To put it bluntly, what's the best school I can get into?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Howdy CC,</p>

<p>I'm a freshman at CUNY Hunter in NYC, with an urgent desire to transfer by junior year. Majoring in political science right now, but I'm not married to it and could easily switch to economics or philosophy or any number of things. </p>

<p>GPA: 3.79, but this'll be bumped up to 3.8-3.9 after this semester. </p>

<p>HOWEVER I took a No Credit in a science class. Lousy study habits. I plan to make it up over the summer, and for argument's sake let's say I get an A. It's still a huge blotch I know. Hopefully I can explain it on the application. </p>

<p>ECs:
-Editor on literary review
-Staff writer/editorialist on student newspaper
-Intern with New York Public Interest Research Group (doing consumer advocacy, small claims counseling types of things)
-Volunteer with State Assemblyman, who wrote me a rec and <em>hopefully</em> that's enough to land an internship with my Senator this summer
-Economics Club
-Roosevelt Institute, which is this student-run public policy group, sorta similar to NYPIRG
-It's too late to join a sport this season, but I'll definitely do track or intramural handball or something in the fall
-Part-time job as bank teller.</p>

<p>This is what my EC's are shaping up as now. I'd love to do something more leadership-oriented, but it's hard. All the club official positions seem to be taken up by upperclassmen, and I'm not planning to be here long enough to get that far.</p>

<p>Something I've considered is starting a Business or Finance Club (which this school lacks) and making myself President. </p>

<p>SATs: 2100 (770 CR, 720 W, 610 M)</p>

<p>Didn't prepare at all in high school, but I'm retaking in June and working to bump those math and writing scores up significantly. </p>

<p>URM (Hispanic)</p>

<p>So please, lemme know what you think. What are the best places I have a realistic shot of being admitted to? Any tips on where to improve?</p>

<p>Right now I'm considering:
Georgetown
Cornell (CAS and ILR)
NYU
and some other places.</p>

<p>Any answers appreciated. And congrats if you've actually read through all this.</p>

2

<p>Harvard… I’m not kidding</p>

3

<p>I think you should take a look at Northwestern in Chicago.</p>

4

<p>George Washington, Amherst, or Vassar.</p>

5

<p>It’s difficult to say without your high school GPA. I wouldn’t quite say Harvard, Yale, or Penn Wharton, but you’d have a fair chance at any other Ivy, particularly Cornell or Penn CAS. I think you’d also be a really good candidate for liberal arts schools like Williams, Amherst, Vassar, Bowdoin and so on. you should seriously consider them as well as big research universities. Basically, you have a decent chance wherever you apply to, though that is assuming that you can get your GPA up to 3.9. Your profile obviously isn’t as good if that GPA stays where it is, though it would still be solid. The only other thing I’d say is that the science class where you got no credit would likely be an issue with a very quantitatively focused place like MIT or CalTech. Otherwise though you’re a pretty good applicant, who’s got a good shot at a lot of schools.</p>

6

<p>^really? What part of his resume, besides his GPA, makes you say that he is (potentially) competitive? Isn’t a 3.9 from a CUNY relatively easy to get and thus not too competitive? Sorry for this non-mitigating post…</p>

7

<p>URM is a HUGE asset. Huge.</p>

<p>URM from a city school with a good gpa probably has a shot. I don’t think your “No Credit” is as bad as you make it out to be either</p>

8

<p>I don’t know why he /wouldn’t/ be particularly competitive. His (projected) GPA would be quite solid, regardless of level of undergraduate institution - and this is not to say that the CUNY system is poor in any way. His SAT is strong - not mind blowing, but it most definitely won’t be seen as a real detriment (though the Math score is slightly low - it is somewhat mitigated by his interest in PoliSci). His EC’s are pertinent to the field of pursuit and show a degree of exposure and involvement that is often desired.</p>

<p>Re the OP:</p>

<p>The NC will be a blotch, but hopefully not a very significant one since it is a non-major class. Retaking will probably mitigate this, if your excuse is somewhat valid.</p>

<p>I might recommend some of the upper tier publics: Michigan, Virginia, Chapel Hill. You’ll be OOS, of course, but your academic accomplishments might give you a foothold to work with. I would aim for schools around political centers: NYU, GT, would all be good choices. You’d lock American (imo), but it’s also not a bad choice to include. </p>

<p>Maybe BC or Johns Hopkins if you’re feeling especially lucky. They’re not the statistically sound choices, but they are what they are.</p>

9

<p>My high school GPA was around 3.6 but it was a downward grade trend. Excellent for two years, thoroughly mediocre for the rest. Getting into a school like Penn CAS would be pretty amazing if I could actually pull it off.</p>

10

<p>Emory University</p>

11

<p>… I think you should do some research into which school is going to be the “best” fit for you. Look at different programs and what different schools have to offer. Then you should make a decision on which schools to apply to.</p>