<p>My daughter is hoping to transfer next fall from community college to a LAC with good financial aid. Her GPA is 3.95 so far. Her first try at SATs were 660/620/660. She is taking an online course and retaking them in early November. She should be able to boost her scores somewhat, especially math.</p>
<p>She didn't graduate from high school, due to physical illness, but will have her GED as soon as she turns 17 1/2.</p>
<p>We are looking for suggestions of LACs that have a fairly decent acceptance rate for transfer students, along with decent financial aid. We are in California. She prefers an urban environment. She will probably be a Chemistry major (maybe Bio or Comp. Science).</p>
<p>Her current top picks are Lewis & Clark (not great financial aid, I think) and any of the Claremont Colleges (except Pitzer), where she will need higher SAT scores. We have focused on Calif and Oregon, but now want to consider all reasonable options.</p>
<p>You can find the transfer admission rate for most colleges by Googling for the “Common Data Set”. For example, Googling for “Whitman Common Data Set” will take you to a Whitman College page containing a link to their “Common Data Set 2010-11”. Download this pdf file; go to section D, “Transfer Admissions”. This shows that Whitman (an excellent LAC in Walla Walla, WA) admitted 60 out of 125 transfer applicants for Fall 2010. The CDS file contains many other details about test score ranges, transfer credit policies, class sizes, financial aid, popular majors, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Between California and Chicago, good LACs include (roughly in order of selectivity):
Pomona, Claremont McKenna
Carleton, Reed
Grinnell, Whitman, Macalester, Colorado College
Occidental, L&C, St. John’s College, Beloit, Lawrence University, Hendrix</p>
<p>Some of these are in rural or small town locations that your D may not prefer; at least have a look at them anyway.</p>
<p>Pomona and CMC are both need blind/100% need met, and are both in CA, as you mentioned. And, those are the only two LACs west of…the east coast, that meet both those prerequisites. If you go to the east coast, then there are more LACs (albeit on similar selectivity) that offer need blind/100% need met.</p>
<p>CMC’s transfer admittance is something like 12%. Pomona’s is something like 6%. So, I don’t know if those are “acceptable” rates.</p>
<p>Reed/Lewis and Clark are also urban environments. Reed has about a ~30 transfer admittance, while Lewis&Clark has about 50%</p>
<p>If she’s trying to transfer into hard-science majors…well, I don’t know much about GED transfers…but, I just can’t imagine that it could prep her for those at the sophomore level. I’m not putting a pejorative look on the GED, but it does stand for general education development. Are you sure she’s had comprehensive teaching in those three?</p>
<p>General expectations for sophomore chemistry are having completed some “general chem w/lab”, organic chemistry, calculus based physics, integral calculus, and some bio. </p>
<p>In bio, a myriad of bio courses, general chemistry, some calculus…</p>
<p>And in computer science, I think general-sophomore level math is differential equations or Linear Algebra.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on the east coast would be very welcome as well. </p>
<p>I understand that the schools with blind needs are harder to get into, but she will try. We thought Barnard might be a good option.</p>
<p>She will have four semesters at community college before she transfers and she has been concentrating on math and science classes and doing very well. She will have Chem 201A & B under her belt and math through calculus, also Bio 201A. She is also tutoring in the Chem lab.</p>
<p>She is definitely lacking in some subjects because of all the school she missed for the 2+ years she was sick, but she is proving that she is a successful college student, which should count for something, don’t you think? She has overcome more adversity than most people see in their lifetimes.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the Claremont colleges, but some schools that are need-blind, full-need for first-year admissions do not apply the same policies to transfers. However, that does not necessarily mean you won’t get in with good aid. It means there is that much more competition for the available money. Still, a school that can cover 90% of need with a 50% admit rate may be a better bet than a school that meets 100% of need with a 10% admit rate.</p>
<p>@OP: Oh ok, so she has attended CC. I thought you meant she was going straight from a GED into sophomore year, and I was just thinking "Now that doesn’t really work"haha. Granted those numbers don’t really mean anything to me, haha, as every place has their own numbering system. And calculus is very, very broad. But, I’m sure any advisers/major requirements will tell you if she’s good, I’m not needed for that. Not sure if Barnard has very good aid.</p>
<p>I’d try contacting schools to ask about that/FA for transfers. I’d check out Amherst. VERY competitive (probably the most competitive LAC), but need blind/full need met for all students. It’s on the east coast, and fairly close to Boston I believe.</p>
<p>I realize personal situations do vary. I don’t know if that counts as much for a transfer, sadly. But, hopefully she’s had enough training, and can go to a college she likes. But, as long as she’s learning in any way, regardless of where, hopefully she’ll be happy. Good luck.</p>
<p>@TK: Well, they don’t directly say “need blind/100% need met”, but CMC says FA will not influence a student’s admission decision, and they will meet all US-citizen’s need. Pomona says both things similarly.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand your situation. If your daughter isn’t 17 1/2 and hasn’t graduated from high school, are you sure she needs to apply as a transfer despite the CC credits? Frankly, I think it would be tough to come in as a junior at an LAC and be two+ years younger than your classmates. Plus, financial aid will be much better coming in as a freshman. I would check with the schools you are interested in.</p>
<p>*Pomona and CMC are both need blind/100% need met, *</p>
<p>Please be aware that schools that post that they meet 100% of need are usually saying that about INCOMING FROSH…not transfer students.</p>
<p>Most schools give lousy aid to transfer students. And, those who don’t qualify for Pell or state aid, can find themselves only getting a small student loan.</p>
<p>I think USC, Cornell, and a few others give great aid to transfers. Hopefully, others will mention a few more. Maybe some of the TOP LACs do as well.</p>
<p>Are you in Calif? Do you qualify for Pell, Cal Grants, etc? If so, then you may need to stay instate.</p>
<p>Are you sure that your D can’t qualify for incoming frosh status???</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: I do know that. However, both sites say “for all domestic students”, or something equivalent to that. But, I am in contact with them to verify…haha</p>
<p>Please forgive my ignorance about these complicated issues. I appreciate all your help!</p>
<p>Does one have to contact each school to find out how their financial aid is for transfer students? I don’t see that information in the Common Data Set or elsewhere.</p>
<p>Stanford would be willing to accept her as a homeschooled frosh and perhaps others would as well (I doubt she will apply to Stanford unless her SATs come up significantly). Our concern with applying as a frosh is that she is short in the number of required social science classes and in some cases, foreign language. I thought that as a transfer, they would look more at her college record than the required classes for frosh applicants. She will have about 55 units by the end of this year, but very few extracurriculars.</p>
<p>If she doesn’t get accepted for next fall, she will stay at community college for another year and then all the public California universities will open up as possibilities. </p>
<p>Even if she transfers in as a sophomore, it may well take her four years to graduate and that is fine. We made this decision to have her not go back to high school after she recovered from her illness for a variety of reasons. It has seemed like a good choice, as she is thriving academically and is very driven. Socially, it would be best for her to transfer sooner rather than later, as the community college is a commuter school. We live in a small town and she is craving a social network, which she missed out on in high school due to her illness.</p>
<p>I thought Scripps also had needs blind admission, but you don’t mention it here. I think it is her best shot at Claremont.</p>
<p>No, transfer aid is not broken out in the CDS. You can try, but you may not get a straight answer even by contacting a school. It’s in the school’s interest to encourage your daughter’s application without committing up front to the most generous aid offer.</p>
<p>So, I wouldn’t expect iron-clad assurances. Even if a couple of schools tell you they are need-blind for transfers, and committed to meeting 100% of need, you probably don’t want to limit yourself only to those schools if they are also super selective. Transfer admit rates to some top schools are in the low single digits.</p>
<p>A school’s being need-blind should be irrelevant to applicants. It has nothing to do with its desirability; it affects only the chances of admittance, and that for few domestic applicants (those on the cusp).</p>