Transfer Chances/Schools

Transfer Students
21

<p>I think that many admissions offices steer a wide path around excessive substance users. Too much chance of relapse. I can't say this from personal experience, but from reading books such as The Gatekeepers. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I don't think it is your best strategy to try to transfer with one good semester under your belt, thinking that it will be convincing enough to overcome 4 problem semesters (last part of hs and first year of college). </p>

<p>Rather, my suggestion would be to be the best you can be at your current school. Show <em>yourself</em> what you can do. Rise to the top, either in your coursework/GPA or in your outside activities/EC's. </p>

<p>If recognition/prestige of your degree matters to you (and although we all like to diss that, most of us do care), I think you will be more successful thinking about that for grad school/law school. To answer the qx about whether a BA from Western Mich vs. Mich State will give you different likelihood of great law school acceptances, I would go straight to your pre-law advising office at WMich and see what kind of success their grads have. Seek the same info from MichState.</p>

<p>Absent the drug issue and with your projected GPA between 3.0 and 3.5, I'd say it is tough but not impossible for you to get a yes from some (but not all) of the schools on your list. Getting a Yes will require having other things to offer the transfer school beyond GPA - great recs? great ECs? great essays? compelling reason to transfer? Like I said, not impossible. But tough. And maybe not where your focus should be.</p>

<p>One other thought - I think focusing on getting a pure 4.0 each of the next two semesters may be too much pressure to put on yourself. And it may be more important for you to take challenging coursework and do 3.0-4.0 work. If 4.0 is a sure shot for you at WMich, then go for it. But don't set yourself up for perfection and then possible de-rail yourself if it doesn't happen.</p>

<p>You are on the right track with your new resolution to do well, your goals to maybe transfer or maybe stay/do well/go to law school. Good luck.</p>

22

<p>If they use the common app, no.</p>

<p>As for the other issue, I think you'd better tell them what happened just to explain the drop in grades. It will make you a standout applicant but it could be in a negative light despite the explanation. Explaining is better than not explaining though.</p>

23

<p>andale: thanks so much for your post, it has helped immensely. i will definitely find out how successful grads are for law school</p>

<p>renix: i agree, explaining is better than not explaining but as andale said, do you think it would be too much of a negative issue to bring up on the transfer app?</p>

<p>and lastly no one has still answered my question: will there be a spot on the applications to ask for them to wait for my 2nd semester grades? i will be applying directly after i recieve my 1st semester grades for sophomore year and i really want 3.5 - 4.0 for both semesters to show them that i am a bright student.</p>

24

<p>I think it might be hit and miss but I have no idea.</p>

25

<p>One thing's for sure: UMich places into top law far better than WMich or Mich State and with good grades over the next couple of semesters, you shoud have a good shot there. Prepare for rejection but shoot for the stars. You never know what might happen!</p>

26

<p>no tulane is a top notch school and had one of the largest incoming classes this year in the school's history..their average act is 28-32, and average admitted transfer gpa is a 3.58...they are ranked 44th in the nation, you have no chance with your numbers...sorry.</p>

27

<p>I agree that Tulane isn't a match but it's certainly not impossible either.</p>

28

<p>i don't know if this will help, but I heard a story from my former guidance counselor. He said that there was a student in high school who abused alcohol and then wrote about turning his life around and going to rehab in his admissions essay. the counselor said he had him revise it, because he focused too much on the alcohol abuse and not enough on his own personal development. he had decent to stellar grades, showing an upward trend. still, he was rejected. this is too general, there are more details of which i do not know. but some good food for thought. </p>

<p>in my opinion: i suppose it would be good for you to include YOUR story in your essay. i mean they want to hear about you. they read thousands of essays in which students portray themselves contrary to how they actually are. your goal is to establish a connection with the reader, and the only way to do this is to be yourself. although, i would recommend you talk about the drug abuse in a succint manner. </p>

<p>good luck</p>

29

<p>get the grades first.
talk is cheap.</p>

30

<p>it is; many people say they will do something, yet few come through on their promises. </p>

<p>ksivakumar, evaluate what this really means to you. if it matters more than anything else, go for it! And don't listen to any doubters, if you're serious about this.</p>

31

<p>so, i had just transferred from WMU to u-m with a 3.93 gpa, and went to the same school as cvjn. so he and i have had this talk MANY times.</p>

<p>I'm going to assume average case. You end up with a 3.2/3.3 GPA and you right a decent essay. </p>

<ol>
<li>Michigan Ann Arbor - LSA (reject)</li>
<li>Penn State (possibly acceptance...)</li>
<li>Tulane (reject)</li>
<li>NYU (reject)</li>
<li>U Texas Austin (reject)</li>
<li>UNC Chapel Hill (reject)</li>
<li>U Miami (don't really know)</li>
<li>Michigan State- Acceptance</li>
<li>Cornell - Reject</li>
</ol>

<p>When I applied to U-M, I had a 3.8~ GPA, and when Cvjn applied, he had a 4.0. He was accepted about 3.5 weeks before me and we both applied around the same time. His classes were more math / business focused, while mine were more engineering. </p>

<p>
[quote]
yeah i was thinking about that, i will be applying after this fall term but can i ask them to wait until they get my 2nd semester grades?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm going to be talking about U-M cause that's the school I know the best. The answer is... no, you really can't on the application. You might be able to find out who is reading your app, and then.. go from there. Otherwise, they're going to make their decision with what you give them, and if, and only if you're on the fence, they wait.</p>

<p>
[quote]

Also on a side note, if i dont end up transferring, my dream is to go to a top 15 law school. Does anyone know how the admissions are reguarding schools? If i dont transfer i would be graduating from a Tier III school. Would it make a big difference to transfer from Western Michigan University to say Michigan State?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>between WMU and MSU? I'd say there isn't a HUGE difference. when me and both cvjn were transferring and had asked the dean for recs (lol so dumb of us), there are kids from WMU to get into schools like Harvard, and same with MSU. the difference isn't huge, but it might help you. the answer is vague, but when comparing MSU and WMU, the difference isn't HUGE as most MSU kids would like you to think. so... my final say is... no, there's not a big difference. There will be a slight advantage, but not huge. REMEMBER, MSU IS JUST AS BIG OF A PARTY SCHOOL AS WMU IS</p>

<p>
[quote]
okay really thats what i wanted to hear, im kinda depressed because my parents both went to big universities and are pretty dissapointed that im going to a school no one has heard of. I do not hate this school, I just want to go to a school with more prestige, if you think that is shallow then i guess i am shallow.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>the reason for your transfer is shallow, and honestly, if you don't care what people think about you, that's fine. BUT... that's not a reason for the other schools to give you an admit over an applicant who has a better reason. </p>

<p>
[quote]
On another note, without going into too much detail would explaining on my transfer application that my bad grades were due to severe drug abuse (which is not a lie). My life has been affected pretty badly and i hit rock bottom last year getting caught, i have been drug free and assuming i get a at least a 3.75 or somewhere in that range, would actually putting drug abuse on my application as a reason for bad grades in my senior year of hs and freshman year of college be a bad thing? Or would it actually benefit me in that it was a valid explanation.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>this is a really tricky one... like others have said. On one side, if you don't explain it, you're gonna have a huge dent in your GPA for really no good reason. the kids who want to transfer have really high GPA's and hold it at least until they get the letter. If you do explain it, adcoms might be ... ugh not another one of these kids, might relapse, ect. BUT... you'd have a good story to tell, and it'd make you stand out; not sure good or bad. So... this is your choice to make. Both are big risks</p>

<p>My opinion, stay at WMU. It's not a horrible school, and I personally think you only really have a chance at MSU. Changing environments, friends, ect would be hard change as a Junior and really doing it only for prestiege.... ugh, still isn't a good enough reason for me. I really hated it at WMU. one part of me wanted a better school, but what I wrote about was how much better U-M fit me. The atmopshere, the overall student body, professors, clubs, and specific programs that I wanted to get into. (things like study abroad, language programs, the B school, their med school, ect)</p>

<p>If you really still want to try for it, go for it. Like brand says, shoot for the stars, but be prepared for rejection. And know this... </p>

<p>Transferring isn't a light thing to consider. You have to prepare your grades, test scores, teacher recommendations, EC's. You have to know that you want this, and your scores are gonna have to be amazing. Me and Cvjn were consistantely competeting against each other for best grades, and we just pushed each other like no tomorrow. And I'm talking about spending many hours in Waldo Library, or tutoring at the Math tower, and yeah, even making those 4 AM taco bell runs during exam week. It's not impossible (well maybe for Cornell) but you really need to put all your effort into this. </p>

<p>The lengths that me and Cvjn went to, were something along the lines of, library until 2 AM (I think that's the new close time?), go to U-M on the weekends to use their libraries (aka get used to environment, research, ect), lack any social life for 1.5 semesters... hell, I think Cvjn turned down a girl on Valentine's Day to go study...</p>

32

<p>you nub, this kid woke me up for this thread (saikusu)... </p>

<p>uh, basically, I agree with what Saikusu said. If you're doing it for just a name recognition, then don't do it. I mean... you really need a big motivation to push you, and at least for me, that's just not enough. </p>

<p>If you really do want to still, go for it. Do everything you can to possibly increase your chances, like tutoring (which only I did, had to cover Saikusu's slack), teacher recommendation, GPA (of course), and just get involved. Maybe local business/economic frats? (if there are any)</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Since you were an Economics major, did you take Econ 101 with Hollenback? (I took it first semester last year, on like Wednesday at like 7 PM - 9 PM block)</p>

33

<p>no i took it with aljamal 930-1045am got a BA</p>

<p>but basically i want to transfer because i truly hate wmu along with prestige, i just think going to a better name school will help me in the long run but looks like i pretty much messed up my chances to get accepted anywhere</p>

<p>i am not going to apply to msu as i think its not really worth it. at the end of fall semester i will apply to um, ut, and tulane as a crapshoot, expecting rejections. i have a couple of professors that know me pretty well so i can get reccomendations from them. if all else fails i guess i'll just stay at wmu and make the best of it</p>

<p>thanks for all your responses</p>

34

<p>also lets say i get rejected by um, would i be able to start at wmu fall semester junior year and try to transfer for winter semester? by then i will have accumulated around 70 credits</p>

35

<p>ah, that class was too early for me. ok, let's say you get rejected by U-M for next year Fall (2008), and ... yes, you could apply for Winter semester, BUT... I think for U-M, you're required to stay there for 2 years or something along those lines, so you'd have to graduate later I believe. </p>

<p>Be prepared to research your schools to see if it's even possible to transfer in winter, not all schools do that. Also, know that Winter semester tends to be more competitive than Fall. You'll have a smaller size coming in, and it'll be harder to fit into the student body.</p>

<p>your situation is a bit too wacky for me to give an accurate judgement. Let's assume though, that you didn't tell them, and your best gpa is around a 3.5, Id' say you have a fair chance. My roommate got rejected from U-M with a 3.7 GPA... his workload wasn't exactly easy either. His HS stuff was what stopped him.</p>

36

<p>well i wont have a 3.5 the most i could have at the time of applying is a 3.3 and it could become a 3.43 after spring semester which would be too late. I was deferred coming out of high school and i dont think my high school stats are going to really play a big role seeing as i will be transferring with around 43 credits.</p>

37

<p>
[quote]
no one has still answered my question: will there be a spot on the applications to ask for them to wait for my 2nd semester grades?

[/quote]
Can't speak to all app forms, but I have seen a couple dozen, including the common app, and never seen that on the form. Some schools provide a form for mid-term reporting of your spring term grades. That would be the closest you would come to what you are hoping.</p>

38

<p>
[quote]
well i wont have a 3.5 the most i could have at the time of applying is a 3.3 and it could become a 3.43 after spring semester which would be too late. I was deferred coming out of high school and i dont think my high school stats are going to really play a big role seeing as i will be transferring with around 43 credits.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>yeah, it won't have really any effect. Just saying my roommate got rejected with a 3.7, but it was probably more of his HS gpa than anything.</p>

39

<p>have you looked at schools such as gwu, bostonu or indiana u. they're all good in econ.
i am under the impression that colleges don't like essays on drug abuse. but maybe if you wrote a very brilliant essay on your development throughout college it might work.
good luck</p>

40

<p>well gwu and boston u have very high tuition. gwu being private and bostonu i hear is not worth it for the penny you pay.. what about schools like umiami, uflorida, ucsb, ucla... i am definitely going to apply for fall 08 but if i dont get in there would also be winter/spring 08 too (if they even transfer winter semester, i know UM does)</p>