I formerly attended a top 30 university but didn’t perform as I would’ve liked. My family had health issues that required me coming home a decent amount and my GPA was only a 3.0. I took a leave of absence for spring semester then transferred to a school much closer to home for my sophomore year. No excuses though, I should’ve done better. Now, however, the situation has brightened up a lot and I feel that I am ready to go away again and I have put in some transfer apps. I have no clue, however, what I should expect in the transfer process. I applied to Cornell ILR, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Northeastern, Boston University, Tufts, and Colgate.
Besides the 3.0 first semester freshman year, I had a 3.93 first semester and currently have a 3.8 in the spring (my final year GPA will probably be around a 3.85). I have pretty good high school stats with a 33 ACT and a 4.0/4.0 GPA with volunteer work, internships, and numerous APs. In college I play on the rugby team and am a member of numerous finance-related clubs.
I consider myself a decent enough writer and believe I had some unique essays/supplements.
Are these schools largely reaches or do I have a decent shot? My hope is that the upward trend and explanation of circumstances means something in my application.
They’re all reaches because 1) they’re reaches for everyone and 2) it’s even more competitive for transfers than for freshmen. Yes you have a shot but like most excellent transfers it’s a long shot.
Maybe NEU and BU, but that’s about it. “reach for everyone” = 25% acceptance rate and under.
NEU is about 20%, BU is 25%. Colgate is 28% but the applicant pool is self selected in the first place. Vanderbilt is 11% as is Cornell ILR.
For transfers (because so few students transfer out of these universities and so few drop out/fail out) the odds are half to one third of these freshman numbers.
So, you may be lucky - Vanderbilt likes high stats students, for instance.
Cornell can be transfer-friendly if you’ve been attending a SUNY.
But anything beside “a long shot” ie., possible but unlikely, would be lying to you.
I do hope you get into one of them - as I said, it’s not impossible even if it’s a long shot.
NEU and BU should be attainable, they aren’t of the same caliber as the rest of your list.
Vandy and Cornell are where it gets interesting. Did you already apply, or you’re applying for next cycle? With strong grades this Spring and again next Fall I think you’ll do fine. Address the health issue and you’re golden
@MYOS1634 learn a bit more before dispensing incorrect advice. This is the transfer student section…Vanderbilt has ~30% transfer accept rate
Err, I know. 
I highlighted Vanderbilt as being one of the transfer-friendly universities for high stats, listing it first as one of the possibilities for OP after the freshman acceptance rates.
Nevertheless, the odds are low, even at Vanderbilt, even when having a strong profile for Vanderbilt (ie., high HS scores, high college GPA, strong on-campus engagement).
In my opinion, being too confident for transfers, when you don’t know the number of spots open and the number in each pool v. applicants in each pool, is not super helpful, but to each their own.
That’s the problem- it’s for this upcoming fall semester so I already applied months ago. I spoke to some admissions people and what they pretty much told me was that if they can for sure tell that one semester seems to be an outlier from unfortunate circumstances then they would put most of their focus on this semester and how I am doing during the midyear report. I don’t know if this is just talk or not but they seemed genuine. Even including the 3.0 first semester at my first institution my GPA would be a 3.5 (which certainly isn’t Cornell or Vanderbilt level) but isn’t completely ruined. But yeah, I applied already so that definitely lessens my chances
You have a shot, no doubt - but a long shot. It’s not impossible even if it’s not likely.
However, if these universities don’t admit you, you can build another list and apply in the Fall for Spring admissions. So, if you’re really interested in transferring, you’ll have another shot at it.
Hey they have those low acceptance rates for a reason lol. Maybe I’ll be lucky-we’ll see.