Summer before applying to transfer to top 30 Universities

<p>I am a rising college freshman. I was a moron in high school, but I am willing to put more effort so that I can transfer to a top 30 university. </p>

<p>HS Stats:
GPA: 3.75
SAT: 1980
SATII : I was too lazy to take any
AP: took the easier ones offered at my school: Micro/Macro: 5/5, US History: 5, Lang and Comp: 4, Psychology, Environmental Science, Statistics, Government </p>

<p>Extra curricular: Good and unique, but not great. </p>

<p>Starting this summer, what can I do to make my application stronger.
I was thinking of doing 2 of three set of options: </p>

<ol>
<li>Retake SAT and take SATS II in Biology, Math II, World History and (Perhaps) French </li>
<li>Take Community College/ University courses for Calculus 1 and 2, Computer Science, and some rigorous classes </li>
<li>Volunteer at local government offices, work the obama campaign, do an internship at a law firm and be captain of a camp. </li>
</ol>

<p>Which set of combinations is best, because I can not decide? Or should I attempt to do all?</p>

<p>Subject tests are only for HS students, they are redundant for a transfer as you’re taking college classes and being graded.</p>

<p>Bump 10char</p>

<p>What will make me a stronger candidate to transfer</p>

<p>I want to know too</p>

<p>2 and 3 sound good, don’t think colleges like you doing the SAT after HS</p>

<p>If you already have decent ECs, I’d work on #2. Having a solid academic background is going to be more important than ECs for the most part, and I don’t think the subject tests would do a whole heck of a lot of good. A lot of schools won’t even look at your subject tests if you’re a transfer, so I’d call specific schools before going through the effort of doing that. I’d also plan on re-taking the SATs, but only if you think you can significantly improve your score. </p>

<p>What’s your planned major?</p>

<p>I am plan to major in econ or political science. Since my CC does not offer a lot of classes I’m thinking about taking a classe at university of Chicago, although it is about $3000.</p>

<p>How do online classes look?</p>

<p>I am also a rising college freshman planning to transfer. Coincidentally, my major is political science, and I hope to add on economics to double major. The internship is definitely a good idea, as well as volunteering for the Obama campaign. As for the SAT’s, I would retake them. You can easily raise that to a 2200. I plan on retaking my ACT score of 29.</p>

<p>I got 1500 on my sats and i got into chapel hill so sats perhaps are not as important</p>

<p>^ Maybe you are just an outlier.</p>

<p>Somebeast - were you a “rockstar” your freshman year of college to compensate? </p>

<p>Also, I’m going to a third tier University next year, like I have said, (I was hoping on going to U of I, but I changed my mind last minute) I did not apply to that University’s honors program. The honors department said I could transfer in the winter quarter. Would not being in the honors program hurt my application? I’m such a moron. I wrote the essay that was necessary, but did not submit it because it had to be mailed in and my mom told me to not even waste the stamp because I was not going to attend that school… </p>

<p>a few people at my school got into the honors program with ACT scores between 21-23 and pseudo-essays, So perhaps I would have also been admitted…</p>

<p>thanks @rain202, I’m going to study my ass off to retake the SAT. It is better to be safe.</p>

<p>I do not want my application to be staggering by any means. I am going to make a futile attempt to get in the honors programs for the fall by going to go to the University tomorrow and essentially beg the honors program to admit me to it.</p>

<p>bump 10char</p>

<p>So, i went down to my school and basically begged them on my knees. They told me honors classes were full…</p>

<p>^ That’s unfortunate. Try to test into the most advanced classes and take a level 200 classes if possible. Your AP credits should help you get out of the general education requirements.</p>