Transferring from Columbia to Harvard

Transfer Students
1

Hey all, I’m looking to transfer from Columbia to Harvard. I was wondering:

  • Has anyone done this? (Or the other way around?) I've talked to a lot of people at both schools, but none that have transferred between them.
  • What are the key things that Harvard wants to see in transfer applicants? (I've read a few posts on this topic, but since they were from back when Harvard's transfer admit rate was 8%, not 1% where it is now, I'm suspecting this may have changed.)

My high school GPA was quite bad (don’t remember the average). My GPA at college is 4.0.

Thank you.

2

What’s wrong w Columbia? It’s not Harvard?

3

I understand that it probably seems like lame credential-ing, but there are a number of problems with Columbia (to the point where some of my friends have outright dropped out).

  • I'm studying a science, and the department here is good but the research opportunities here aren't really in line with what I want to do. Harvard's is much closer to that, a bit more interdisciplinary and more forward-thinking. Because I want to spend time doing some research during my later years in college, I want to be doing something I can be passionate about, and that will be a good fit for grad school.
  • The courses in my department are fine but not great, and the course selection in general is lackluster.
  • Social life here sucks (to put it nicely), and it's a very anonymous school despite having a nice campus and etc. I've heard many people talk about this. YikYak is the best sense of community Columbia has. Yup. (This is a major reason some friends have dropped out.)
  • Students are always busy and fetishize being stressed out. There's a ridiculous oneupmanship around pulling all-nighters. Professors are generally hard to get to (some hit and a lot of miss).
  • People don't seem to be that involved and I'm not meeting a ton of great people. Student groups (the one I've tried, anyway) are sparsely attended.
  • I'm just generally very unhappy here. (But you know, no guarantees that Harvard will be any better.)
4

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Transferring to Harvard is a distraction.

5

I agree, it may be. I’ve done some research on the important bit (research at Harvard) and it is better enough for me to consider, but I’d like to see whether my other assumptions are correct by seeing there are other people who have done the same move.

But yes, the 1% acceptance rate plus the grass-is-greener are both things I’m thinking about in terms of informing this decision :slight_smile:

6

No one cares about undergraduate science research. Worry about that for grad school.

Considering the 1% transfer admit rate. Think why harvard wd want to select someone who is already in a worth institution over someone who has urgency to change schools.