Transfer from Ivy to Another Equivalent School

Transfer Students
1

Hey everyone,

I go to Dartmouth and I quickly realized this school isn’t for me. I am looking for more of an urban environment with more research infrastructure/programs. I am currently a sophomore, and I am kicking myself in the behind for not trying to transfer the past year. The biggest thing, however, is that I hate the fratty culture here. It totally was not what I thought it would be, and I quickly realized I’m more of a quirky type of guy. As a high schooler, I got into UChicago and Brown, schools where I’d love to be at right now. I am considering schools like Columbia, Brown, UChicago, Penn, Stanford, Yale, and Duke. As context, I have a 3.8+ GPA at college, and have a couple leadership positions and academic awards (all economics related). I’ve had a couple of internships in consulting and finance. I had a 4.0 GPA in high school with a 2360 SAT and a bunch of extracurricular awards in music and in school activities . Now that I’m dead-set on transferring, I think I can bring my GPA up to a 3.9 if I really put the work into it. Has anyone attempted a similar transfer and succeeded? What should I focus on in my transfer application? Would bring from an Ivy school already hurt or help my application? Any advice at all would be appreciated. As context, I am an Indian male from New York, so I’m not exactly an interesting demographic candidate.

2

Lots of students have succeeded at this.

Identify an academic reason for your transfer, not just a social one. Read up on the programs for your major so that you can explain why x is so much better for you than where you are.

Also, look into taking a semester or year abroad. That saved the sanity of one student I know who was miserable at Dartmouth.

3

^Great advice. Schools are far more open to accepting transfer students who can’t have their academic needs met where they are - the student who starts an exotic FL in college and wants to major in it but whose current school doesn’t offer much in the way of upper level classes, for example.

4

I am thinking that Duke would feel just as fratty and it is in no way urban.

5

@GnocchiB …However, it has extensive research opportunities, and is in relatively close proximity to Charlotte.

6

I’m definitely not an expert but after much research, it looks like schools want to see why they are a better match for you than your current school. So, in your essays make sure you focus on what each school has that your current school doesn’t; what specific classes, professors, programs, and research do the schools offer? How would you benefit from that? Once you specify that, I think you’ll be golden :slight_smile: It looks like you defined your academic goals since arriving at Dartmouth, and that will help you be more specific; schools want transfer applicants that are more driven and clear in their academic goals (in relation to freshman applicants).