Transfer Tips

<p>The transfer application materials seem slim. I'm worried if my current credentials aren't sufficient enough and if my 'Why Transfer' essay will hold up.</p>

<p>I'm currently at a large state school, transferred from a large private university. My college and high school gpa are average, my SAT is just nearly a 2000. I basically dream about going to Grinnell in my sleep, although I'm more sort of agonizingly awake and afflicted with this desire. I've had mishaps with my entire educational experience until I recently came across Grinnell's mission. </p>

<p>Does anyone have tips on making an appealing transfer application?</p>

<p>What do you mean by mishaps?</p>

<p>The only real recommendation I'd make is to try and interview, to try and visit the campus and talk to people in the admissions office and to emphasize just how much you want to go to the school. Midwestern LAC's get burned a lot by people going to schools in the Northeast, which is why their (Carleton, Middlebury, etc) ED acceptance numbers are generally higher than their Northeastern counterparts (Williams, Amherst, Vassar, Colby, etc)--they care about commitment to the school. Also make sure to emphasize this in your essay.</p>

<p>As for your "mishaps," I wouldn't agonize over every detail and try and explain every facet of the situation. You're better off stating why going to Grinnell would be a change for you, and why you'd do better there, than focusing on what was wrong with your other experiences--although that's not to say you should ignore your background completely.</p>

<p>Thanks, tetrishead. An interview is what I was shooting for; I read about on this board but interviews weren't mentioned as available for transfers. Hopefully there will be willing alumni in my state for interviews as I probably won't be able to visit.</p>

<p>I guess the transfer application is really straightforward in terms of goals and explanations. Thanks for the help.</p>

<p>Forget alumni interviews if you have a situation that needs real explaining, especially if you think you need to grease the wheels a little to get in somewhere. Alumni interviews should be looked at less as a late-stage job interview and more as the initial process where HR reads applications and weeds them out. It's very rare from everything I know to have an alumni interviewer say "this person is AMAZING you MUST accept them," but it's not uncommon for people to say someone was awkward. I suspect alumni interviews are at their most useful when a candidate as weak recommendations but is strong otherwise.</p>

<p>This isn't a massive state school. What they do isn't set in stone. Get in contact with the admissions person for your area, ask if you can talk to them when they're not busy and explain your situation. If you can make some small talk that's great, if not it's fine too. If you can't get an in-person interview do everything within your power--without being a pain in the ass--to get a phone interview, or even try and trade e-mails with someone. If your rep can't do it then try and go even higher, to the new dean of admission or Nancy Maly who's the interim director. As a last resort you could even send an e-mail (without trying to turn it into a conversation) to the president of the college.</p>

<p>Wherever you are, it's not equal footing with other applicants. I know the feeling. If you're trying to maximize your chances you have to go above and beyond, and you have to be sensitive to whether or not what you're doing is actually helping you--although I suppose that's more of an intangible skill.</p>

<p>Bummers. I've finished my app and asked for any sort of interview, but was flat out denied. I was assured that interviews are only done as a courtesy for campus visits.</p>

<p>That said, how much would visiting a campus enhance a transfer hopeful's chances?</p>

<p>I have no idea about transfer, but I do know that a lot of freshmen applicants this year, myself included, were waitlisted for not showing interest.</p>

<p>SpecialAgentPunk, as you're not getting much encouragement from Grinnell, they may be trying to give you a message. I've been reading some really sad posts here about students with truly outstanding stats who have been rejected. Attending two colleges that didn't work out for you doesn't help you either. </p>

<p>I don't want to bum you out, but maybe you shouldn't put all your eggs in the Grinnell basket. There are some really great LACs out here in the midwest that are like Grinnell in many ways, with smart off-beat students and all that, but are a bit easier to get into. Earlham or Beloit or Kalamazoo all spring to mind. The Princeton Review site lists the other colleges that students from a school applied to. You can see what other schools Grinnell students would have been happy to attend.</p>

<p>^^ I would recommend Lawrence, if only because I felt bad about withdrawing my application from that place after the conversations I had with people there. I did see it as a safety, but one of the reasons I liked it so much was that the city was much better than most of the surrounding areas of the schools I applied to (including Grinnell), and people seemed open to someone with an awkward background there.</p>

<p>These last two posts are really wise. There are some truly great midwest schools that might be a better bet right now at the height of admissions frenzy. I think m&m&m and tetrishead have focused on some of the best.</p>