<p>Hey Aristororty, thanks for answering questions. I have one of my own: How much do awards factor into transfer admissions? I literally have none worth putting down. Will this basically cause me to be rejected?</p>
<p>I really want to leave my institution, leaving the southeast and leaving the tier 4 university are both musts. I am just a bit unsure, I mean I don’t have much guidance, professors read my essays and told me they were outstanding but I am worried about how much being from a tier 4 university will hurt me.</p>
<p>Columbia requires only one recommendation; therefore, you can only submit one. Do not try to submit more than the requirement. You should pick the recommender that knows you best, and it should preferably be the professor.</p>
<p>International transfers are not unheard of - they are perfectly acceptable. Also - @Techerdz: as I have said many times, the school you are coming from does not affect your chances in a significant way. It is the overall candidate that admissions looks for. There are even a couple transfers students accepted from community college.</p>
<p>Cynthia - the essay sounds good. Always make sure to punch the value of the Core.</p>
<p>As far as those smaller questions - just format them in a clear way, so that you can include as the things you find meaningful. If you have to take one out so that it is easier to read, I don’t think it will make or break you.</p>
<p>As for the awards question: admissions looks at the candidate as a whole, using primarily the essay, college performance thus far, and professor recommendation. Don’t not apply because you can’t fill the awards category. It won’t make or break you. I had like three things to put down, and two were from high school.</p>
<p>Good luck all! Couple weeks to go, if I’m not mistaken.
Make sure to stay on top of the paperwork and anything that needs to be mailed - it creeps up on you!</p>
<p>You say that extracurricular aren’t that heavily weight, neither is SAT as long as it’s 1900+…so what IS weighed heavily in terms of transfer applications?</p>
<p>aristororty, i will take some exception to things you put out here. though on par i think you are right, when you say “X” doesn’t matter too much you are simplifying the process.</p>
<p>a few truths:
a) by certain principles of admissions - i’d argue that the overall transfer pool is not as competitive as the regular frosh pool. in part because the number of candidates are far fewer (the more candidates the more chance for standouts), in part because transfers are self-selecting. which means even if transfer admit rates are comparable to frosh admit rates, in the end the selected grouping will be not as strong.
b) the honest truth - SAT scores matter less because transfer students are not included in any official data on standardized testing. practically, it means universities are able to be more flexible in their selection without affecting their mean.
c) high school matters less and less not because it is unimportant, but because it is less recent. admissions is a what have you done for me lately game. so the older you are (considering some GS students on this board) the less some dinky trophy you won in 9th grade means.</p>
<p>with this all being said, as you point out, columbia does a holistic evaluation - in which everything matters on the one hand, but an exceptional something might make your transfer easier. the only firm rule to keep in mind is columbia likes gpa’s above 3.5 and as you’ve noted, closer to 3.8 and higher. and further, admissions is to a degree like pistons - if you are light on one part, you need to compensate on another. so for example, if a student let’s say shows that they are kind of undecided about a major, they did well academically, but closer to a 3.7…being involved at their present campus probably matters more (or being active as an hs student). and though SAT/ACT matter less because they don’t fall into statistics, they often correlate with other successes - so the kid who got the 2350 probably stands a better chance than the 2150. so i think it is important to note that to some degree everything may matter - it changes from student to student. </p>
<p>instead of talking about parts of the application, i’d rather pull out and say columbia is pretty much looking for two things, and doesn’t mind a third: 1) you can academically do the work (columbia is tougher than a lot of schools out there); 2) you have a good reason to transfer to columbia and from your school - no pity parties - and 3) you just might end up contributing something significant to Columbia while on campus if not in the long run.</p>
<p>how much will a poor college GPA hurt me? i’m trying to transfer from a top-ranked school on the quarter system and i feel like it’s more difficult to earn a good gpa since we’re taking less classes each quarter with more of an effect on GPA. do you think columbia will factor that in? i’m having trouble even maintaining the gpa that I have currently which could drift below 3.5</p>
<p>hiiii i have a couple questions! im relatively happy at my current school, but recently have been having second thoughts about not applying to columbia the first time around. my grades in high school were good but not columbia worthy, but recently in college ive had a turn around and have been doing really well. i would have around a 3.7 if it hadnt been for one grade that really brought down my grade to around a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. i would be transferring as a junior from a top liberal arts school. im an econ major also. i guess i was just wondering if i have aaaany shot at all haha and also from what kind of school you transferred from? just curious :)</p>
<p>So as far as college GPA, you want to shoot for at least a 3.5. As you’ll notice in some of my other posts, below a 3.5 does not make you ineligible; my roommate transferred with a 3.3. If you want to transfer, you should be confident that you have other qualities and/or recommendations that will help you get in.</p>
<p>@Yankees - I transferred from a school in Washington DC that wasn’t Georgetown. But as I often say, you can transfer from anywhere you want. As I also often say, be careful about transferring from a place where you are already happy. Transferring is not an easy process. Make sure you really want it, and that you really believe that you’re goals would be better fulfilled elsewhere.</p>
<p>Hey Aristororty,</p>
<p>I have already written my Why is your present school not meeting your needs essay, but my approach to the essay was quite strict. I simply talked about my school and NOT Columbia. Would you recommend blending a “Why Columbia” approach into the essay? I’m also around 250 words over already (Columbia recommends 250, whereas I have 500)</p>
<p>Solace, if you have time, just start over. The trick about those essays is to talk about your current school as little as possible. Instead, indirectly say what it doesn’t offer by talking about what Columbia does offer.</p>
<p>Aristororty, in your opinion would it be wise to talk about the city itself under reasons of why you’d want to transfer to Columbia? NYC plays a large part as well in my desires to go to Columbia, because it offers such a great environment that promotes both artistic and intellectual growth (in short, Core applied), but I don’t want Columbia to think my reasons for transferring are shallow (that I’d only want to go because it’s “in the city”).</p>
<p>Hey </p>
<p>where did your roommate transferred from? I know you said that schools does not matter much. But still out of curiosity. Thanks in advance</p>
<p>hi, don’t know if anybody has asked this, I was just wondering if I transfer to Columbia as a junior, do I have to the core courses. I guess not, right?</p>
<p>@r31ncarnat3d - Core applied is never a bad way to go. If you pursue a broad theme of integrated learning - and do it well - your essay should be more than acceptable. </p>
<p>@jmcyl - for the sake of anonymity, I’ll give you a school of equivalent ranking; let’s say he came from American U with a 3.3 (real GPA).</p>
<p>@firelordzuko - you do, and you must. You can place out of some, but expect the Core to be a big part of your schedule.</p>
<p>I am really unsure as to what to how to tackle the How and why your current school isn’t meeting your needs question, I feel like my story is pretty lengthy (US citizen who went abroad wants to broaden horizons blah blah) and 250 words is NOT enough, neither it is a page.
How strict are they about the word limit on that? Are they really just wanting the bare facts with little creativity and writing “finesse”?</p>
<p>It is quite possible to maintain your finesse in the process of communicating the bare facts. Be concise and honest. Capture the big ideas in your writing, the ones that really draw you to Columbia. Read it again and again; I promise, you will find extraneous information.</p>
<p>on the 250words about why ur current institution isnt meeting ur needs, etc</p>
<p>Im coming from a community college and here at the community college i feel as if people are on different pages. not everyone has the same academic goals that i have. i feel like people arent as motivated as they can be, like they arent as devoted to academics as i am. there isnt a community feel because not everyone is passionate about what they are doing. it seems as if they’re just doing it without a goal in mind. also the opportunities to work with professors on research projects arent there because they just teach mainly.</p>
<p>does that sound too cheesy? that isnt what im putting exactly on the application but that basically sums it up i would say. should i tie in a bit of “why columbia”?</p>
<p>@steeze - you use the word “because” too often. once is enough. restructure your sentences.</p>
<p>He used it twice…</p>
<p>^^
oh yea def. all that was just thinking outloud.
but i mean, as far as substance goes, does it sound like im playing the pity card or something?</p>