Transfer to prestigious schools

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>I’m an international student from Korea, attending a parochial school in PA.</p>

<p>As I got rejected from most colleges to which I applied and ended up going to 4-year public school, I’m seriously considering transferring to another institution (probably in my sophomore year).</p>

<p>Here are some questions for transfer process:

  1. I took 6 AP exams this year, but I don’t think I did well on those exams (as I slacked off a little bit). Will the Admissions Officers request or require the official AP scores? They require Standardized Test Scores, but they don’t say anything about AP scores. I just want them to see my HS transcripts because I have good grades in AP classes.</p>

<li>What should I do for this summer to improve my application? I will be in Korea for this whole summer. Since I live in suburban area, I couldn’t find any internship opportunities. </li>
</ol>

<p>Here are some of my HS stats:
2060 on SAT (600CR, 790M, 670W) - I took it 3 times and these are the best combined scores.
SAT II: 800 Chem, 800 Math IIC, 730 Bio M, 640 Bio E
Rank: 3/186</p>

<p>I have more stats to give you and more questions to ask. I would really appreciate any advice or information. Those who are interested in helping me, please feel free to PM me.</p>

<p>By the way, I am looking at schools like MIT, Stanford, Yale, and Chicago. </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>No offense meant, but your SATs are a tad low for those schools, especially as a transfer. The AP scores thing shouldn't be a problem. As far as what to do over the summer, I think at this point it's a bit late. Internships, research, and the like are good, but you might have some trouble getting one now. My advice would be to just prepare for and make the most of your first semester at college.</p>

<p>you might have a chance at those schools if you get great grades and recs (those are key, get to know professors) freshman year. </p>

<p>Otherwise, if you're still unhappy at your public school, maybe think about transferring to a smaller (but still "prestigious") school that's not as focused on SATs...think Oberlin, Wesleyan, Claremont-McKenna, William & Mary!</p>

<p>English is not my native language. Don't the admissions officers take that into consideration? I plan to take SAT again though. Is there any chance for me to get into those schools??</p>

<p>You need to go to the Transfer forum and check out the students that got into that level of school this year, there's a thread with results and stats.</p>

<p>What's your major? Looks like Engineering. Competitiveness may vary depending on what field you're applying to.</p>

<p>Try aiming for a 2200 for your SAT I, and I recommend finding some research or internship opportunities in your school for the upper hand. Another thing you should worry about is your current accumulative GPA in your college. High School GPAs also count, but not as much. Most schools require transfer students to have at least 30 credit hours in your current college, and sometimes APs won't even be accepted. Bottom line, Don't get a C cuz the level you're asking for is pretty intensive.</p>

<p>Also, the prestigiuos schools your're aiming at tend to be even more competitive for transfer students than first year applicants. Good luck trying to apply to Stanford cuz last time only 20 transfer students were accepted.(1.5%)</p>

<p>BTW, I myself am in the exact same situation as you, so feel free to ask.</p>

<p>"English is not my native language. Don't the admissions officers take that into consideration? "</p>

<p>Sure, but the problem is that you are competing against nonnative English speakers who even come from Korea and have far higher scores than you have accomplished. A 600 CR is probably the lowest possible score one can have to get into the colleges you list, but the people who get in with such a low score more than likely are offspring of multimillionare donors or have nationally or internationally significant athletic talents.</p>

<p>There are plenty of nonnative English speakers who have CR scores in the mid 700s.</p>