(Also posted on transfer board)
Hi all,
I am currently at a Seven Sisters college, and I’m a second semester freshman. I am entertaining the idea of transferring because, while I love the academics and extracurriculars at my school, I hate the living situation and I feel trapped in the small area that is campus and the immediate surrounding parts of town. I would be looking for an urban campus where it’s easier to “escape.” I am looking at several schools in New York City, but Barnard is my top choice. I have a few questions regarding transfer admissions.
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I know that Barnard, like most schools, is need-aware with transfer admissions. As someone who currently pays only somewhere around $20k for college, would this negatively impact me? Or does need-aware really only impact students needing closer to a full ride scholarship? (I know this is kind of hard to say, but do you have a sense of how that policy actually plays out?)
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As someone coming from an already competitive school with a 3.85 GPA (I expect it to be higher after spring semester too) and a 2270 SAT, and assuming my essays would be decent, do you have any idea what my chances might be? (alternatively, do you know how competitive transfer admission is compared to freshman admission?)
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Do you think having attended another Seven Sisters school would help me from an admissions standpoint? (Just curious)
Thank you!
@februaries Hi, Sorry I can’t answer your questions. I am a mom wondering if you might answer some for me. What school are currently attending. I am worried about the isolated factor of some of the schools. Also, do you have need-based aid that mades your tuition so low?
@searchngmom Hi! I currently attend Vassar. Vassar doesn’t have merit scholarships, so yes, it’s all need-based (I don’t have outside scholarships either).
Despite the fact that I’m thinking about transferring, I want to add some caveats to my post because I would still highly recommend Vassar for most people. First, a lot of the reason why being isolated is a problem for me is just because of individual idiosyncrasies/mental-health-related things. While the area of the college may be a little isolating for a lot of people, no one I know is as strongly affected by it as I am - and I have a lot of friends from much bigger cities, such as Chicago and New York City, who don’t mind it at all. If you haven’t visited the college, the area around campus is great, so it’s not like you’re stuck on the actual campus all the time… it’s just that, for me, even the nice area surrounding the college feels like an extension of the campus because of the high population of students that spend their time there.
All that being said, if your child has a car or even a bike that they are bringing to school with them, that’s even better and they would definitely be fine (there’s lots to do in the area, it’s just hard to get to a lot of those things by walking, and public transportation isn’t the best - except for the Saturday Shuttle which is run by the student government).
If you have any other questions about Vassar in particular, feel free to PM me.
There are also Zip cars on the Vassar campus for students to use…
@februaries No one can say for certain how much your need for FA will figure but I imagine it is a case that they have a limited amount of money available and they will distribute it to those that are most highly ranked. In other words, you’ll probably only be affected if you are at the margin and if they have already distributed most of their FA budget to higher ranked candidates. That said, having an excellent record for a highly rated university will figure in your favor.