<p>My son has been in an engineering program at an Ivy League school, and has done rather poorly. He has a GPA of 2.6, and wants to transfer out of the school, and switch to Political Science so he can get into law school.</p>
<p>What is the reality of the situation? He has more than 60 credits now, and is in the middle of his junior year. I don't know what he is up against. What will schools he applies to look at? If he is in engineering and wants to get into Political Science, will they pay more attention to his high school transcripts? Will they put a lot more weight in his GPA? Should he bother even trying to apply to other Ivy League schools, or is that out of the question now?</p>
<p>why does he want to transfer to another school? if he wants to major in political science, then he should just stay at the same university and switch from the Engineering college to the Arts and Sciences college.</p>
<p>Law Schools, like many other graduate programs, look at the <em>entire</em> transcripts of hopeful applicants. Thus, irregardless of where your Son attends school or how many times he transfers, every grade counts. </p>
<p>If he believes he can bring up his GPA by majoring in political science, then it is a good idea for him to make the switch. However, political science as a major will not improve his chances of getting admitted to top law schools. Engineering majors have as good shot as, if not better than, political science majors. Getting into top law schools involves playing the numbers game - high GPA and high LSAT.</p>
<p>It will probably be difficult to transfer anywhere with a 2.6 GPA. Also, most colleges don't accept students who have gone beyond the end of sophomore year. I'd agree that it makes the most sense to switch majors at the same college. High school grades would probably not be enough to get him in alone, because most high school are so uncomparable to top colleges.</p>
<p>btw, his best bet would be to try to get into Arts/Sciences school at a place like Cornell or w.e. school he is at. I can tell you this, no ivy caliber school or ivy league (i know cornell arts/sciences would flat out reject your son as an external transfer). However, if he does in fact go to cornell (which is likely), he can easily transfer to arts/sciences if he can get a 3.0 in 4 arts/science classes in one semester.</p>
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Also, most colleges don't accept students who have gone beyond the end of sophomore year.
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<p>Many do, in fact. The added stipulation is that the matriculant must spend at least two years at the university to which he/she is transferring.</p>
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I know, but I have also heard from some adcoms that they "favor" students who have not gone beyond two years at their original institution...
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<p>Yes, but 'not favoring' differs from automatic rejection. I know at least three juniors who were accepted as spring 2006 transfers at Top 20 schools.</p>
<p>He is actually at Columbia SEAS, and they will not allow him to transfer to Columbia College after the sophomore year. Otherwise he would gladly transfer within the school. He can definitely bring his GPA up by switching to an Arts & Sciences college but it won't be Columbia. With a GPA of 2.6 (average at SEAS is 2.7), we aren't sure what is available to him, and what schools he should apply to, realistically. This is why I'm writing. I'm hoping that someone reading this has some firsthand information, as an admissions person perhaps, at a good school.</p>
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With a GPA of 2.6 (average at SEAS is 2.7), we aren't sure what is available to him, and what schools he should apply to, realistically.
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<p>If the average GPA is so low, should his advisor not have information on what he can do upon graduation? For instance, MIT students also suffer from low GPAs, but the school's prominence allows students to attain comfortable post-graduate positions.</p>
<p>i know this doesn't help, but this should be a wake up call to those interested in Columbia's engineering program, b/c it is kinda of scarry how they do things over there. They should know that some ppl aren't cut for engineering just like some ppl aren't cut for math, some for english, etc.. Most schools have policies that allow engineers to freely transfer to arts/sciences after a year (i know both penn and cornell do).
Good luck to your son, he's gonna have to look at places a lil lower down on the scale. So what basically happens, if he were to stay at Columbia, would he have to continue taking engineering courses??</p>
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If the average GPA is so low, should his advisor not have information on what he can do upon graduation? For instance, MIT students also suffer from low GPAs, but the school's prominence allows students to attain comfortable post-graduate positions.
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<p>He is not, at this time, considering graduating from the Engineering program. He is interested in pursuing Political Science then a Law degree. So, as a transfer, would the same concept apply if the school has enough prominence (and I would expect that it does)?</p>
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Good luck to your son, he's gonna have to look at places a lil lower down on the scale. So what basically happens, if he were to stay at Columbia, would he have to continue taking engineering courses??
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<p>Yes, he would have to continue taking engineering courses. There is no other option for him there.</p>
<p>He has a list of schools he is interested in including Brown, University of Chicago, NYU, Fordham, Georgetown, UC Berkeley, Boston University, and some safety schools. Are all of these out of reach? He is willing to obligate himself for an additional 2 years, and his grades for Arts & Sciences type classes have all been A's. It's the high level math and engineering courses that he's not done so well in, and some of those credits probably wouldn't transfer anyway.</p>
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So, as a transfer, would the same concept apply if the school has enough prominence (and I would expect that it does)?
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<p>I am unsure. You should speak to admissions counselors at other schools.</p>
<p>As a side note, with a 2.6, he is already excluding himself from a great number of law schools. If he is serious about law school, I think he should either speak to Columbia's pre-law advisor, or his advisor, and they should be able to advise him on what to do.</p>
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As a side note, with a 2.6, he is already excluding himself from a great number of law schools. If he is serious about law school, I think he should either speak to Columbia's pre-law advisor, or his advisor, and they should be able to advise him on what to do.
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<p>That is excellent advice. I just shared it with him. Although he has spoken to his advisor in Engineering, he hasn't gotten the kind of advice he needs to consider pre-law right now. He is going to contact the pre-law advisor tomorrow. Thank you.</p>