Transfer Problem

<p>I'm planning on attending a university in Canada, and I will be studying poli sci and music. I was just wondering how good my chances are about transfering to an ivy league school in the states. My grades are great in High School and I'm heavily involved in EC's and community services. I was thinking about applying for an ivy league right off the back, but I'm not sure if I'd be excepted, well more worried that I'll be rejected actually, that's why I was thinking about a transfer after my first or second year. Does anybody have an idea if this would even work, and if I would have to take the SAT's? I don't really know a lot about them because I'm from Canada, I've only heard that they aren't exactly a piece of cake. Any suggestions or ideas on what I should do? My choice is between applying to an ivy league school or trying to transfer once I start my education. Please HELP!!!</p>

<p>wait...have u finished HS?</p>

<p>I just graduated</p>

<p>Then its too late to apply to an ivy league school now anyways, unless you were planning on a gap year. And, although acceptance rates vary, it can be harder to get into an ivy league as a transfer than as a freshman. Princeton doesnt even accept transfer applicants. You would most likely need to take the SATs.</p>

<p>I am planning on taking a gap year, to work for a little bit. So you think that if I'd apply right off the back I'd have better chances? I haven't atually applied to any universities yet, because my chances of getting in to the university of alberta are great, with the grades that I have right now, they wouldn't reject me.</p>

<p>Cornell and Brown wont make you take the SATs if you go to UofA. Percentages are lower for transfers at most of the iveys...Yale is 4% while Harvard is 6%. Cornell is 30% overall but 17% for arts and science. Brown is something like 28%. What are your HS grades like? In canada the only year that counts is ure senior year but for american schools, 9-12 count.</p>

<p>My high school grades are great. I'm top 10 in my grade (over 400 people) and my school has a very competative academics program. I've recieved an honours ranking ever since junior high.</p>

<p>alright so youre in an excellent position for transfer admissions. Make sure to do well this year...try your best to get above 80 in every course but if you dont its not the end of the world. If youre avg is 80+ (3.7ish), you will be a strong candidate at the schools without sat requirements.</p>

<p>That's great. Thanks for the help. As far as I know I"m at an 88 or 89, but I will recieve my final grades in september. I'll keep those school in mind when I'm applying for universities. You guys really helped me broaden my horizon, it's greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>WOW i never knew an 80+ was a 3.7'ish in some schools...........</p>

<p>carl - canadian grades are different. In alot of schools here, if youre avg is 80%, youre in the top 10% of your class. It gets even tougher in university.</p>

<p>90-100 = A+
80-89 = A
70-79 = B</p>

<p>aca0260 is right. The teacher over here grade us crazy hard! At my school at least.</p>

<p>hopefully american schools will realize this though. I got my fingers crossed. No matter what grading scale they use to convert, an 80% for an ivy league school just doesnt look too impressive when most their applicants have 93+.</p>

<p>Yeah, that's gonna be a problem for me, even if I worked my butt of in high school, there's no way that they would even give me a higher grade than a 90-93%. I think the highest grade at my school was like a 91% and she has no life outside of school. Maybe an Ivy League just isn't for me...</p>

<p>if youve been getting 87% since 9th grade, you have a competitive avg for schools like Cornell, Brown, possibly Dartmouth and Penn. Alot of this depends on youre SAT, ECs as well. lata latA</p>

<p>ok, thanks. I'll consider all the options. We'll see what will end up happening. Thanks for all the input, it's greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>also a canadian student here starting at u of t starting in september,
from what i have read on the websites, SATs are mandatory even for transfers, although they aren't everything the ppl at ivy league schools look at. and i read, even for canadian schools, they expect us to have over 90% avg, since there are lots of schools in canada with grade inflations. Unluckily for us, we went to grade deflation schools, i have similar situation as yours. at my school, this kid's got 91% avg, he got accepted by like 6/8 of the ivy leagues, and berkeley and UCLA without SATs, besides him, 2nd highest avg is like 86%. so...yeah.... we are basically a little screwed. But who knows, college admission could be a little random and you might just be able to sneak in. i want to transfer too, but i want to see wat u of t is like first, where are you going starting in september? i think that if you manage all A-s or above, you'd have a good chance in transfering, i heard one person transfered from u of t to cornell after first year, which shows that Canadian to ivies is possible. good luck :)</p>

<p>i remember when i was interviewed for tufts...the alumnus was expecting a 90+ avg (at the time i had an 88).
Its incredibly difficult to compare the education systems of two different, albeit similar countries. However, adcoms take the disparities into acount to some degree. You just have to stand out with ECs, passion, and other bullcrap lol.</p>

<p>I'll be starting at the U of A next year in september. It's just kind of screwed up that the teachers here mark us so hard. I mean working out butts of and doing all we can to get good grades isn't enough to get a 90+%. The only 90%'s I got was for Choir, drama, and german. And that's not going to get me anywhere. I have high 80% marks in the rest of my classes. But we'll see, maybe I"ll try to apply just to see what will happen. I just know that if I take the SAT's I'll do horrible, big tests like that just don't go well with me, my diploma's are fine, at least I know what I got myself into with those, but SAT's? I wouldn't even know where to start!</p>