<p>Brand, you have done nothing but rearticulate what I have already said in one of my previous posts: namely that Harvard and yale along with other top schools do offer need blind financial aid for international students. </p>
<p>Brand, to be frank, you are one of the most arrogant people i have ever encountered. You make it seem as if your word is the final word and what you say is absolutely correct (which is obviously not the case, as evidenced by your lack of knowledge that there is financial aid for international students at 3 of the 7 schools I mentioned). </p>
<p>Malishka31, if given the choice, I believe that the vast majority of people would rather go to an ivy league school rather than a state college. This is not to say that there aren't great state colleges, but for my situation, I need financial aid, and harvard has the most generous financial aid package available. Moreover, the student body and academic atmosphere between Harvard and other schools (even between harvard and the ivies) is incomprable. Many believe that most of one's university experience is in the people one meets and works with; these ivies go to incredible lengths to ensure diversity and excellence. Their selection process is incredibly selective, too, which allows them to create the best student bodies available. Moreover, these schools have more money for research, better libraries, and the best professors. </p>
<p>Thank you others for the encouraging comments. </p>
<p>What have you heard of successful transfer applicants saying as their reasons for wanting to transfer? I am not looking to copy another's reason, but I think it would be helpful to get a glimpse of what successful applicants have said.</p>
<p>Brand, your last posts just does not fail to impress me in terms of its arrogance and ignorance. Most of those figures are understated, and for your information, I have done more hours of research on these things than you know, and your help is unwanted from me. Some people are just not helpful; you are one of them.</p>
<p>I disagree that when given the choice most would choose ivy schools.
I for example never wanted to attend an ivy school, my 1st choice was always UCLA, and thats what i aimed for, and UCLA is by no means a "bad" school. </p>
<p>Everyone is looking for something specific in an education, i dont really see why your choosing to aim only for the ivies aside for your stated reasons of financial aid.</p>
<p>Many schools are selective with excellent student bodies, and they are not ivy schools. Also when you say that the schools have more money for reasearch and better libraries, better professors, i think thats not really the case necessarly. As an undergrad its not like the funds go directly to you for the reasearch, you would basiclly have the same opportunities at many other US schools, just if you chose to utilize them. Its what you choose to do at the university that matterse, and the majority of universaties will offer you opportunities that are wide and many and far beyond that what you could actulaly utilize.</p>
<p>Also, i am sure your university has many reasearch opportunities and many other opportunities that you are not utilizing, what makes you think that you would utilize them at an IVY? simply because they are ivy opportunities they are somehow more intresting and better?</p>
<p>Northwestern is a private school....it is not public. And I'm not sure how you see publics "contribute more to the advancement of the world than" the ivies or other privates. No doubt, the schools you've listed are great research institutions. They are also bigger and have a larger amount of research faculty but I honestly don't see how they "contribute" more to the world.</p>
<p>
[quote]
This is sort of bias as I am a math/science person and I feel that these subjects although not superior have more significance in the improvement of the world and advancement of technology. I mean if you were an engineering major why on earth would you choose an ivy over Berkeley or UM-ann arbor?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, the Ivy League schools are generally weaker in or have smaller funds set up for the engineering sciences...however, Cornell's engineering school is quite good and certainly comparable to other top tier engineering programs.<br>
I don't see how your argument about publics holds- some of the best research in engineering takes place at schools like Princeton, MIT, CalTech, Stanford...all elite privates in the realm of the Ivies. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the Ivies all have incrediable departments in the hard sciences and mathematics....Pure math, physics, chem and bio are all extremely well represented at the Ivy level.</p>
<p>Not everyone wants an ivy they want to go where they are going to do best, and feel comfortable. Just because it's an ivy doesn't mean that it's a fit for everyone even if that person has the stats to get in.</p>
<p>You know, there is some very good discussion on this thread. I agree with many of the posters re over-focus on Ivies and prestige.</p>
<p>I do think the title of the thread was a very promising one, but the thrust of the thread has gone in a different direction. Any of you wise transfer successes want to re-start a thread on the original topic of advice and tips based on your success? I think it is a valuable topic.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Malishka31, if given the choice, I believe that the vast majority of people would rather go to an ivy league school rather than a state college.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't think this is true...people choose to attend other schools for all sorts of reasons. While the Ivies are fantastic...there are certainly other schools that would offer incrediablly different expereinces that the ivies cannot. </p>
<p>Think of specialty and professional schools like culinary school, conservatories and fine arts programs, religious or religion-based instutions like Bob Jones (not that I condone the radicalism of BJ), liberal arts colleges such as Williams, Amherst and Swarthmore, or just a good ole' party friendly state school with a good sports team and high athletic-morale. These are all things that some (if not all) Ivy League schools cannot offer. In fact, there is not a single school in this world that is perfect and offers everything. So there, not everyone will want to go to an Ivy. </p>
<p>mliu87...you call others arrogant and ignorant. I suggest you take a look at yourself sometime.</p>
<p>Originally, 'most' of the posters were trying help and giving quite meaningful advise. The OP decided it was not what he wanted to hear and that's when it got hostile.</p>
<p>mliu87 - I'm not going to argue with you. You've done nothing but take a defensive stance to my suggestions since I first gave them. You say my figures are "understated." I don't really understand what you mean...the acceptance rates are taken from Collegeboard.com and CDS, as I too was/am interested in some of those schools. As for financial aid quotes, I didn't pull them out of my a**. They're straight from the college websites. I'm trying to help you realize that several of those schools will NEVER accept you if you're an international in need of financial aid.</p>
<p>In the end, if you are so positive that your method works (although it clearly DID NOT work last year), I'd say get ready to spend the rest of your years at UBC. =$</p>
<p>mliu87.. I am a student from McGill University. Believe it or not, I graduated high school as valedictorian, near perfect SATS (2380) and won the National figure skating championships. I myself applied to the ivies with a hook of figure skating, hoping to bring it down a notch to the club level at the university (contribution) and focus on my studies more. Bottom line is I got rejected. The Adcoms can see right through you. No college will believe you want to go there for the best education ever, they probably believe you say that to EVERY schools you apply too.. too generic. BOTTOM LINE.. youre international.. they will NEVER LET YOU TRANSFER because you will study there, take their degree, and go BACK HOME. They don't want that, they want their degrees used in the US. As for those international tranfers that ARE accepted, they are very extraordinary students ACADEMICALLY BY FAR. They are the asians and such who have won numerous world science olympiads and international contests. mliu87.. if I didn't get accepted as an international transfer from Canada.. no way in you are gonna get accepted. Have a nice day :)</p>
<p>Anyway, I was interested in any advice that past transfer students might have for us newbies. I will be applying for transfer this year for entry Fall 07'. </p>
<p>The thread title was very promising. I hope there will be some who can help out!</p>
<p>I'd like to know how I can create a balanced list of schools to apply to (esp since I'm an international transfer student too) so that I don't get bitten by the fin aid! (brand182 had some very scary statistics. I have read the same on the college admission sites)</p>
<p>Judging from what you and brand182 have said, does that mean that international transfer students should not even apply to a top school because they are bound for rejection?</p>
<p>I am just wondering because I will be applying to a range of schools and one of them will be one of the schools mentioned above. I am from a California Community College.</p>
<p>Please don't get me wrong even though some people have tried to make me out as a bad guy. I DO think you should apply to ivy league schools, but what I was trying to tell the OP is that you should spread your list out and research other schools. The fact is, as an international student your chances for getting into a top school AND getting aid are extremely small, so if you really want a chance look into the ivies and pick your favorites...it'll be easier to focus on the essays for each school and to explain why that school is particularly where you want to go. </p>
<p>In addition, I think you have made an excellent move to go to a CCC. I live in Texas, but I often wish I had moved to Cali and gone to a CC there because the opportunities are seriously the best in the nation. Cali makes it so that with good grades you can transfer to UCLA or Berkeley. Berkeley! There's a public ivy for ya with incredible resources...all we've got is UT lol. It's good, but it certainly isn't Berkeley. I think you've got the right idea to apply to one ivy, and you could always apply to more if you wanted. I just don't see the rationale in applying to all of the ivy schools, spending a TON of money on apps, and (if one's done the research) already knowing that half of those schools will probably automatically reject you based on financial aid.</p>
<p>Definitely apply to the Ivy League even if you're international. I'm international and I applied for fin. aid and got in to the 2 Ivies I applied to.</p>
<p>I can see why mliu applied only to Ivies. Being a Canadian myself, why bother going to the States for anything less than the best when you can stay in Canada and get a very good education for a lot less? There's nothing wrong with aiming for the top.</p>
<p>As a "successful"- I put it in quotes because I was successful in transferring to my 1st choice school with a full ride- transfer, I want to give a little of my opinion.
1. As most other people have suggested, pick THE school/2-3 schools that you want to go to...this is very important. Spend time researching about the school, its student body and its policies. It always shows in your essay how enthusiastic you are about a school. When I applied, I spoke to current and past students, read newspapers about the school and then wrote my essay. Most of it was about why I wanted to transfer, and particularly why I wanted to transfer to that particular school.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Speak to the people in the admissions and financial aid department- I think this might have been easier because I was applying to a smaller school. These people always remember you if you put an effort into being visible. When I had to stay for another semester at my cc, I spoke to the director of admissions and explained my situation. She was so wonderful to me...she explained that even though I had to re-apply, she would mark my application and ensure that the admissions people knew my situation- I got in the second time with even better fin. aid than before.</p></li>
<li><p>Pad your college application- work hard at wherever you are now. I am a biochem major so I did a lot of research my 1st 2 years. I attended American Chemical Society meetings and actually presented at one. (My high school stuff was horrible. I had more than a few B's and C's even though I did have A's. But I explained the reason behind theses horrible scores and pointed to my college stats to show that I had learned my lesson and cleaned up my act.)</p></li>
<li><p>I cannot emphasize this enough- recommendations! Other than your essay, you recs. are the second most important part of your essay. Build relationships with your teachers from the beginning- adcomms can tell if you just requested your letters of recs. from anyone. One of my teachers actually told a funny anectode about me when I first took his class- I took 2 classes with him.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>On the other topic- re ivy league schools, I think that people do get wowed by the prestige and forget that this might not be the best place for them. I wanted to apply to three- Harvard, Yale and Cornell- but decided against it. I examined the reasons behind wanting to go to these schools and realized that they were all about prestige. My dream school is a smaller school where I can get better attention from the professors- their priority is the student rather than research.
So OP, I think you need to stop being defensive and listen to some of the people here, they have invaluable experience that might be useful to you. You don't even seem to know what you want at the schools- this is evident from the fact that you are asking others what they wrote in their essays about why they love the school. Take a deep breath, re-think your decision to transfer- ask yourself why you want to tranfer and is it worth the money you are going to spend- because everyone is right- very few schools want to give financial aid to international students. I think you will find that when you stop being defensive, you will learn a lot!</p>
<p>your location says chicago...were you accepted into chicago.</p>
<p>I have to say I wasn't really looking for any help on this thread but I will definitely take your words to heart. There are some things there that I have not done (simply b/c I have so many schools, I only know a moderate amount of info a/b each school). I haven't even considered to read the school paper and speak with students at my favorites. </p>
<p>Just wondering, how did you go about speaking with the admissions counselors. I mean, I'd like to get to know them, but really, I don't want to sound desperate.</p>