This upcoming college application season I will be applying as a transfer student. I need to catch up with my core courses because I would like to go to medical school in the future. I wanted to take introductory biology during Harvard Summer School, but how will that affect my other college decisions. I will also be applying to Yale, MIT, and other Ivies. Will they think that Harvard is my first choice? Will Harvard view my application favorably if they see that I can handle their coursework? Would they rather see that I take a core class or a class for my major (neuroscience) during the summer?
My first reaction is “DON’T DO IT.” Instead take that introductory course at your current university and NOT at Harvard or another school. My reasoning: While Harvard, Yale, MIT, and other Ivies will accept transfer credits from your current college (including summer courses taken at your current college), they generally WILL NOT accept summer credits taken at another college unless you are admitted to that college as a transfer student.
For example, Harvard WILL accept Harvard Summer School credits if you are admitted to Harvard. However, Yale will NOT accept Harvard Summer School credits as you didn’t first obtain the permission of Yale’s director of undergraduate studies in the subject of a course taken. See:http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/academic-regulations/credit-from-other-universities/
Will your current university accept credits taken at Harvard Summer School? If so, then possibly those HES credits might transfer over if admitted to Yale, MIT, and other Ivies. Before registering at Harvard, I would first talk to an advisor at your current college as your plan of action my result in HES credits not transferring to another college, in which case you’d have to take them all over again at your new college.
As to your specific questions
Maybe . . . but Yale, MIT, and other Ivies will definitely think Harvard is your first choice school. After all they offer summer courses as well and you didn’t decide to take a summer course at their college. That doesn’t bode well for your transfer chances at Yale, MIT, and other Ivies.
Not really. Please understand that Harvard Summer School is a money making operation for the university. Thousands of undergraduates and high school students take courses at HES and many of them hope it will give them a leg up in the process. And for 99% of those students, it doesn’t work. That’s because Admissions has hundreds of applicants who have taken HES courses and they can’t admit them all! Admissions might favorably view a student who received an ‘A’ in a summer school course who also submitted a recommendation from their HES professor to the college. But that entails actually getting to know your professor which is difficult to do in a large Introductory summer course which has 75 to 150 students.
FWIW: Harvard has only been admitting about 12 transfer students out of 1500 transfer applications per year (less than a 1% acceptance rate), so I don’t think your plan of action is really well thought out – both from the perspective of being a Harvard Transfer applicant and being a transfer applicant at Yale, MIR or the other ivies.
After checking your post history and seeing that you were rejected as a transfer applicant to Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Columbia and Cornell, I would seriously recommend taking that introductory course at your current university, as you didn’t have much luck as a transfer applicant this year.
Thank you!!!