Transfer Chances at Harvard and other school

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi, I'm currently a student at Duke University, class of 2008.</p>

<p>Yes, according to my graduating year, I'm supposed to be a senior right now.</p>

<p>But I am not yet, due to some of my circumstances.</p>

<p>I hold Korean citizenship, and that makes me go to go to the military for 2 years.</p>

<p>I finished my sophomore year, and came to Korea to do the duty.</p>

<p>However, in Korea, there are usually two types of doing the military service.</p>

<p>One, just going to the 'real' military, and two, being recruited in a firm to</p>

<p>work there for 2 years and 10 months instead of going to be military ( The</p>

<p>number of people being recruited like this is only around 2~3% of the male</p>

<p>population). Anyways, so that's what I am doing right now in Korea, working</p>

<p>in a firm doing system development and overseas marketing & sales.</p>

<p>While working here, I want to take my shot at the three schools in the</p>

<p>title, Harvard, Stanford and Yale.</p>

<p>Below are my stats.</p>

<p>High School GPA : 3.7</p>

<p>SAT 1 : 1470 (old SAT)</p>

<p>SAT 2 : Math 1C : 800
Chem : 730
Math 2C : 720
Writing : 730</p>

<p>Extra : tons..but I will not bother to write them down since they are old.</p>

<p>College stats at Duke</p>

<p>College GPA for 2 years : 3.65</p>

<p>Major : Economics & Chinese (proficient, almost fluent)</p>

<p>Extra curricular : I</p>

<p>nternship at the Korean Parliament house
Internship at CNN (Beijing Branch)
Internship at Microsoft (Korean Branch)
Staff at a Korean IT firm making DVRs (oversea sales, marketing team)
Staff at a Korean IT firm (oversea sales, marketing team, currently working)</p>

<p>The below two experiences are the ones that come from alternative to</p>

<p>going to the military.</p>

<p>I've been working at the firm that I am working now for around a year now,</p>

<p>and will be working for around a year and a half more.</p>

<p>So, I just want to know.</p>

<p>Would I have any chances at the three schools, and if I don't what would I</p>

<p>have to do to increase the chances.</p>

<p>I appreciate ANY comments guys.</p>

<p>Best</p>

2

<p>Being a college student and transfering to a prestigious college such as Harvard, is farely difficult. Due to the fact that you are competing against rejected people who are bettering their chances to go to Harvard.</p>

3

<p>Harvard-impossible
Yale-impossible
Stanford-possible</p>

4

<p>Stanford takes even fewer transfers than the other 2.</p>

5

<p>Any chances to make the impossibles to possibles?</p>

<p>By the way, I was rejected at Harvard once too. So I went to Duke.</p>

<p>Actually I was rejected at all those three schools, so I'm just taking another</p>

<p>shot at them.</p>

<p>Does anyone know someone who got accepted to those schools as transfer?</p>

<p>I've never heard or seen anyone like that</p>

6

<p>Why not stay at Duke? It has a great reputation, and your chances of transferring to a "better" school aren't good. There's nothing amazing in your profile.</p>

7

<p>I would hardly say that there is nothing amazing in his profile. He has many ECs and they are significant (i.e. not VP in some random club in HS) and unique. I would say he has as good a chance as anyone, except his GPA is a bit low. None of those schools are impossible for him (of course it still won't be easy), but the hardest part of the app would be giving a good reason to transfer to such places from duke, which isn't very different from those schools (compared to a CC or a west coast state school). If I were you, I would give it a try. Good Luck.</p>

8

<p>Thanks mathtastic, your comment gives me some hope.</p>

<p>I myself also feel that my GPA might be a little low to be in the safe line.</p>

<p>As you have noted, I guess giving a good reason in my essay would be the</p>

<p>most important part. Most people actually do ask me why I want to transfer</p>

<p>from a school I go to right now, but I still do want to take my chances since</p>

<p>I have been thinking of it from the time I got rejected from all those schools.</p>

9

<p>If you were rejected once by those schools, with acceptance rates for freshman applicants hovering around 10%, then you will be rejected again as a transfer, as those U's have far far fewer openings for transfers, and accept less then 2-4% of applicants. Transfer students that were accepted last year had GPA's close to 4.0 in both HS and College. Last year, Stanford accepted only 20/1400 transfer applicants, and Harvard's acceptance rate was also very low. Realistically, don't waste your time trying. Because of the baby-boomlet, many top colleges are finding they were over enrolled in the last 2 years, and that cuts into the number of transfer students thay can accept. That is not likely to change in the near future. You are at a great U that many students would give their eye-teeth to be at. Enjoy your years at Duke!</p>

10

<p>definitely give it a try..at least you won't regret despite wutever the result will be.</p>

11

<p>I hate this board site. Most of the comments are discouraging and/or frightening. There's also nothing more annoying than jerks who cruise the boards telling people they don't have a chance. Unless you have a 2.0 GPA (and haven't published a best-selling novel or saved the planet) and are applying to HYP, you ALWAYS have a chance.</p>

12

<p>I'm not sure most of the people offering advice have successfully transferred to top schools. </p>

<p>OP, you have fantastic credentials, especially your internship experience. You should play up your Chinese studying, maybe discussing the impact of learning more about another East Asian country/language.</p>

<p>Just FYI, Yale tends NOT to accept transfer applicants who have previously applied and been rejected. They like to use the transfer process to admit students who may not have even heard about Yale out of high school (went to CC and are transferring up) or applied to a different mix of schools.</p>

<p>Harvard admits usually have a very unique and compelling reason why they want to attend Harvard. Your essay for H should be more along the lines of why YOU NEED H as opposed to the college application essay highlighting more of why a university should want you. Everyone would want to go to Harvard. You will have to show how H satisfies or offers something Duke does not. </p>

<p>All in all, you have the credentials to get you through the door. You just need to take some time to articulate what you need in each school.</p>

13

<p>What IS it with koreans and harvard...ever watch "love story at harvard?"</p>

<p>any other country have a drama series centered around harvard?</p>

14

<p>So Yale is less willing to take a kid who applied the first time?</p>

<p>That is total bs. </p>

<p>Yale takes transfers rom schools such as Georgetown and Princeton. The take transfers from schools better than them so I doubt this is true.</p>

15

<p>I think most of the people telling you not to apply are just worried about you being competition for them. The most you have to lose is some time and application fee money. Your credentials look fine, I think now what you need to put effort to is your essay and making sure to get good reccomendations.</p>

16

<p>give it a go! and JohnnyK yea harvard thing and koreans is so true. i can say this cause i am one as well. every korean kid will know about the harvard talk with their parents. cause all they usually want is their kid to go to harvard...</p>

17

<p>collegehopefull in what universe is Georgetown better than Yale?</p>

18

<p>Princeton>Yale</p>