’m only inquisitive in a way that seems irrational because I want to keep this thread active. You said you’ve virtually never seen anyone with a 2400 and a 4.0 college GPA get rejected. This is not pertinent because:</p>
<p>(1) most of these students either had a high GPA in high school or some kind of unachievable hook,</p>
<p>(2) most of these students, given (1), formerly attended a relatively more prestigious college than CUNY and thus had a better chance in transfer admissions,</p>
<p>(3) if they applied as a sophomore applicant, then, given (1), they had the upper hand; if they applied as a junior applicant, then, given (2), they still had the upper hand,</p>
<p>and finally (although there are a lot more points that could be made),</p>
<p>(4) given (1), (2), and (3), they had more opportunities in their former college in course selection, rigor, extracurriculars, etc. than I will in a commuter college, which is not involved, not academically rigorous, and not prestigious</p>
<p>…which is why I had asked several of the questions I did (e.g., what some impressive ECs outside of campus are: things I can do that CANNOT be brought down by my lesser institution). Obviously I cannot OVERCOME the fact that I’m going to Baruch this fall; dwelling on such an inevitability is certainly irrational as you say. I just need practical advice, which I indirectly am asking for, not illogical and repetitive reassurance.</p>
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<p>It’s not that Macaulay makes you stick out. It’s that it is simply academically better than a regular CUNY, which means you fare a better chance in transfer admissions. My question is, how can I overcome this? Is there something a prospective transfer student at CUNY should know as a heads up? Course selection?</p>
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<p>I’m still a senior in high school, but, yes, I will be attending Baruch this fall. We can form a club if you mean within campus for EC reasons, but that’s probably not what you mean.</p>
<p>URM? 10char</p>
<p>No…how would that make a significant difference here?</p>
<p>Nutin. Dude… you don’t have to stay at Baruch for two years. Many schools offer spring admissions. CUNY really isn’t that bad( well at least at Hunter). Sure you miss out on the “freshman experience”(whatever that is), but you live in NYC DAMMIT!. As far as top schools looking down on potential CUNY transfer applicants, my sister’s friend’s cousin transferred from lehman was accepted to DUKE, CORNELL, COLUMBIA and AMHERST college. Be kind to yourself! Chin up!</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity:</p>
<p>Do you already have a 2400 or are you implying that you will retake it in hopes of a 2400?</p>
<p>If so, have you researched whether these high profile colleges (Columbia, Dartmouth, etc.) accept SAT scores taken out of high school?</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat as you; I might retake it just for a 2400, although some may say that I’d be crazy if I did because a 2400 can’t help me much more than my current score can, aesthetics aside.</p>
<p>Many schools won’t accept SAT scores taken while matriculated at a college.</p>
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<p>Any links?</p>
<p>I’ve browsed around and according to Brown’s, Columbia’s, Yale’s, Harvard’s, and UPenn’s websites, they do not explicitly state that they will not accept scores taken while matriculated at a college. Furthermore, they say that “you must take or have taken [the SAT’s].”</p>
<p>I’m expecting something close to it in June.</p>
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<p>Obvious lie. What was his stats/ECs, then? And was he in honors?</p>
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<p>Ahhhhh. Join the club. :D</p>
<p>^thats irrelevant though. If I apply sophomore year to highlight my SAT, they will look at my bad high school GPA. If I apply junior year to downplay my bad high school GPA, they wont consider my SAT as much. I know the process isnt that mechanical, but thats pretty accurate, right?</p>
<p>Perhaps someone can respond to my post #28? (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064546058-post28.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064546058-post28.html</a>)</p>
<p><em>sigh</em></p>
<p>10char</p>
<p>^OK, I see you are in a similar situation as the one i will be in next year. so why are you so discouraging? give me advice. i am actually glad i see someone else with a high SAT (and thus with the potential) at a CUNY. Are you in honors?</p>
<p>The reason some of my comments may make me seem a bit pathetic is that i want to draw out the people that give good advice.</p>
<p>I’ll assume that you were referring to nickyswishes or whatever his/her name is.</p>
<p>I know you asked for practical advice and not (il)logical mumbojumbo but I think you should focus on getting that 4.0 first before anything else, esp since EC’s are known to interfere with one’s grades if one is too devoted to EC’ing, as the case may (and probably will) be if one goes EC hunting for the sake of having EC’s. 4.0’s are NEVER easy. You can’t just about face; you’d have to spend the rest of the spring semester of your senior year of high school to start to turn it around and maintain it while you’re in college.</p>
<p>Colleges can see right through affected and insincere attempts at ‘fulfilling’ EC ‘requirements.’ Hell, I can, so they must be able to. You brought up that club-prez’s rarely do anything. I’d have to agree with you.
But how many EC’s actually involve a lot of work?
For all the people that put “volunteer at a library” because “* love helping others and giving back to the community” on their applications, I’d be surprised if the number of them who actually give a damn if it weren’t for college apps was greater than 50. In the world.</p>
<p>EC’s arn’t about gaudiness or flash. Some may be more exclusive than others but in the end, they’re all about the same. Their effectiveness in helping your app is commensurate with the amount of passion you put in.
I mean if I told you that I’m an avid fan of seashells and that I spend most of my awake hours strolling down the seashore instead of volunteering at the local hospital or serving on some crazy council that convenes once every 50 eons, can you really say “lol @ you, that’s not a real EC?”</p>
<p>So it might be best to let everything take its course and naturally discover what types of activities interest you.
If you do that, you really wouldn’t have to look far.</p>
<p>Baruch can’t hurt your EC’s any more than Union Square can; these are EXTRA cirrics, right?</p>