Transfer Chances at Stanford?

<p>Hey, I was just wondering to get some feedback from you more knowledgable members. I am currently a freshman in the Stern Business School @ NYU and I really want to leave to transfer to Stanford. My gpa is 3.65 and I have fairly strong SAT I&II scores but my 2nd term senior year grades dropped quite a bit. I was born and grew up in NYC and I commute to NYU. Do you think a good reason for wanting to leave NYU is that i believe its an important part of the college experience to leave one's comfort zone/surroundings to go to a new place and explore new things. Thanks for any helpful responses</p>

<p>I heard that transferring into Stanford is incredibly difficult because once people get in they tend not to want to leave...(justly so, of course)...plus, a lot of people are applying for only a few open spots so this also makes it all the more competitive...I would never consider it a safety school...it would probably always be a reach....well, good luck, I hope that it all works out in your favor</p>

<p>i am interested in what you don't like about nyu because i am trying to transfer into stern.</p>

<p>imo stern is a pretty good school but i've grown up in nyc all my life and i really feel i need a change of surroundings. I'm not quite getting the college experience here, not only because i dorm, but also because like there is really no campus, or school spirit for that matter. Plus imho a lot of stern kids are really pompous when they're really not that smart. (Of course this doesn't mean everyone there is dumb but maybe i've just gotten that loudmouth kid who uses words he doesn't know the meaning to.</p>

<p>there is no way i'd ever consider stanford a safety school, (and i think very few people can, especially from the east coast) its not even a reach school, its a dream school for me (i dont know if ppl equate those two). Plus, I also think that "many people for few spots" is the case with the majority of schools (elite or not). Im just hoping that my reasons for wanting to leave are good.</p>

<p>I think that there is a bit of a misconception surrounded reasons for transferring. Alot of people think that because these reasons are a very important part of your app, that colleges will spend a good deal of time looking at, it improves your chances of getting in to have 'better' reasons. So person A who finds their current school to be bad in 5 ways and stanford better in 6 is more likely to get in then person B who just doesnt like the courses. This is not true. Stanford is not doing some sort of utilitarian calculation where those who need it the most get in, this part of the essay is just to get a sense of who you are. Saying "I want the prestige" reflects badly on your character and saying "stanford offers unique majors with things I cannot do at my current school" reflects positively.</p>

<p>So, I think your reasons work, no reason why they wouldnt, but the trick is to express them to the school in honest way focusing on why stanford would be better than your current school without bashing your current or idealising stanford.</p>

<p>help please, i'm especially worried about my 2nd term senior yr grades and my "ehh" e.c.</p>

<p>i prolly know you at NYU lol (do u go to those commuter events?)</p>

<p>anyways, what are your SAT scores like?
I'm applying to stanford also, so i guess we'll be competing against each other :P</p>

<p>sat scores are 1500+ (from then on i doubt it matters) and satII scores are all 700/700+ with perfect in MAth IIC, I hear that stanford really values math and i'm taking calc 3 now. i just worry about "eh" e.c.s and "eh/bad" hs gpa</p>

<p>I think you definitely have a better shot than me at least...</p>

<p>no way man, i've seen those stats, my chances are 0-verylow</p>

<p>also if you live in the state of CA, you're def. in the running
btw i dont go to commuter events
and i dont think sats have such a huge bearing.
how many ppl do you know are applying to stanford?</p>

<p>im not in state of CA; im an international student</p>

<p>i think around 1.2k students apply for 70 spots or so? something like that</p>

<p>I dont know why you think being from CA gives better chances. If anything the reverse is true, more people (%) apply from CA then what is representive of the nation as a whole and they want a balanced student body. </p>

<p>From my experience as well as the literature produced by stanford I would say in order of importance is 1.Recs (which are more valuable for transfers than normal apps since you are getting college professors that can state your abilities in a more realistic context, ie you are not going to be the amazing student far above everyone else ever like is possible in hs) little drop to 2.essays mid drop to 3.grades in college + standerdized (start hurting when not about A average or 700 ave in each part) big drop to 4. hs grades (unless you have only 1/2 year in college by app time than they are somewhat added to level 3) about equal to 5. ECs (start hurting if not some decent ones that match somewhat which the characterization from essays and whatnot)</p>

<p>low senior grades i would imagine would hurt somewhat but they understand the senior slump and they would not be critical given good ability in the other areas</p>

<p>also its no good for your reason for transferring to be that you dont really feel the school spirit or that you belong but you dont "go to commuter events ". It would be more powerful to say you have really tried hanging out on campus and going to games but it is not working.</p>

<p>recs !! ehhh i guess i have mixed feelings on seeing hs grades that low. _42 were you a transfer?</p>

<p>yeah last year</p>

<p>how strong were your credentials, if you dont mind my asking?</p>

<p>they are somewhere on this site, you could probably search last years database and find the thread that had the stats of a bunch of people including, I think, 4 people including myself who were accepted.</p>

<p>They were like As for all hs and college and 700ish scores but not 800s or all a+s. I think what helped me the most is that I did research and had some really good recs.</p>

<p>how do you feel your researched helped you because i may be around you area, maybe a little lower on grades and a little higher on standardized. i dont know i really have a feeling that i have no shot when i look at the numbers.</p>

<p>well, scores are pretty meaningless beyond a certin point. 1500 vs 1600 doesnt really show anything. So they look at other qualities and research is a good activity to show passion, that you care about your subject. Ultimately, as long as your numbers are in the right range, your acceptence or rejection will be based on qualities that cannot be quickly accessed. If it were that way it would be done by a computer not in the long drawn at process that it is. It is silly to try look at your grade in that class or that class to figure out if you will get in. If you want to know if you will get in ask yourself if you talked out in your classes, if you spent extra time going to office hours, if you want to transfer for certain specific new oppertunities rather than an incremental improvement, if you could convice someone that you have done all you could at your current college and found the limiting factor to be not you but the college. These are the type of judgements stanford will try to make about you, albeit often not entirely accureate due to the sparseness of information.</p>