<p>nspeds, wat u said about the GPA is that true, would a 4.0 from a tier 3 be not as good as a 3.6 from Cornell?</p>
<p>nspeds, </p>
<p>Yeah my ACT sucks bad. Just curious, what would you consider to be extraordiary stats? Nationally recognized awards?</p>
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Yeah my ACT sucks bad. Just curious, what would you consider to be extraordiary stats? Nationally recognized awards?
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<p>For Harvard, your odds are already poor because of the school from which you are applying. Nationally recognized awards help, but usually an applicant just needs something unique. </p>
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nspeds, wat u said about the GPA is that true, would a 4.0 from a tier 3 be not as good as a 3.6 from Cornell?
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<p>Yes. The claim that Ivys and other top tiers like community college students better is a myth. Ivys and top tiers like students from Ivys and top tiers.</p>
<p>Personally, I went to a community college. However, I went there because it was the only option I had at the time. But now, I want to leave because I don't like the idea of a school that restricts my academic opportunities to challenge myself. </p>
<p>I don't know why community colleges are looked down upon. But I made the most of it as I could. Your college experience is what you make of it, regardless if it's a 2-year college or 4-year college. Personally I would have love to have gone to the colleges of my choice as a freshman. But my special circumstances in High School prevented that. So I had no choice bit to go to a community college and hope that my first 2 years were strong enough to transfer to a better college that has the program that I want to study.</p>
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I don't know why community colleges are looked down upon.
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<p>Because there is a perceived discrepancy of rigor between community colleges and top tier schools. </p>
<p>This perception, however, is not inaccurate. The abundance of 4.0 earners at community colleges and the scarcity of 4.0 earners at top tier schools attests to this.</p>
<p>that is very true, everytime i read these boards, I see "transfer chances" and the person is from a CC and has a 3.95 average. That is just almost impossible to get at a top university, those grades aren't given out in bulk. At a CC, face it, the level of competition isn't that high. The bar is so much higher at a top university, especially schools that grade deflate (i.e. Cornell and U of Chicago).</p>
<p>Do schools like Cornell and Chicago grade deflate or simply grade? I'd say they grade.</p>
<p>I don't know about the other community colleges, but where I went the professors were very tough when it came to the class material they covered in class. And since most of them taught at 4-year universities in the past, they wanted to make sure that we were prepared to handle the rigors of a 4-year college. It's ture that there are a lot of 4.0 GPAs around, but most of those grades came from the less rigorous classes. My 3.5+ GPA came from very challenging classes. In any case, the classes I took has given me the confidence that I need to handle the challenges at a 4-year school.</p>
<p>CMU is very good in mathematical finance. Stock derivatives and the like. </p>
<p>The least selective school on your list may also be the best for your interests!</p>
<p>beprepn</p>
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Do schools like Cornell and Chicago grade deflate or simply grade? I'd say they grade.
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<p>You are incorrect.</p>
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And since most of them taught at 4-year universities in the past, they wanted to make sure that we were prepared to handle the rigors of a 4-year college.
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<p>Read my post again:</p>
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Because there is a perceived discrepancy of rigor between community colleges and top tier schools.
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<p>Top tier schools do not constitute any ordinary four-year school.</p>
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I've never even heard of a college giving an A+, seeing as how it would be completely meaningless.
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<p>Oh really? I know plenty of people at Berkeley who got A+'s. I know one guy who got a perfect 4.0, but about half of his grades were not A's, but A+'s. He ended up winning the Berkeley University Medal (as the valedictorian of Berkeley) and went to Yale Law.</p>
<p>how in the world could Berkeley assign a valedictorian? Grading procedures can often vary drastically within departments and majors.</p>
<p>Well, obviously I've never been given an A+ at Berkeley, nor have I seen anyone else get an A+ (not that I always snoop into other people's grades). Sakky, maybe its just those easy majors like yours that gave out A+s. And please, before you write a disertation length post giving me every stat Cal has ever published about EECS grades versus English grades, I'm only kidding about that last comment.</p>
<p>I think you should wait till next year to apply because your high school stats will count less. But as of now, your high school stats are too low imo to get into HYS. But you have a solid shot at other schools.</p>
<p>The way you stand out from a crowd in the admissions game is through recs and essays. You already know you need to have stellar grades, but the way you distinguish yourself from a pile of applications is how well you can describe yourself and how well others can describe you. If you aren't interesting and lack a tremendously compelling reason for transferring, you'll be thrown in the reject pile. </p>
<p>Just because you don't apply from a tier 1 school doesn't mean you have almost no shot. </p>
<p>I applied from a CC last year and got into Brown, Harvard, Yale and Columbia. </p>
<p>You can't depend on inexperienced people dispensing anecdotal advice unless he or she works and regularly makes decisions in a university admissions office.</p>
<p>hey stateandmadison, I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>stateandmadison,
Congratulation on your ivy admissions. Where did you choose to go? Could you provide some other info, such as how you distinguished yourself in the application process, what year you have transferred into, any hooks, etc?</p>
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compelling reason for transferring, you'll be thrown in the reject pile.
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<p>From experience, this is not often the case; to be sure, there is no objectively compelling reason. If there is one, then the threshold of "compellingness" is relatively low viz., so long as the student is not applying because of prestige. I would imagine that Yale admits students based on</p>
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how well you can describe yourself and how well others can describe you.
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<p>Once the GPA and SAT minimums are satisfied. </p>
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You can't depend on inexperienced people dispensing anecdotal advice unless he or she works and regularly makes decisions in a university admissions office.
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<p>...or speaks with adcoms about this very issue.</p>
<p>This is not to say that not coming from a tier 1 school necessitates a rejection. Rather, applying from a tier 1 school provides a significant advantage. I have evidence for this, but the preponderance of it is such that I might be breaking confidentiality agreements in disclosing it. Suffice to say, Rice University adcoms informed me that they do distinguish among schools in that they would respect, say, a 3.6 from Duke more than a 4.0 from CC.</p>
<p>What about Harvard?</p>
<p>
<p>Over the last several years, about one in 50 Harvard transfers has come from a community college (about one per year), and they tend to have extraordinary achievements even as Harvard transfers go, which is saying something. Of the two that I knew best, one was a URM Marine unit commander who had led several overseas combat missions before starting college; the other was an 18-year-old Russian immigrant with a photographic memory who had made a 4.0 at her community college despite knowing no English when she started at age 16.
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<p>Why would Harvard not be the best place for Mathematics?</p>