Transfer Chances for State School Student?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi! I'm looking to transfer from Alabama to either Brown, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Yale, or Penn as a sophomore philosophy major (looking at linguistics, but it's not offered at UA). I know it's kind of a mixed bag and the list could (and probably will) change, but it is what it is. I know I either want to be in a city environment or have a small class size (plus rigorous academics, obviously), so if anyone has any suggestions for where I might fit, that'd be great!</p>

<p>HS Stats:
GPA: 4.45 W (top 4%)
Rank: 17/469
SAT I: 2210 (770 W, 800 CR, 640 M)
SAT II: 780 US History, 720 Lit
ECs: Mock Trial Captain, Environmental Club VP, Freshman Mentor, Girls State Delegate, Chem Olympiad, Science Olympiad, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, French Honor Society, English Honor Society, Theater Production Stage Manager, several awards for French (school-based and national), volunteer work w/Salvation Army and local Art Museum</p>

<p>College Stats:
GPA: at least 4.0 (have over 4.0 this midterm)
Academic Class: Sophomore (1st year student, though)
Credit Hours: 54 (39 AP credits, which I'd be willing to drop if necessary)
ECs: Sorority (running for office next month!), Mock Trial, Ethics Bowl, several other smaller clubs, volunteering</p>

<p>My situation's kind of interesting--I know I have a ton of credit hours, but most of that's AP. I chose my current school because I won a full scholarship and didn't get very good financial aid anywhere else. I just don't feel challenged at all and the social life/overall feel of campus doesn't really fit me very well. I'm getting along fine, but I'd love more opportunity for internships, study abroad, etc. and more rigorous classes. To clarify, I am taking upper-level courses due to my AP credit so it's not so much a freshman courseload's ease that's the problem.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your input!</p>

2

<p>At the ivies you have just as good a shot as anyone, but its not anywhere close to guaranteed. Vandy is almost guaranteed because of their high acceptance rate though. I might suggest adding a few more schools in between vandy and the ivies to your list. Also, in case you’re unaware, you should know that transfer students receive even worse FA than regular admit students.</p>

3

<p>Oh, and I’m taking 15 hours this semester, including:

  • Honors Intro to Logic, 100-level
  • Honors Intro to Ethics, 200-level
  • Honors English Lit I, 200-level
  • Intro to Anthropology (Honors not offered), 100-level
  • Intro to Dance Styles, 100-level
  • Freshman Seminar (Anthropology-based)</p>

<p>I would’ve taken a tougher courseload, but I didn’t meet all of the prereqs to get into 300-level Philosophy classes and am trying to do major requirements.</p>

4

<p>tbh i don’t think it’s a good idea to see academic rigor as a reason to transfer at this point, because you are taking introductory classes and they are generally not very difficult…</p>

<p>if financial aid is a big concern, transferring will pose a lot of problems. brown in particular is pretty bad with the financial aid packages for transfers and they are actually need-aware and presumably prefer applicants who don’t need FA. Yale and Dartmouth have low single-digit acceptance rates.</p>

<p>good luck though, i think you should wait until you take upper-level coursework, your opinion could potentially change regarding the rigor of your classes. it would certainly be a big let-down to forgo a full scholarship at a decent school for paying an exorbitant amount of money at a higher ranked school which may not have significantly better benefits and could lead to a lot of debt.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

<p>I was aware of the financial aid situation, but I’m willing to take out loans if necessary. I didn’t for school this year because I had the opportunity to go to school for free, but after trying it out here I’ve decided that I’d rather be happy and in debt than at a school where I don’t fit in well and debt-free. My parents refused to take out loans for school last year, but after realizing that being somewhere else might benefit me more, they’re supporting whatever decision I make.</p>

6

<p>Very true, perfect36, but if I take many more classes I won’t be eligible for transfer. I entered as an academic sophomore, so I won’t be able to transfer schools after this year unless I can get rid of some of my AP hours.</p>

<p>It’s not just the academics here (and I do realize that classes will probably get harder). I just don’t feel like I fit in very well. This is a decent school and I’m not completely depressed or anything - I have friends and am involved - I just feel like I might fit in better somewhere that has generally more academically-driven/intellectual students. I know there are people like that here (that’s mostly who I’m friends with), but the vast majority of people I have classes with don’t care to participate in discussion or hold intellectual conversation. The plus of going to a school as large as I do now is that there is a lot of diversity…I just haven’t been able to fit in anywhere. I see myself as a better fit somewhere that’s more urban and passionate (if that’s the right word) about academics. I can (and do) appreciate a good game of football, but I feel like there’s too much of an emphasis on athletics over academics here for me.</p>

7

<p>As far as I know, the transfer credit limit only applies to credit actually taken at the college…</p>

8

<p>I’ve mentioned this in earlier posts, but take Vandy’s acceptance rate with a grain of salt. They are tearing down almost 600 rooms (most of which house transfers). </p>

<p>I think you should be okay at all the schools. Also, you can technically transfer out whenever. (Most schools don’t take transfer AP credit for actual credit). </p>

<p>Also, transfer financial aid is really difficult to get. Keep in mind that you’re entering a very different atmosphere, wherever you end up. </p>

<p>You will be around more… shall I say, economically elevated students. At vandy, it does have a big impact. And for some students on the other side of things, it may not be as easy to adjust. </p>

<p>I’m sure you’ll get into one (probably vandy), but just keep other things in mind. A 4.0 at Bama beats anything under like a 3.8 at those schools.</p>

9

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<p>Yes, you need to carefully read each college website. I’m not personally familiar with the transfer requirements for all of those schools, but I know that for Y (and other schools I’ve researched), they are talking about post-HS college coursework in their definition of a transfer applicant. </p>

<p>And even though you might get credit for APs, it is usually mandatory to spend at least 2 years on campus.</p>