<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I'm a Dartmouth sophomore who's been tossing the idea around about transferring for two years now. Socially and academically I just don't think I belong here anymore. </p>
<p>I've been thinking about taking the following year off to get some work experience -- ideally a legit-job doing political stuff, which I might be able to secure given some previous internships I've had/connections made. Then, come March I want to apply to some schools (Columbia being my #1) and hopefully start junior year the following fall.</p>
<p>Does this sound feasible? How does Columbia admissions look at students who apply during a year off? My college GPA is a 3.76 (will hopefully inch closer to a 3.8 by the end of the term), I'm super involved and will get great recs. </p>
<p>Also, how tough would it be to start Columbia as a junior -- will all of the requirements kick my ass and make it hard for me to graduate on time?</p>
<p>Hmm…there is one thing you will need to absolutely make certain of: does taking a year off make you a non-traditional applicant or not? If so, then you would be applying to the General Studies school which is just a post-baccalaureate. I’m not too sure on what makes someone a non-trad but it should be on the transfer website somewhere.</p>
<p>With regards to transition, I think I can be of more help. I’m a transfer myself (although I transferred for my sophomore year) and considering that you’re a liberal arts major, academics should not pose too big of an issue. I know another transfer here (Columbia College) who transferred here for his junior year and he’s managed to fulfill the Core and do a double major. You’ll take some classes in your junior and senior years that are filled with freshman and sophomores but graduation should not be an issue.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>General Studies is NOT exclusively post-bacc. Anyone who has had a gap year (either before or during their post-secondary education) is required to apply to the School of General Studies.</p>
<p>Be aware of how the admissions committee may look at your year off. Are you leaving school to pursue a specific position/passion? Or are you leaving because you don’t like Dartmouth right now?</p>
<p>hellojan, that is not correct. you are allowed to have a gap year before you enter college, and i believe there is some leniency around gap years during post-secondary education. i think it depends on how competitive the student is, reasons for transfer, if they previously took a gap year before entering college. a friend of mine took a year off to work on a campaign and ended up wanting to come to Columbia, was admitted to the college. i think there is a sticky place for students there. another person i know originally applied to cc but was asked if they would rather apply to gs instead because probably he wasn’t an ideal cc student. from what he told me it has less to do with how smart he was, but part of it was around length of time off, part of it was because he wanted to switch majors and he heard that cc is kind of strict with their expectation that you complete the core and your major in a certain amount of time.</p>