<p>I'm thinking about transferring here after my first or second year at DePaul University. Do you think I have a chance with straight A's, extracurriculars, great essays? I heard University of Chicago only takes a small margin of transfers. Do they look at high school records and ACT Scores? My high school transcript is mediocre as is my ACT (26). What can I do make me a better, if not close to without-a-doubt, candidate?</p>
<p>I was accepted as a transfer to UChicago after my first year. I get the impression that ACT scores/high school GPA matter when you're a freshman applying for transfer, but not quite as much as a sophomore. If you can boost your ACT score, I think it will help you a lot. Also, being very clear and passionate about why you'd like to transfer to Chicago in your essays will be a great help. And, of course, really great letters of recommendation. If you were transferring after first year, you might be able to get away with getting one from a high school teacher, if it's really sterling.</p>
<p>I'm assuming that you haven't started college yet (since if you had, you wouldn't be contemplating leaving after first year), and I just want to say that transferring after first year seems like the best option to me, personally. Maybe not so much if you're not sure you like your college yet (I don't know exactly why you want to transfer), because I think your second year is when you really start to fit in, but academically transferring after first year seems like a good option. You don't waste too much time with credits you don't need, you have enough time to settle in at your second college, and it feels more like you went to a year-long prep school before starting college than it feels like transferring. On the other hand, one year might not be long enough to get good letters of recommendation, or to truly know why you want to transfer. Just throwing that out there.</p>
<p>I have this advice for you, though, as a sophomore transfer: If you think you're going to get in, you may want to look at the classes you've taken so far/will take, and figure out how you want your credit to transfer. For instance, if you've taken a college-level economics course and intro psychology course, you will not have to fulfill the year-long Sociology requirement (please correct me if my info is skewed, but I believe that's how it works). This isn't the most important thing in the world, though, and you might value the core to the extent that you'd rather not pass out of some things. I will be getting very little transfer credit (only electives, actually), and I can still graduate with the major and minor that I want in 10 quarters, which is how long my financial aid is going to last. I would've liked to displace the Sociology requirement for more elective courses, though, and I'm a little sore that I can't.</p>
<p>don't plan on transferring before you ever arrive on campus of your current school. have fun, work hard, and you can think about transferring later.</p>
<p>good luck.</p>
<p>That's good advice. I wouldn't really think about transferring until you're about halfway through your first year, and then only if you're extremely dissatisfied. I didn't realize that you hadn't started school until halfway through my post, but that has come into my mind since I last wrote.</p>