To Where Should I Transfer?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am a student at a massive Midwestern state school and hate it. It was a safety school. I really tried to make it work, but I'm just really frustrated and want to leave. I want to go to a place that encourages academic vitality, creativity, and social diversity. I want to get the hell out of here. </p>

<p>The only problem is I don't know where to run. </p>

<p>I was offered a GT to Cornell for next year, but had to turn it down as I'm interested in entrepreneurship now. I'm reapplying as just a regular transfer student into AEM, but would like other options in case I'm not accepted.</p>

<p>Last year, I applied to over 10 schools but couldn't afford any of the ones I was accepted into (most notably, NYU Stern). Needless to say, I'm really discouraged but want to try again. I love the atmosphere of the University of Chicago, but I'm afraid it's too selective. </p>

<p>At this point, i'm still not sure if I want to pursue an undergrad business degree or go with a double major in social sciences but I'm open to both programs. I'm in the Honors college or whatever here and am doing well. I suppose I'm taking an intensive course load this semester. </p>

<p>My stats are below in the doobly doo. Could I be competitive at top liberal arts schools like Claremont? What schools do you recommend? </p>

<p>Student:</p>

<p>User Name: UnicornFantasy
Gender: M
Location: Rolla Missouri
College Class Year: 2014
High School: Public
High School Type: rarely sends grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.98
GPA - Weighted: 3.98
Class Rank: top 5%
Class Size: 300</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 640
SAT I Critical Reading: 650
SAT I Writing: 720
ACT: 31</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Creating a non-profit clothing brand
Two jobs
Missouri Boys State
Science Olympiad
developing <a href="http://www.YourFutureClub.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.YourFutureClub.org&lt;/a>, nonp
Leadership positions: President of National Honor Society
President of Junior Class
Historian for Latin Club
Several Leadership Camps (camper and counselor)
Volunteer/Service Work: Red Cross Certified Disaster Relief Coordinator
65 Hours community service (voluntary)
Honors and Awards: Rotary Youth Leadership Award
National Latin Exam Cum Laude/Magna Cum Laude
College Summer programs: Washington University Summer Scholar</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest:</p>

<p>College: Cornell University, Choice #: 0, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Deferred
College: New York University, Choice #: 0, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted
College: Northwestern University, Choice #: 0, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Waitlisted
College: Reed College, Choice #: 0, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted
College: The University of Chicago, Choice #: 0, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Waitlisted
College: Washington University in St. Louis, Choice #: 1, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Rejected</p>

<p>Desired College Characteristics:</p>

<p>Location type: Urban, Small City, Rural
Size: Small (Under 2,500), Medium Small (2,500 - 5,000), Medium (5,000 - 10,000)</p>

<p>Area: East Coast, West Coast, Midwest
Importance of cost: Important</p>

2

<p>Could you not afford the schools that meet need last year? Don’t want to give suggestions you can’t afford, so what’s the situation?</p>

3

<p>So this is what happened. I applied to Washington University early decision. At that time in my life, I thought I really wanted to try architecture. To appear more personal, I hand wrote my application. This would later bite me in the butt. </p>

<p>My twin brother was accepted to WashU as a biomedical engineering major early decision, and I was deferred to regular decision as an arch major. I visited campus and met with an admissions counselor who recommended that I switch majors. I had indicated an interest in entrepreneurship so I changed my major to business and applied into Olin for regular decision. They told me if I kept my GPA up and retook the ACT, I was practically in. I kept an unweighted 4.0 my senior year and raised my ACT 2 points. </p>

<p>I applied to the University of Chicago, Reed, Northwestern, Boston University, Johns Hopkins, NYU Stern, and a few safeties. However, I met with a friend who advised me to apply online using the common app. Little did I know, my guidance office had PHOTOCOPIED MY WASHU application and mailed it to every school to which I applied. This application was basically a love letter to washington university and in it, I explained how it was my first choice school and the only institution I would like to attend. </p>

<p>Boston University and JHU denied me and sent me an email saying that my application was removed due to conflicting files. I’m not sure what happened at the other schools or if I just didn’t make the cut or whatever but was only accepted into Reed, NYU Stern, and my safeties. Wash U ended up flat out rejecting me. Reed offered about 13,000 in aid and the rest in loans. NYU offered about the same. My family thought this was ridiculous and wouldn’t let me go. We can’t really afford much because a) my brother is in washu and b) my sister goes to saint louis university and c) they both plan to go to medical school. </p>

<p>My family makes about 120,000 combined but we have no savings for college. That money was spent by my dad paying off his business loans.</p>

4

<p>Damn dude, you pretty much got screwed over. Because you’re worried about cost perhaps you should consider Vanderbilt; Vandy now offers full aid to transfer students. They also have a 50% acceptance rate. Your stats look pretty good though. Just keep your GPA up, get good recs, and write killer essays!</p>

5

<p>But schools meeting need won’t help if the OPs family can’t afford her EFC. </p>

<p>OP, you need to figure out your EFC and determine what your family can afford. WashU meets need but things may get skewed as far as what your family pays overall as SLU does not.</p>

<p>I would take NYU off the list, they’ll offer huge loans. The rest of the list looks good for meeting need if you can handle the EFC, which really shouldn’t be bad with 3 in college.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the advice. What does OP stand for, 2college2college? </p>

<p>The schools I’m considering now are:</p>

<p>Claremont McKenna
University of Southern California
Cornell AEM
University of Pennsylvania Wharton
Columbia
Dartmouth
Occidental
Tufts
WashU <em>gag</em>
University of Chicago
Vanderbilt(?)</p>

<p>I have a really strong essay that shows how passionate I am about entrepreneurship (I chartered a non-profit clothing brand that raises money for genetic research this summer and have partnered with a top research university). </p>

<p>I’m almost positive that I fit the requirements for transfer with all of these schools and like I said, I’m taking a pretty hefty load this year. </p>

<p>Should I cross any of these schools off the list? What liberal arts schools are worth my time? I know most of the top LACs have really low acceptance rates and, from my experience last year, that is scaring me to death.</p>

7

<p>Hey I would add in UNC-CH, UVA, or Michigan as a transfer “safety.” All are going to be relative safeties and are nicer on transfers. Also I’d put back in Northwestern.</p>

8

<p>OP=original poster, you in this case.</p>

<p>I agree you need to add safeties, most of your schools take very few transfers. Conventional wisdom says you won’t get into colleges as a junior transfer that you would not have as a freshmen. Your scores would have been too low to get you into most of these last year unfortunately.</p>

<p>I’m thinking BC might be a good fit, Emory, and agree with UVA and UNC, Michigan won’t give you money. </p>

<p>So keep your grades way up, make sure you take the classes necessary for these schools (make sure to see Wharton’s in particular), add some schools you would definitely have gotten into last year, and you should be set.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the clarification. I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I will be applying as a sophomore, not a junior. Additionally, what do you guys think of the liberal arts scene for what I’m interested in? I would apply as an econ major as I took two econ classes this semester and will take two next semester as well. Claremont is my first choice, but I have no experience with liberal arts schools and don’t know if I have any chances at all. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions for liberal arts or maybe smaller universities? Preferably in the Northeast or on the west coast.</p>