Transfer from decent VA public college to UVA,W&M,NYU,Stanford,Cornell

<p>I'm a freshman at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA but I hope to transfer to another college, primarily one that has a good reputation for academics and college life. My main reason for doing so is because GMU, while they may be an alright institution, there is no real college atmosphere here; most people aren't overwhelmingly proud to be here, there practically is no pride in anything GMU related [except for the basketball team], and quite honestly, it really is a commuter school. by 7pm, the majority of the campus will be vacant except for the businessmen in their mid30s that attend night classes.</p>

<p>HS credentials:
-GPA: 3.4 at Fairfax County Public Schools
-Course load: 4 APs, 6 honors classes
-SAT: 1730. Retaking in December.
-SAT II: 680 US History, 600 World History
-AP: 4 exams- 3 on US Hist and Govt & Poli/2 on Engl Comp and Engl Lit [ouch?]</p>

<p>HS extracurriculars:
-Science Club/Olympiad (11)
-Show Choir (10-12)
-Jazz Choir (12)
-Mens A cappella Choir (10-12)
-Computer Club (Co-President) (9-12)
-Young Democrats (11)
-School Television Network (Editor in Chief) - (11)
-District Chorus (12)
-All State Honors Chorus (12)
-Tri M Music Honors Society (11-12)
-A/B Honor Roll (9-11)</p>

<p>College credentials:
-GPA: Freshman with 4.0 at the moment (1/2way mark in 1st semester)
-Course load: 13 credits: HIST100 (3 cred)/ENGL101 (3)/ASTRMY111 (3)/MUSI100 <a href="3">music theory</a>/University Chorus (1)</p>

<p>College extracurriculars:
None so far...would it really weigh a lot on transfer apps? I remember some people from my high school getting into W&M/UVA without any ECs at all...</p>

<p>ECs will matter at the schools you are looking at to transfer to because they are selective. And, most of the colleges would prefer a year of grades at GMU, since your HS grades and test scores are what they are. You would be at a disadvantage if you apply to transfer so early, since the schools would largely have to rely on your HS performance.</p>

<p>I'd say stick it our for your first-year and apply as a sophomore. At least at UVA and W&M, if you have near 60 college credits, they will give the most weight to your college grades. You might have a shot at NYU...but Stanford and Cornell are reaches, since they would still factor in your scores and grades from HS.</p>

<p>From what I get from Roberts, UVA doesn't look kindly on small course loads (less then 15) and he won't consider your AP grades of 3's. I also know that the admissions there look at what institution you're coming from, and I don't think GMU is on the top list. Definately stick it out for two years and apply after you get around 60 credits. I can't say anything about the other schools, but I'm sure W&M follows a similar pattern.</p>

<p>Don't worry too much about taking the SAT again if you apply as a sophomore; UVA won't look at the new SAT score. And try to take more credits, swing 18 if you can.</p>

<p>Isleboy, why can't he just apply freshman and sophomore year? Is there a disadvantage to apply both years?</p>

<p>@myinsanity,</p>

<p>thanks for the heads up. the max GMU will allow before I have to pay per additional credit is 16, so i'm going to do that next semester.</p>

<p>Go:</p>

<p>Yes, there is a disadvantage. That is, he is less likely to get involved at GMU because he is not "invested" in his current school, which means fewer ECs, that may impact his work/motivation during his first-year. The schools he wants to transfer to want kids who make the most of their educational/social/ec opportunities.</p>

<p>If he keeps applying, questions will arise as to why he wants to attend a different school (although he can minimize that by effectively articulating his reasons for transfer in his applications). Being repetitive, perhaps, might make it seem to the adcoms that status is what is driving his transfer ideas. Or, worse, the colleges might think that he does not understand what the schools want from transfer applicants. It's like calling the admissions office once to check on your application status versus calling every day for a few weeks. The latter can look a little obsesive--not something the better schools want necessarily. I'm not saying that is the case, but he needs to be careful about how he appears to the adcoms, especially if he does not ace the majority of his classes (a lot can happen in half a semester).</p>

<p>Most top colleges have minimum hours that need to be earned before he can apply as a transfer, but the schools prefer more college academic/ec history, or they will base their decisions on HS transcript, scores, and ecs.</p>

<p>Actually I'm looking at almost the exact schools as the original poster, except I'm not so interested in W&M. I am also attending GMU. My question is, is it a good idea to do the Honors program here? I don't think a lot of the Honors classes transfer credit outside of the university.</p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>High school GPA 3.7 (With APs already factored in)
8 APs
SAT: 2320
College GPA: 4.0 so far
My course load first sem is 15 credits, next semester I'm going for 18</p>

<p>Questions:</p>

<p>1) Should I keep going with Honors?
2) If I have a choice between a 100 and a 300 level class, which should I take?
3) Should I apply now, or wait a year, given my low HS GPA?</p>