<p>I was a freshman at Swarthmore this year, then left halfway through the semester. I was only planning on going back to either Swarthmore or Haverford, so I reapplied to both of those schools, and am thinking I will get back into both (or rather, I've been told that Swarthmore is basically for sure, and that Haverford is very good odds).</p>
<p>But, I've been rethinking Wesleyan a LOT lately and am very seriously considering transferring in after my freshman year.</p>
<p>My question is, which school would put me in better standing as a transfer? Haverford, which is ever so slightly easier than Swat and will likely afford me higher grades, or Swat, which is ever so slightly more prestigious than Haverford? Should I focus on where I think I would be able to get the best recs? Be involved in the most extracurricular activities?</p>
<p>I know this is a bit of a silly question, but any perspectives would be appreciated : ].</p>
<p>This is a kind of crazy post. But I can’t help but to respond:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Despite differential in US News rankings, both schools (Swarthmore and Haverford) are incredibly prestigious and equally respected. Believe me, especially Wesleyan, which conisders itself equal to both, is not going to make a distinction.</p></li>
<li><p>Students who have taken classes at both report no discernable differences in the grading or the difficulty of the courses. So, there’s absolutely no reason to think you’d do better at one than the other (except for maybe fit b/c happy student=higher achieving student, all other things being equal). Moreover, SC has a higher overall US News and HC and SC are tied with the same selectivity ranking. In fact, just about as many students admitted to both HC and SC choose HC as choose SC. So, there’s really nothing to be gained. </p></li>
<li><p>If you really want to go to Wes then go back to Swat, b/c then a transfer application could be logical, but if you go from Swat to H’ford and then try to go to a third school (Wes), they will look at you like you were crazy. Getting in as a transfer to any LAC is very hard. I can’t imagaine an AdCom admitting a tansfer who had already bailed on two peer schools. </p></li>
<li><p>Really you should go to the school you most want to attend, where you most want to spend 4 years, and try to make that work.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I agree with pointoforder – the prestige “difference” between Swat and Haverford won’t matter. Indeed, as far as I can tell prestige of your former school doesn’t matter that much, just your performance. I mean, off the top of my head, the people I know who transfered in transferred from: Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Second tier state school, community college (2). I’d say none of these schools are as “prestige” as Wes, and certainly the state school and the community colleges are a whole different ballgame. But the unifying factor is that all of my friends did well at their old schools, and had good reasons for why they wanted to transfer in general, and why they wanted to transfer to Wes in particular. </p>
<p>I think pointoforder is probably right that you’d get more raised eyebrows trying to transfer from Haverford after having already been at Swat, too. Why’d you leave Swat in the first place?</p>
<p>I definitely think the most important thing is finding a college you can thrive at even if you still want to transfer, since how you do your freshmen year will be very important.</p>
<p>go where you will be happier. as pointoforder said, both will afford equal “prestige” on your transfer application. if the two are tied for happiness level, stay at Swarthmore, so as not to appear to hop around LACs. if you’re happier, the recs and ECs will come naturally.</p>
<p>Hahaha. I can see why you guys must think I’m crazy. I didn’t explain my situation all too well.</p>
<p>I would be re-entering either Haverford or Swarthmore as a freshman. I only did half of a semester at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>I’m also considering taking another year off (that would be two years), working some more, self-educating for a while, traveling, then reapplying to Wes as a freshman (which I really should’ve done this last application season, but I won’t get into why I didn’t. Ugh.). Would that look funny–two years out of school? It would be two years out of school just to have the chance of going to Wes, but it’s still two years out of school.</p>
<p>Any thoughts having heard this new information?</p>
<p>Kramerica91, do yourself a favor and take another year or so off. My oldest child, who is now in grad school, went through what you are going through. It became apparent to us that she really needed and wanted more time to do other interesting things besides go to school. Really, you (like D) must have done a lot of work in HS to get into Swarthmore (or Haverford or Wesleyan). If this is all giving you such angst, maybe you should take a break and do something else for a bit. Then, go back to whichever schools appeal to you and get your degree. Actually, all of these schools love to hear from smart kids who have done something interesting.</p>
<p>As a person who is transferring from Haverford (hopefully to Wesleyan), I would say go back to Swat. It’s pretty hard to get good grades at Haverford (though I don’t know for a fact how it stacks up to Swat).</p>
<p>I don’t think Kramerica91 knows what he/she wants in life right now. Listen to norwich and take a year or two off to get your head straight. After that, if you decide to go to college, pick a school and stay there.</p>
<p>I’m sure your answer is neither simple nor universal (i.e. perhaps your issues with the school shouldn’t be relevant to my decision), but I’d love to hear your reasoning and to add a new perspective to my current one.</p>
<p>Hope you get into Wes! (And that I’ll be seeing you there sometime soon…)</p>
<p>Agree that transferring into top LAC’s is difficult. Chances are slim you will end up at Wes as a transfer. I think you are better off taking the year off again to decide where you really want to be. If it is truly Wes, apply ED in November as a freshman which will show your committment to that school only. But remember, do something meaningful with the time off that will impress the adcom and show your maturity and direction in life. Right now you seem too confused about it all to be taken seriously as a transfer into Wes. Just my opinion anyway.</p>