<p>I’m going into my freshmen year of college too. You aren’t a guidance counselor and you are going into your freshmen year. Your advice is irrelevant because you have no experience like you said. Judgement? What is that bull. If he actually attains high scores and joins EC’s theres no reason he can’t get into a tier 1 school. Are you his best friend? Do you know everything about him? I don’t think so.</p>
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I don’t need experience to say definitively that there is a very small chance I’ll get into Cornell after 2 years no matter how hard I work. That’s what judgment is–sense. Is that going to stop me from working as hard as I can, and POSSIBLY applying to Cornell if I deem my chances OK a year from now? No. But am I going to encourage someone who doesn’t seem like he could do it (just by pure chance) to go for it? No. If OP actually pulls it off then that doesn’t mean my statements will not stand anymore. It just means I don’t get credit because I didn’t encourage him to attempt a miracle.
You are oversimplifying the process. If he joins or starts a few clubs, gets a 4.0 in the hardest classes at his state school, etc., he still won’t fare well in most top schools, although he will fare well in many tier 1’s. This is the truth. It’s not about “hard work pays off”; it’s about what is actually the case and what actually happens after the application is reviewed. You need very impressive extracurriculars, a story to tell, or otherwise a hook just to be competitive for highly selective schools. This is ON TOP of a decent high school record. OP has a 2.7. Even a 3.5 is very very low for many tier 1’s. Top schools will not look past this. He didn’t mention extracurriculars, which either means he has no good ones or he does not understand that they are very important. He didn’t give an excuse for the low GPA, either. It just seems like he did nothing in high school. Top colleges don’t even get these types of applicants because most of these applicants know they won’t get in. Such colleges don’t think of the transfer process as a way to allow students to make up for what they did in high school; it’s merely a means to further populate the student body. People are just deluded by any second opportunity they get, thinking that in a time-span of 1 year (at the most) they can do something spectacular if they work hard. I am not putting words in OP’s mouth, either. He suggested “ivy.” Chances are none unless he gets lucky and scores a highly impressive internship or something.</p>
<p>I’ve read maybe 500-1,000 success stories on this board over the course of this entire year. 0.000% of these success stories involve students who did nothing significant in high school, had no excuse, no story, no awards, and no hook (which actually describes the average high school student), did VASTLY better in college and got into a top school. 100.000% of these success stories involve students who either did good in high school all-around to begin with or had a bad GPA but had a story to tell (or some variant of this). What you hear about CC students getting into good schools makes sense because many of them have something significant on their application, MORE than just a year of involvement. These types of applications cannot be sculpted in a year just by joining/starting a few clubs and getting a 4.0. </p>
<p>Tell me, what is realistic of a college student who wants to transfer and works hard his freshman year? I’d say an application with a few clubs, a few small leadership positions, a 3.9-4.0 GPA, average letters of recommendation, and a mediocre applicant essay. This is not enough for Ivy’s or highly selective tier 1’s at all. </p>
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Like I said, it’s judgment. If what I say does not apply to him then he doesn’t have to take my advice. I’m putting what I say out there in the open.</p>
<p>crazybandit, If i aimed low i would be more disappointed than if i aimed high and missed</p>
<p>BurtonElitist, Thnx for the encouragement! even if i don’t have much of a chance of getting into a tier 1,im still going to try! its worth a shot!</p>
<p>You did not mention what your essay topic was. We have no way of knowing. That said, they may think your essay is merely a retread from your initial college apps and that may further dampen chances.</p>
<p>What an inspiring post! <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1065287395-post7.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1065287395-post7.html</a></p>
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You do have a good and very reasonable chance of getting into a tier 1 college or university, especially since many of them don’t even look at your high school record if you’ve amassed a certain amount of credits. Just not an Ivy League one.
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That’s a very misleading success story and unfortunately you don’t see that. The GPA increase (from “2.7” to “3.49”) is maybe 5% of the whole process. In fact, it probably hurt him more than it did him good (it should’ve been closer to 4.0). The other 95% has to do with essays, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, awards, etc., not something you can forge in 2 semesters just by wanting it and working hard. What are you going to do? Join a few clubs? You don’t even have any idea what you’re going to do. You described initially your plan was to “get involved” and get a 4.0. Good luck on that. 99.9% of transfers at Ivy Leagues and other top schools have been doing that for 4-5 years. You have about 1 year and 1 month before you start applying as a junior transfer. I don’t want to get you down. I just want you to see that the process is harsh, and that’s it. I’m glad you want to apply to Cornell; I do, too, and I’m in the same situation. But it’s not on my list and I don’t think a school of that caliber will ever be unless I decide to go to graduate school for it.</p>
<p>Could you list all the tier 1 schools?</p>
<p>There are a million threads currently on cc about the new 2011 USNews college rankings list. If you really believe in this list and its tier system, I’d recommend you pull up one of those threads or go to the usnews website. In reality, the focus should be on transferring to what school is the best fit for you that you can afford, not the one with the highest rankings or prestige.</p>
<p>I have a difficulty searching for the US News 2011 Rankings for all the tier 1 schools. Can you post us the link?</p>
<p>This forum has an article on its main page about the school tiers. I’d recommend starting there.</p>
<p>There have been discussions about it, but so far I have yet to discover any leakage that directs us to the US news website with a list of all the schools ranked for 2011.</p>
<p>Unless you mean this: <a href=“Forbes List Directory”>Forbes List Directory;
<p>No. There are multiple threads that link to this [Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges)</p>