Hi!
I’m currently a freshman at Skidmore College and am considering transferring out. I’m a little conflicted, mostly because I’ve come to love Skidmore over this past semester and have been doing very well here, but my mom is pretty adamant about wanting me to go to a more “prestigious” college/university. Other than that, my reasons for transferring include wanting to be more academically challenged and having access to more resources and a more diverse student body.
I’m also worried about whether I even have a chance, since spring of senior year I was put on academic probation for plagiarism. It was my first and only instance of disciplinary action but it’s a pretty major one and late in my high school career, so I feel like I was lucky to have even been able to keep my spot at Skidmore after sending them a letter. I’ve been doing well in college so far, but I don’t know how that weighs against having this violation on my record or if I should just give up.
My stats are below
College GPA: 4.0
HS GPA: 3.81
ACT: 35
Major: Undecided
Currently volunteering as a tutor at the local Salvation Army and playing for the college’s club frisbee team
Doing chemistry research with a professor next semester
Interned at a newspaper over the summer
Also got two awards at my high school for Contribution to Journalism and Excellence in Studio Art and Art
History, and was consistently on Dean’s List.
If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts, they would be greatly appreciated!
Colleges see a lot of lot of transfer applications from students hoping to ‘trade up’, but as you go up in selectivity you go down in availability: the # of spaces available = the number of students who leave.
Where was Skidmore on your list originally? what sort of schools are you / your mother thinking about you transferring to?
You are right in thinking that transferring in first year means that your HS record is an important part of the evaluation process.
@collegemom3717 Skidmore was a “possible” last year. I was waitlisted at Bates last year but withdrew my application because of the violation, although I’m considering applying there again this year. We’re mostly looking at larger liberal arts colleges that have stronger science programs since I’m looking at majoring in chemistry, like Pomona, Amherst, or Swarthmore. I might also take a swing at Brown just for the sake of it.
@chilloutdude Surprisingly enough I am also a freshman at Skidmore and am applying for transfer. We aren’t alone! While I am not sure how that HS violation will effect your admissions just know that it is harder to go from private to private schools than say from private to public schools so throw on some Public Universities to the list if you can. Best of luck bro!
With your stats I’m a little surprised you were waitlisted at Bates, except that I think they take a very high % of the class ED.
I think that you will find the difficulty of admission to be fairly comparable across Pomona, Swarthmore and Brown. If you are serious about transferring, you might want to add some other choices. If anything less prestigious won’t do and you are happy enough to stay at Skidmore than your list is fine. Fwiw, Swarthmore is a very particular environment- fit is more important than at some places, so you might want to visit before you apply.