Hello! I am a sophomore at Vanderbilt and I’m trying to transfer out.
My stats are:
GPA in HS: forgot exactly, but around 3.7-8
SAT superscored: around 2300, but also forgot exactly.
GPA at Vandy: 3.7
The schools I’m looking at right now are Columbia, Upenn, Northwestern, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, MIT.
I heard that for sophomore transfers, my high school numerical data doesn’t really matter much. I also heard that for transfers, which university you’re coming from also matters. Considering those things, what do you guys think my chances are? Any comment or info would help very much!
Hey there and welcome to College Confidential!
Here are some things to consider:
So you’d be entering your desired college as a junior, correct? If so, then yes, your high-school grades won’t be too important, but they -will- be looked at and taken into consideration. (But you shouldn’t worry, your GPA is fine)
If you’re talking about prestige in your comment, then I wouldn’t fully agree. While one can argue that “good school=more challenging courses=better prepared student”, your GPA is really what matters the most. You have a great GPA and SAT scores! Be sure to also include what you did outside of the classroom- were you active in your community?
You should also keep in mind that a key factor in transfer students are their reasons for transferring and why those colleges to which you’re applying would be a good fit. To me they all seem to have just the prestige factor in common. No where did you mention your intended major, which is extremely important to mention (especially if you’re entering as a junior).
We transfer students are looked at slightly differently during admissions so my advice would be to focus on EACH college individually, focus on your reasoning behind applying to EACH of them(and consequently demonstrating that reasoning in your essays, which also play a huge role in admissions).
If you were looking for the good ol’ traditional safety/match/reach evaluation, sorry. They’re all extremely selective, that’s all you really have to know.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/1904422-transfer-acceptance-rates-for-top-universities-2015-2016.html#latest
They’re acceptance rates are over here. Good luck pal.
And, if you’d be so kind, could you tell me why you’re transferring out of Vandy? (you can PM me too if you’d like).
I’m applying to a couple of colleges as a transfer student and Vanderbilt is waaaaay up on my list, definitely top three. It’s always nice to hear feedback from current students!