Currently a freshman at a LAC ranked top 5, have a GPA of 3.9 (however I am taking very difficult classes, mainly 300 and 400 level) and am involved in a few clubs. Applied to C, H and Y last year - got waitlisted by C and Y, and did not get accepted by Harvard. Did not take waitlist spots. Did not to great on the ACT (30 or 31) but I took the IB diploma where I did well, the ACT and SAT just wasn’t really my thing I guess. International student (I think this hurt my chances at CYH because the high school culture in my country is so different from the US and so extracurriculars etc are not easily accesible, neither is work or research opportunities). Reason for transfer: my current school’s department in my planned field of study is too small, I can’t challenge myself enough – need a bigger school, with more classes and oppurtunities within this field. So, what do you think my chances are?
Very weak chances.
- Transfers into the ivies are rare because you have to hope that someone transfers out from the school. It doesn’t happen. Maybe five or so, openings per school and that’s being optimistic.
- There is no financial aid for transfers.
- Also, the ivies are considered small as well. If you want a large department, you need to go to a large school. Trying to use that as an excuse to transfer wont help.
- It’s very obvious that you just want to go to any ivy since you weren’t admitted in the first round. Now you’re trying to get in again and they’ve already seen your record. They wont change their original decision.
- Being international doesn’t help.
@“aunt bea”
- actually, Y and H takes 10+ transfers each year and Columbia takes many more, slightly below 10% of transfer applicants.
2)Not true, all these schools have FA for transfers - even though I will not be applying for FA so it really does not matter.
3)They may be small compared to a UCLA, but they are not small compared to my current school. I want to go to a larger school with a great department for my major, not a huge one.
4)Nope, nothing to do with the fact that they are Ivies. Got in to Brown, UPenn and Cornell - which are Ivies, but those were not the correct fit for me. - I know - I already said so.
Chances are still weak, sorry you didn’t like the response.
@“aunt bea” was just giving an honest answer. The only reason you provide for transferring is that you want to go to a larger school. There are many large schools aside from the Ivies, which are at the lower end of “large”. So, as @“aunt bea” noted, the only reason you want to go to these schools is that you want to go to an Ivy, which is very unlikely.
Also, given that your stats seem weak to have been waitlisted in the first place (unless you are leaving information out), you must have had outstanding essays/hooks. These things will remain in your application; however, since your stats haven’t really changed from when you applied in the first place, and since you are now trying to transfer (which is nearly impossible for anyone), it doesn’t seem likely for you to be accepted. I would consider other “large” schools. Good luck.
To transfer to Ivies seems like a definite wildcard. This is not to mitigate your exceptional academic record or anything, but usually, people who are accepted as transfers to these schools not only have great secondary and college records, including test scores, essays, and hooks, but also have a genuinely compelling reason to transfer. At least, that is from what I could gather. Originally, I was going to apply to transfer to Columbia, too, but I realized not only is not feasible for me granted somewhat shoddy secondary grades, but I was really drawn to the allure of it being an Ivy – not necessarily because it has a great creative writing program (which is what I am looking for in a school). I suggest looking through past forums from students seeking to transfer to Ivies; preference tends to be given to non-traditional students. Plus, the fact that Harvard (as of 2012) accepted only 15 of the 1,500 that applied, and the fact that Columbia’s transfer rate is 7% of 2,000 applicants is not an exceptional amount of students–especially when everyone has excellent academic records like yourself, your reason for transferring needs to stand out among others.
I wish you luck on applying, but have a backup plan in the case that not everything works out. I agree with @cc8912 and @“aunt bea”