Transferring from St. John's University (Queens, NY)

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I'm currently an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science at St. John's. I'm going into my sophomore year now and have been thinking about transferring from SJU. My GPA right now is 3.91 with 30 credits completed; most of the classes I've taken thus far have been core classes as well.</p>

<p>In addition, my Extra Curriculars are not great, but not terrible either I suppose. I'm a member of College Republicans and Legal Society at St. John's. Additionally, I have volunteer hours completed at various sites and also participated in Academic Service Learning while at St. John's. Last semester I was also accepted into and participated in a mentoring program at St. John's where I got to spend a day at a big law firm in Manhattan and see what it was like to work there, etc.</p>

<p>The reasons I want to transfer from SJU are twofold: 1. It's a long commute from my home (Bronx, NY). 2. I feel that it is not worth the expense (between both commuting and tuition) even though I am receiving roughly $28,000/year from SJU in financial aid.</p>

<p>Assuming my GPA holds up (I think it will, I am a very dedicated student) what are some schools that I should be thinking about transferring to? So far I've been looking at Binghamton, NYU, and Columbia (Not sure what my chances are for acceptance at any of these schools). The school does not necessarily have to be in NY, but some place that I would have a chance at getting into and would not be too costly.</p>

<p>In short, what I am asking for here is advice on what schools to look into transferring to and what my chances would be at getting accepted into these schools.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>You’re looking at a place that’s not too costly and NYU is on your list? NYU is likely to be MORE expensive than St. John’s, and as far as I know NYU’s transfer aid is worse than their freshman aid.</p>

<p>Columbia does not meet full need for transfer students, but it’s worth a shot. SUNY Binghamton may be affordable, but you would have to live on campus because it’s not commutable from the Bronx.</p>

<p>It depends on what you’re looking for in a school. If you are looking for schools within commuting distance to the Bronx - Manhattan College, the College of Mount St. Vincent, Yeshiva University, Fordham University and CUNY-Lehman College are all in the Bronx. There are also some schools in Westchester that may be commutable for you. Sarah Lawrence College, Concordia College, If you are a woman, there’s the College of New Rochelle.</p>

<p>You may also consider transferring to one of the other CUNY campuses - City College, Hunter College or Baruch College - and perhaps joining the Macaulay Honors College. With your stats, a transfer to any of those schools should be pretty easy.</p>

<p>Juillet,</p>

<p>Thanks for your post there was a lot of good information there. One of the reasons I was considering NYU is because between tolls and paying for gas the cost for commuting really amasses when I have to drive to SJU. Whereas at NYU I could simply just take the train to get there. I’m not sure how much of a financial difference there would be at the end but if it is nearly the same price to go to NYU as opposed to SJU I would prefer that so I won’t have to drive to get to school.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention in my post that Fordham was another school I was looking at, does anyone know how their financial aid is for a transfer student?</p>