<p>I'm Mexican student seeking to transfer to UPenn and I was looking for advice. I'm an Honors student at my current University (It's within the top 50 in the U.S.) I'm a senator in student government and participated in a leadership seminar last semester. I'm a second semester freshman with a 3.8 GPA, my 2nd semester classes are challenging Stats (Sophmore level), Chinese 1, Calc 2 (My major, Economics, only requires Calc 1) and Microecon 1 for Honors. Have a great relationship with my recommenders yet my disadvantage are my old high school stats. I know SAT's don't count as much for international yet I believe they're kind of weak, I have an 1820 (630 CR, 620 Math, 570 Writing). Furthermore, my highschool gpa is only 3.5 unweighted. I'm retaking the SAT but believe my score will be between 1900-2000 being realistic, do you think I have a shot?</p>
<p>I'm applying to UPenn's College of Arts & Sciences</p>
<p>Hey, I’m in the same situation with you, despite that I’m a junior international transfer from China. I think your college GPA is competitive enough since mine is only 3.5 T_T They all say that Penn cares about test scores a lot and I don’t know if it’s true. But high SAT score is definitely an advantage.</p>
<p>I’m not quite sure how it works for transfers, but normal applicants usually need an SAT of around 2100 to be competitive. Try getting yours a bit higher than what you are planning.</p>
<p>SAT scores don’t matter much for transfers- for a good reason. What really matters is your college GPA, recommendations, essays and ECs. The SAT is supposed to measure your college readiness. Why in the world would it matter for someone who already displayed that he/she can do college work? Take a TOEFL to show that you can speak and write English well, that’s if you aren’t a native speaker. Taking the SAT again isn’t going to make a much of a difference. </p>
<p>My brother is an international student who was able to transfer to Stanford. His SAT is at the 1900 level, so he got rejected when he applied as a freshman. When he applied as a transfer and got accepted, he had a college GPA of 3.9+ and very good recommendations and essays. You seem to be in a good position, from what I see.</p>
<p>@Cardgames thanks for the feedback. I had also heard SAT’s aren’t a primary factor in transfer admissions. I actually took the TOEFL iBt almost 2 years ago and got a 108/120 hopefully I’ll get in. </p>
<p>@dfree124 You’re right however as cardgames said SATs aren’t as important for transfers. I would also like to point out that most universities are more lenient with international students regarding SATs. One friend of mine from Mexico got into Brown and Dartmouth with a superscore of 1860 and a 4.0 GPA (unweighted) and another of my friends got into Northwestern with 1810 and a 3.8 GPA (unweighted). </p>
<p>I’m also applying to Dartmouth, McGill, HKU, HKUST and UToronto among others.</p>