Transfer Chances (A Bit More Unusual)

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
1

<p>1) Current College: Texas A&M
2) Current GPA: 1.97 (TAMU: 2.833*)
3) Probable total GPA after Spring Semester (in May): 2.96 (TAMU: ~3.75)
4) First Choice Major/College: Natural Science (Computer Science)
5) Second Choice Major/College: COLA
6) Courses completed: GOVT2301, GOVT2302, HIST1301, HIST1302, ECON2301, MATH2413, PHYS2425 (Anticipating PHYS2426, MATH2414, MATH2415, CHEM1311, CHEM1312)
7)Extracurricular Activities/Recommendations/Essays: Great comp-sci rec's and essays
8) Anything else useful:</p>

<p>By this point it's an easy deny, but there are a few factors that might help my chances (main reason for posting is to find out if they actually will, and if so, to what extent).</p>

<p>a) *Used "first-year grade exclusion" at TAMU to avoid using q-drops my freshman year, which meant intentionally failing classes so that I could have A&M ignore them in my GPA calculations. Didn't anticipate at the time wishing to transfer in the future, so this was just a terrible strategic decision on my part, and I'm not sure how much leniency UT will give me for being a fool.</p>

<p>b) SAT- 2380 (I don't know if this means anything as a transfer applicant, but it was enough to get me admitted to the UT engineering honors program out of high school, and I wasn't even in the top 10%. I'm sure it was more to pad their own stats, but maybe it could back up the improved GPA?)</p>

<p>c) Grossly positive grade trend. I was an idiot my freshman year and made some terrible decisions, but since then (and I anticipate until the time of my application) my grades have shot up dramatically, as in going from C's and D's in easy classes to A's in Physics, Calculus, and Chemistry.</p>

<p>Mainly I'm wondering if I've done irreparable harm to my transcript in the eyes of other universities, or if I can offset a lot of the foolishness with these things. Any advice is appreciated!</p>

2

<p>I had a sort of a similar situation when when I applied to transfer in for Fall 2011 and was denied. </p>

<p>I enlisted in the United States Army during my first semester in college but didn’t drop the courses in time before I left so I received a semester of 0s. When I completed my contract with the Army I returned and completed 2 years of college with a 3.9 GPA intending to transfer to UT. I had to submit all transcripts as required including the first semester of 0s and also chose to complete the essay about any previous hardships or explanations. I stated that I joined the Army, served in OIF, was honorably discharged and just made a mistake by not dropping the courses correctly my first semester. The GPA UT used for transfer consideration was around a 2.9 due to the 0s and I was denied admission based on low GPA. You really need around a 3.4-3.6 GPA to be considered for transfer admission. To me it seems unlikely they even read my extra essay and only saw the GPA then denied me. If I remember correctly UT will only overlook previous grades after 10 (ten!) years which seems a bit excessive to me.</p>

<p>To improve my chances in the future I had to contact my previous college and petition to change my previous 0s to drops with the ombudsmen office. They were helpful and after a couple of months my case was heard by a committee which approved my request. I am now in the admission waiting game again for the spring semester.</p>

<p>You definitely need to be proactive about your situation. Contact the UT admissions office or counselors, explain your situation and ask for guidance. Also contact TAMU and see if they have a procedure in place to remove those grades from your transcript. GPA is vitally important for college transfers even tough it may not accurately indicate anything about you as a student. A first year or semester of young foolishness will have a very large impact on your chances outside that university in the future.</p>

<p>I would say your outlook for transfer admission into UT is not very good but each students situation is unique and according to UTs admissions page considered as such. If they wouldn’t overlook a semester of 0s while a person honorably serves their country in the military I don’t know what would give them cause to do so.</p>

<p>Good Luck on your transfer.</p>

3

<p>Im not seeing any way that you could get in. Sorry bud.</p>

4

<p>Not to discourage you from trying to transfer to UT, but may we know the reason why you would want to leave Texas A&M? The admissions committee will be definitely be concerned as to why you would want to leave TAMU, especially since TAMU is the other public flagship in the State Texas and is known to be on par with UT in many areas.</p>