Transfer from Cornell to UCB or UCLA maybe other T30?

Transfer Students
1

Hello everyone,

I am a rising sophomore at Cornell who is once again looking through the transfer process. My first time trying to transfer wasn’t so great, as I got rejected by all the schools I applied to, which were Northwestern, Brown, JHU, Columbia, UChicago, and UPenn, which was all kinda discouraging, but I understand its not too easy to transfer to those places. My GPA is a 3.80 as a math major, and hopefully I can keep that around the same for the next term as well or try to bring it up a little, and my HS stats were OK (around a 3.8 W, 4.2 W, and a 36 ACT).

For some long reasons I don’t want to get into too much here, it is clear that Cornell isn’t the place for me. Coming from HS, my top acceptances along with Cornell were WashU, Vanderbilt, UCB, and UCLA, and I really regret not choosing UCB/UCLA or WashU now that I look back at my decision making process.

Now that I’ve gone through the process and see the universe has determined I (rejected from all 3 T10s I applied out of HS, not trying to get rejected a 3rd time), I am trying to look at more “realistic” places to transfer within the T20-T30 range, like UCB, UCLA, UNC, UMich, CMU, WashU, and Vanderbilt.

My preference is to try to be admitted to UCB or UCLA for the fall of 2022, and while I know each has a transfer acceptance rate in the mid-20%s, most students are from CCC. So, my main question is, how are the chances for an out-of-state student student like myself who did OK at a T20 like Cornell to transfer into a place like UCB or UCLA? Does it help that they were accepted once already to those places? Would the fact that I was already accepted to Vanderbilt and UMich as a first-year student before help at all in the admissions process?

Thanks!

2

You have a competitive GPA but being accepted as a Freshman at UCB or UCLA does not give you an advantage. The UC transfer hierarchy is CA CC then UC to UC, CSU to UC, CA private uni and finally OOS.

Below is the 2020 UC transfer GPA by major to help gauge your chances:

Best of luck

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You may not want to go through it here, and I understand that. You need to have a good conversation with yourself though and figure out what will be different at the new school. To me, it looks like you’re prestige hunting and not properly vetting schools to insure that they will be a fit for you. Those are the questions you need to answer before you move and repeat your unfortunate mistake. Good luck.

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Do you require FA to attend UCLA or UCB (I don’t believe they give FA to OOS)? You have a decent chance at WashU and a better chance at Vanderbilt, UNC and UMich. CMU is probably the toughest in that group.

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@weird_transfer @vpa2019
The UC’s give little to no FA if OOS so you are looking at $65K/year to attend.

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Thankfully, I do not need any FA.

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The first thing that occurs to me is that last year was bad for students everywhere due to the pandemic and on-line classes. Starting in September most likely classes will be back to normal and the very beautiful Cornell campus will (I expect) be back in regular session. To me Cornell has one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. However, I did come from a place where cold and snow were normal and something we were all used to (given where you have applied to this does not seem to be the thing that is bothering you).

To me given a 3.8 high school unweighted GPA I am surprised that you got into Cornell and WUSTL, as well as UCB and UCLA out of state. Other top universities such as “Northwestern, Brown, JHU, Columbia, U.Chicago, and U.Penn” seem rather unlikely also.

Schools at this level are going to be academically very challenging. This is not going to vary much between schools. You are doing well to be able to maintain the same GPA from high school at a university as challenging as Cornell. To me this suggests that you have been working very hard. Good job. However, do not expect this to get any easier at any “top 30” university. In my experience it gets harder when you get into upper year classes.

I am also concerned that you have a rather long list of famous and highly ranked universities. You need to figure out what you want in a university other than a high ranking (which comes with brutally difficult academics). There are going to be annoying students and smart students at any university. You need to find the ones that are a good match for you, and avoid the annoying ones. Both will exist at any “top 200” university. Now that the pandemic is winding down and most of us are vaccinated you should even be able to find them this coming year.

My biggest concern is that whatever has been bothering you at Cornell is going to still be bothering you at whatever university you transfer to. Of course this same thing might occur to the admissions staff at the schools that you are applying to.

If you are looking for a higher ranking, I would be shocked that you could get it with a GPA that is significantly below 4.0. Cornell is a very good university with a very good math program (I applied to it many years ago).

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Hi, thank you for your response! I found a lot of that really helpful.

I should’ve provided context about my HS GPA: we don’t use a 4.0 scale, but if I were to convert the grades I got in those classes from numbers to letters, I think it would be around a 3.8 (primarily A-/A grades). Also, the HS I went to is a relatively highly regarded boarding/day school (if I said the name of it, many on this form may know it), and although I was in the second quintile of my class, according to Naviance my stats were above the average for students accepted to WashU, Cornell, and considerably above average for those accepted to UCB and UCLA. So, it wasn’t exactly “surprising” to myself or the CC.

Is my current college GPA too low to try to transfer into a place like WUSTL or Vanderbilt? Combing through the threads on this site, it seems like most transfers have a 3.9/4.0 regardless of where they are coming from.

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Do you have the ability to take a semester or year off? Like other posters, I think you’re not placing quite enough emphasis on fit. Perhaps some time off, if you have the financial ability to take it, would help you reflect on where you could be happiest. In addition, you could get a job or do an internship that is relevant to your major, possibly strengthening your application.

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To transfer to T-20 schools, you have to have a better GPA, try to make 4.0 next semester. You also need great LORs from your professors.

You also have to do research on the programs of those schools. You need to know what is the difference (research, professors, etc) between the programs so you can tell a compelling story to AO why you want to transfer.

Finally, you need to get familiar to the programs and to know the courses the students there taking each semester. You have to be on par or better in taking the required courses so you can graduate in 4 years (including the time you spend at Cornell). They do want you to graduate in time.

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Unfortunately, I don’t. I already repeated a year of high school upon going to boarding school, and I am already a bit old for my original grade (I turned 20 the August before I started college) so I don’t want to fall behind anymore. I’ve talked to my parents about this and they said because I’ve already had a year extra in my path, they won’t finance my undergrad for more than 4 years.

I’ve found a few places that accept spring transfers, like Notre Dame, Claremont McKenna, Rice, and CMU. Does anyone know if there are any benefits in applying for the spring semester?

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To me, it looks like you should be thinking very hard about how to make your next year at Cornell better. Here “better” partly means “at least keep up your GPA, and improve it if you can”, but mostly means “find a way to be happier at Cornell”.

Cornell really is a very good university for a math major (and I was a math major, although at a different university).

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I appreciate that, but I am pretty set on leaving after next year, so its important for me to start the transfer process much earlier this time around. If none of those universities I am interest in transferring to offer me admissions, I’ll hopefully have a chance to finish out at one of my local state schools (I live in Mass, so UMass Amherst likely). I just know Cornell isn’t the place for me for reasons that are both academic, and those I’d rather not get into.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

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It’s worth applying for spring term if you’re set on leaving. Fewer applicants but fewer spots and your transfer cohort will be smaller. Also integrating the school community will be a bit more challenging since you’re arriving halfway thru the year. Be aware if you’re considering ND, they don’t guarantee transfer housing and their whole community structure is dorm based, so being forced to live off campus would be quite a hindrance.

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NYU is a relatively easy place to transfer into, and it’s a great school if you like city living. Very good reputation as well.

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