Transfer -fall 09

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
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<p>hi everyone, </p>

<p>this is my first time actually posting something on CC and there aren’t too many threads for barnard so i thought this would be the best place to post questions about transferring. I know this message is pretty long but I would REALLY appreciate it if someone could look through it. You guys all seem really supportive of each other and I think you could give me some good advice.</p>

<p>I will be a sophomore this fall and currently attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. I am a Biological Sciences and Decision Science (1st school to offer this- basically an amalgamation of psych, social & decision sciences, policy, business, etc) double major. My majors are within 2 schools, Mellon College of Science & College of Humanities & Social Sciences and I am enrolled in a special joint program between the 2 schools called Science & Humanities Scholars. It’s obviously very interdisciplinary which suits me very well…I can take all my science classes and still not go crazy by balancing things out with humanities. Despite what people think about CMU being very engineering & computer science oriented, I find that what you want the school to offer you is what you make of it. So if you’re a one dimensional engineering majoring who only likes that then by all means you stick to that. But I really like the curriculum here, which really combines all my interests. I am premed so I do plan on going to med school but if time and money allow I would like to go to public health school. </p>

<p>I love CMU…it’s pretty much one of the best in almost every field (except maybe the “real” humanities like philosophy and history). The people are great…even the premeds who I hear at many other schools will rip out pages of library books are always willing to help another fellow premed out. There’s a good number of premeds but not TOO many as the biggest school/division here is actually engineering and most go on to get jobs or PhDs. The grading system is actually good too…most schools don’t follow the same guidelines… we have no minuses or pluses so if you get a 90, thats an A and a 4 for your gpa. 20% of every class usually must get an A as an unspoken policy unless the prof’s a total a-hole so there is usually a little curving. Class size is good too we have about 1400 students in our grade so my intro science classes are 100+students but that will def go down as I start taking the more advanced classes to maybe about 20-40 students per class. Courseload is tough as the avg is about 15 credits per semester (actually you must take a min of this each semester to graduate). Pittsburgh is one of the safest cities in the country and rent is very cheap. I live in an off-campus house and the transportation system is very reliable.</p>

<p>Barnard is the only school I’m considering transferring to for next year I guess because during my senior year it ultimately came down to 3 schools: hopkins, barnard, and cmu. i actually ED’ed hopkins and was deferred and rejected which looking back at it i’m glad bc 1 in 3 ppl are premds and that is just way too many (so this is why i’m not reapplying). i was rejected from barnard so cmu was my favorite option, but i applied to MANY schools these were just my top 3. </p>

<p>i think one of the reasons i didn’t get into barnard the 1st time was bc my HS app was good but very scattered. i got mostly Bs and even 2 Cs in all my science and math classes except for bio. all the courses i got As in, i took all the highest possible classes and junior year I was inducted into NHS as probably rank#10 out of 250+ kids in my grade. Btw, I’m Asian and went to school in North Jersey, in one of the closest towns you’ll get to NY. I like to think I know manhattan pretty well. I was very involved in HS and had 2 summers of research at NYU med great recs and above avg essays I’d like to think. </p>

<p>My SAT score was 630 CR 680 math 720 writing total 2040 and a 30 ACT. all pretty avg for barnard. my stats went WAY down in senior year. i not only had a tough year emotionally for other reasons, but i had pretty bad senioritis. I pretty much got As & Bs for final grades in almost every class. i was hoping to get waitlisted but even this girl in my grade who had a 2250 sat score and a mostly A avg got waitlisted so after that I knew I had no chance. </p>

<p>Right now, I have a 3.5 with science classes being about a B avg which is decent for a school like CMU but not yet good enough to get into a good med school. However, I have 3 more years and after this semester I believe I’ll pull it up to ~3.7. As for my extracurriculars I’m pretty well-rounded. I plan on rushing a service fraternity (not your typical Greek life) and doing a bit of research in the fall and am involved in premed society and peer health advocates (kind of an extension of our student health services we tell students to have safe sex, etc). I am currently volunteering at the children’s hospital here too.</p>

<p>I know no one wants to make a life altering decision for me but I’d just like some advice. I’m already studying for my MCATs, taken the time to scour Barnard transfer threads and websites, made great friends here in Pittsburgh, starting to make connections with professors…would I be better off staying at CMU and not wasting my time with applying? Also, have all your professors really been ok with writing a rec for you to transfer OUT of their school? Could someone compare the things I said about CMU to what actually happens at Barnard? I think one of the reasons I’m considering transferring more and more is because CMU is not affiliated with a med school. Although UPitt hospital system and med school is one of the best in the country it’s not actually CMU’s and I feel I am missing an application to the medical world in my studies, so much so I even considered a career in law instead of medicine during my freshman year and I have no idea why. My heart is also in NYC having spent much of my childhood there (and yes I def know about the living expenses), Barnard-Columbia connection & dozens of hospitals and med schools.</p>

<p>Sorry this was so long but ANY help is appreciated. I guess this isn’t really a good time to have this post here as everyone just found out about their apps. </p>

<p>Anyways, thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>Okay, first, I want to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with applying to transfer even if you’re not sure. As long as you don’t mind putting in the time to work on another application, it’s all good. I talked to let us say a LOT of professors and various advisers, and all were of the opinion that I should apply to transfer and if I change my mind, just stay at BC. If you are feeling indecisive, then try to remember that the decision of whether to apply or not isn’t actually the great leap of faith. The tough decision for you, especially if you’re happy at CMU, is whether you’ll enroll when you’re accepted.</p>

<p>That being said, I personally think that your concern about not having an affiliated med school is kinda strange, but I’m not a med student, so I know jack about the nitty gritty of that. Also, a 3.5 GPA sounds decent to me, especially if it’s likely to become a 3.7–I’ve just never noticed a significant difference in pay grade based on where a doctor got their degree. It always seemed to be like, I dunno, where they did their residency or whatever other factors were more important. Disregard my opinion if times have changed from the previous generation (all the doctors I know are my parents’ age) since I could be very, very wrong about that.</p>

<p>Food for thought: again, I am not a med student, but I’ve never heard of ones that’d deface library books anywhere, and I doubt you’d find that in Barnard (or Columbia, since I suppose their library’s the one you’re more likely to consult). I don’t think the grading system with or without the +/- is a big deal unless you’re deadset on that 4.0. I believe 15 credits (well, five classes–it seems a lot of their classes are worth 4 credits) is the minimum for any full-time student at Barnard as well, with the option of taking six classes as well. If local cost of living is a big deal, well, Pittsburgh it is then, but speaking. :stuck_out_tongue: You’re likely to get campus housing anyway if you ask for it. I don’t think Barnard offers anything remotely close to the major you’ve got right now, so I do think you should consider how attached you are to it.</p>

<p>Because you discuss numbers, I will just say that my record is at least as spotty as yours, probably moreso, but I was accepted in the first round of transfer acceptances, so they really do look at more than just numbers.</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying. I was hoping you would be one of the people to reply bc I felt my HS stats were about the same as yours. </p>

<p>You are right in that people in general don’t care about undergrad for doctors. However, it serves as a launching pad for med school. People have asked why I care if CMU has a med school or not. After all, pretty much all liberal schools and schools like Princeton, MIT, etc don’t have med schools either and I’m sure those graduates go off to great med schools. I guess another reason why I’m concerned about lack of med school affiliation is that i see that a school like UPitt Med has accepted many students from CMU. Not sure if it’s because they are in fact qualified, Pittsburgh people tend to apply to more Pittsburgh schools, or if it’s because Pitt might have a bit of favoritism for CMU (as most UPitt undergrads can’t get into UPitt Med). I feel like this might apply to say Columbia Med and Columbia/Barnard students. Don’t New Yorkers tend to like stduents from New York or their own? Not sure if I’m making stuff up in my head.</p>

<p>I was surprised when I looked up the majors offered both by Barnard & Columbia that there weren’t more social & decision science majors offered such as policy/management or public health especially since Columbia’s public health school is what like top 5 in the world? </p>

<p>I will probably stay at CMU because I don’t think Barnard has the kind of interdisciplinary flexibility I’m looking for. If I ultimately do decide to send the transfer app, I was thinking of doing the S10 one to start in F10, raise my gpa and take more classes. By what you just said it seems like it’s more of an advantage to apply in the fall because they have fewer spaces filled and they take a more holistic approach?</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

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<p>The interesting note for me about high school is that I actually dropped out. My entire sophomore year is missing, and while I was ahead enough that I could just pick up again in normal level classes for junior year at a different school, but it’s still on my record (or rather, it’s very much NOT on my record). I’m not sure if that counts as a black mark or a hook. In any case, my last semester of high school was so hilariously bad that I got a B- in Intro to Guitar. My college GPA was also a 4.0 if you ignored my Econ class, and as a proposed Theater major, I’m pretty sure nobody cares what I got in macroeconomics.</p>

<p>Not sure, but I think the competition may be slimmer for Spring if only because the round of freshman-rising-sophomore applicants can’t apply yet, though I suppose there are less spaces too. They’d need to fill spots left open from visiting students in any case, so there’ll be openings and such regardless. I don’t think they’ll take any less a holistic approach then than they would for Fall applicants.</p>

<p>I personally don’t see the importance of majoring in exactly what you want to go into (I still plan on law school, for example; yes, with a degree in theater) as long as you meet application requirements for med school, but I do think you could probably get a program close to what you want if you major in something generically sciencey-medical-y (clearly, this is not the hour for me to be eloquent) and just speak with someone about taking classes at the public health school, and that’s more important than what’s written on your degree, especially since med schools will want to look at your transcript anyway. As said, since CMU’s program suits you, there’s no reason to leave, but I don’t think it’ll be impossible to get the education you’re looking for at Barnard even if you lack the right wording on a piece of paper when it’s all said and done. In any case, I do know Barnard’s advising is absolutely stellar and their graduates get into great med schools, though I don’t know about any significant advantages for getting into Columbia.</p>