<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I'm preparing for transfer in the 2011. I will be transferring from freshman year. The reason I'm transferring is because I haven't been accepted into Cambridge this year, so I have enrolled at a home college. (I come from Serbia) </p>
<p>I haven't even tried applying to U.S. schools, so I'm quite clueless about which college could actually offer me a place. I'm need-based, if that's how you call not being able to pay fees and life costs. </p>
<p>I'm expecting 2300+ SAT and 1600 on Subjects (Maths 2 and Physics). I'd like my major to be something with engineering & economics or business, stuff like that. Maths is fine as well. Also, I'm quite confident I'll have perfect or near-perfect grades in first year, so that's like 3.95+ GPA in the U.S. if I'm correct?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I haven't been at the International Olympiads in the High School, and I've heard that's an almost necessary prerequisite to be considered for admission at top schools. </p>
<p>Any help would be highly appreciated.</p>
<p>
Im pretty sure thats not true</p>
<p>I recommend starting on the Intl. Students forum and the Financial Aid and Scholarship forum (see the sticky thread at the top, it contains links to threads about FA for Intl. stduents). There’s no use applying to colleges that you can’t afford, so you first have to find schools that give good FA and/or merit scholarships to Intl students. </p>
<p>And be aware that most of the information that you’ll find on CC will be for freshman admissions, you’ll ALWAYS have to go to the college website and see what the policies are for transfers. In general, both FA and merit scholarships are less generous for transfer than for freshman applicants.</p>
<p>Some schools do not provide financial aid to international transfer students at all. </p>
<p>This OP is rather unbelievable…very enterprising to think that they will have almost perfect SAT scores…perfect SAT II scores…and a perfect GPA.</p>
<p>I would suggest that the OP TAKE these tests first, see how they come out and then make some decisions about where to look for colleges.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>thumper, you gotta get away from the FA forum and spend more time here on the Transfer forum, the OP is only projecting their college gpa, we’ve get jrs in HS already planning their transfer to an Ivy :rolleyes:.</p>
<p>Uhm, I’m not quite sure what OP is, but I suppose it’s a nickname for a college applicant? My country is quite unique in the way that there is one high school which is probably the best in the region and wider, concentrating solely on mathematics, physics, and programming. The very aim of the school would be getting as many students as possible ready for the IMO, IPHO, and the IOI. </p>
<p>So, being a student from that school, I find the SAT subjects quite easy, and seeing as I have until November to prepare, I think there’s no chance of not getting max scores. As for the college, even though is the best in my country, students from other schools still need to be given a chance to do good. Therefore, the first year is marginally easier for me, seeing as I’m already familiar with more than half of the courses I’ll be doing. That’s why I predict almost perfect GPA. </p>
<p>I am aware that the admission rates for transfer are significantly lower, even more with the need for financial aid. That is the reason I am asking to which schools I should apply to.</p>
<p>OP…original poster…the poster who started the thread.</p>
<p>Again I say…better plan is to have the scores you project in hand…and then craft a list of schools.</p>
<p>As Entomom pointed out, you will also need to consider which colleges here in the U.S. will provide you with enough aid should you get accepted.</p>
<p>Another thing you need to consider…many schools also consider your NEED (for international/transfer students) when looking at your admissions. In other words, they look to see if you have financial need along with your application. Your need for financial aid could be an admissions issue at some schools.</p>
<p>International students also need to be able to demonstrate that they have enough money AVAILABLE to cover all the costs of attending college in the U.S. for the year…this can include student financial aid…to get a visa to study here.</p>
<p>Alright, I will of course focus on achieving the results, it’s just that the whole application process is quite complicated, especially for intl students, so I want to get familiar with it as soon as possible, and with what each college I’m applying to would ask from me. </p>
<p>Also, if a college is need-blind for its undergraduate studies, does it mean it’s need-blind for transfer as well? Do I have a chance of getting into top schools like MIT, Caltech, Yale, Stanford? I’m not listing Harvard here because I don’t even want to bother studying for the 3rd SAT2, and Princeton doesn’t have transfer admission. </p>
<p>I’ve heard that the smaller Liberal Arts colleges are great as well, like Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan? Not sure whether Middlebury fits here academically, but it’s need-blind as well, so that might be a plus? </p>
<p>Opinions are appreciated.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not always. This varies by schools. What applies to incoming freshmen sometimes is NOT the case for transfer students. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No way of knowing…you haven’t yet taken those standardized tests and don’t have thescores. BUT I will say…these schools cannot accept all of the students with perfect stats who apply. Most of the applicants to these schools are top stats high school grads. Admission as a transfer is even more competitive as they accept a VERY small percentage of transfer students who apply. So apply and see. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>According to their websites, these schools accept a SMALL number of transfer students on a space availability basis only.</p>
<p>A few points:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do not confuse need-blind with a school that provides 100% of need to their students. The first is an admissions policy: if a school is need blind, then they don’t take financial need into account when making admissions decisions. The second is a FA policy: if a school provides 100% of need, then it will provide full need, it will not leave a ‘gap’ between financial need and the aid they give.</p></li>
<li><p>Even for schools that provide 100% of need, unless they state otherwise, aid will be provided in the form of loans, work study and grants. There are a few colleges that don’t include loans in their FA packages, but very few. A large loan component may make a college unaffordable.</p></li>
<li><p>While I’m not suggesting you apply there, H now only requires two SAT IIs. Middlebury decided not to take any transfers for Fall 2010, as it has other years in the past. Both of these facts are readily available on the college websites.</p></li>
<li><p>Since you are targeting the most selective schools in the country, and these are likely to be the most generous as far as FA to Intl transfers, it’s not going to be difficult for you to go to their websites and find out from the primary source: what they require for transfer admissions, whether or not they are need blind for Intl transfers, whether they provide FA to Intl transfers, and what their specific FA policies are for Intl transfers. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The information that you will find on the college websites is much more valuable than asking for Chances on an internet forum based on projected test scores. Truth be told, the weakest information provided by this site is easily the Chances predictions. This is a great resource for many things, but with extremely little published data on transfer admissions available and the very low number of transfers to selective colleges, Chances=Guesses, nothing more.</p>