<p>This is my first time posting on here and I'm need of advice. I will be a freshman at the University of Washington this fall with the hopes of majoring in neurobiology and in the future attend Medical School. My passion is neurodegenerative deseases and I currently spend most of my free time reading literature pertaining to neuroscience and neurodegenerative deseases. In high school I was the valedictorian of my class and graduated with an honors diploma and received the IB diploma. My extracurriculars included everything from: varsity sports, volunteering at the local hospital, an internship with a doctor, an internship at a research lab, captain of my science bowl team, and various other ventures. In applying to colleges I only had a few including the UW and the only selective/prestigious schools that I applied to were U.Chicago and Occidental. I don't know if Occidental College is considered a prestigious school, but compared to other schools I applied to it was pretty selective. Anyways I was accepted into Occidental and the UW and I was wait-listed at U.Chicago, and I chose the UW because Occidental was more expensive, for me, than out-of-state UW and I was rejected off the wait-list at U.Chicago, to my disappointment. In the beginning I was excited for UW, but the more and more I was on campus and the more and more exposure I got I began to feel a little hesitant if I was really going to succeed. I think some of my hesitance comes from the shear size of undergrads and not becoming just a number at UW. As the start date nears for UW I really need someone's advice if I should try and transfer to U.Chicago and if being wait-listed there affects the admission committee's decision at all.</p>
<p>So I’m missing something. Are you planning on transferring after 2 years to U of C?</p>
<p>When are you plan to transfer? What is your GPA at UW?
If you don’t GAP at UW, U.Chicago would only use your h.s. data to consider you.</p>
<p>aunt bea: Well I need advice if I should try to transfer or just stay at the UW. Ideally I would like to transfer as soon as the next available cycle, but I’m not sure what the correct/best possible strategy there is in transferring from one university to another i.e. finish two years, or one year.</p>
<p>4kidsdad: I haven’t began at UW yet so I don’t have a UW GPA, but let’s say if apply to transfer this year, by the time I would send my application I would be finished with one or two quarters. Would they still base their decision on my college history through one or two quarters or more on high school records.</p>
<p>Also if anyone could explain to me what being wait-listed means? I mean it meant that they liked me enough not to reject through original cycle of applicants, but not enough to accept me. Right? Or does it not really mean anything at all?</p>
<p>reading your reply, I believe your best bet transfering to U Chicago is stay at UW for at least two years and keep your GPA high. If you want to transfer ASAP, then the first cycle U Chicago will probably look more at your HS record which may yield the same decision as before (wait list). You can certainly try to transfer to other good Univ. But I would recommend that you do some search if you really want to leave UW ASAP.</p>
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<p>Or possibly worse, as UChicago’s fr admit rate is about 16%, while their transfer rate is considerably less, about 4%:</p>
<p><a href=“https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-chicago[/url]”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-chicago</a></p>
<p>About WLs, my interpretation is that many of the highly selective colleges have relatively few fr spots compared to the number of qualified candidates that apply. Your WL position says that you were academically qualified but were not as compelling (based on academic, EC, or other factors) an applicant as others who were given admission.</p>
<p>So the U of C eventually rejected you from the waitlist? That mean’s you were not admitted. They based everything on your HS record. I don’t think you can just show up! Did you not visit UW? It is a very large school. </p>
<p>Most kids in my children’s school applied to 10-15 schools; it sounds like you were looking for schools that were exclusive, selective and prestigious. These are factors that are going to cost money and parental involvement is CRUCIAL. This is an arrogance you couldn’t afford.</p>
<p>Are you financially prepared for all of this? My DD was accepted by UW but she chose not to go there because of their fees and no FA. </p>
<p>Your options are:<br>
1). continue with UW for 2 years then hope that your gpa and ec’s are enough to wow the adcom at U of C.</p>
<p>2). Drop UW and go to a community college for 2 years then transfer. (NOTE: Very little FA available to transfers.)</p>
<p>aunt bea: Yes I was eventually rejected off the wait list. If I gave off the impression that I applied to only prestigious schools then I’m sorry I gave off that impression. It was only U.Chicago and Occidental that were colleges that I applied to that were more selective. And financially I am okay at the UW, I had some scholarships and financial aid, so there’s no problem there. And I didn’t intend to say that I was just going to show up, I was just asking what I have to do to look better the second time, if I chose to apply. Which you answered with getting a solid GPA and ECs that are spectacular. So sorry if gave off any wrong impressions, I was just genuinely asking for advice on what I should do in this situation and your advice is extremely helpful and again sorry if I gave off the wrong impression. Thank you again.</p>
<p>entomom: Thank you for that explanation, it makes more sense to me now.</p>