<p>I decided to post this in the Brown thread instead of the Stanford one because I thought I might get more level headed discussion here.</p>
<p>Ok, so lets get some of the details out of the way. I’m an incomming freshman for the class of 2015. My SAT scores were average (1700’s) and my SAT II’s were in the (600-700) range. I was valedictorian at my high school, took rigiorous courses along with summer/semester programs and solid extracurriculars throughout high school. In the end I thought my application was strong enough that I didn’t think it was necessary to include my supplemental art portfolio due to time restraints.Hindsight being what it is I’m sure my portfolio would have helped to set me apart from the other equally/better qualified applicants. I picked Stanford after visiting Swarthmore and a few other small liberal arts colleges that I thought would have a similar feel to brown but size was an issue. I considered taking a year off and applying to brown as a freshman but the gates scholarship stipulated that I couldn’t.</p>
<p>I was wondering if I tried to transfer after freshman year with good grades, a supplemental art portfolio and of course compelling reason for wanting to go to brown ,would I have a good chance?(I know at this point anything you say will just be conjecture and I’m ok with that) Thanks for any input you can give me.</p>
<p>P.S. Just to avoid the ,“How can you know you want to transfer before you even started.”, debate my sister is entering her senior year at Stanford and from her experience thus far and being on campus theres just a very tangible vibe that I dont feel is the best fit for me. I’m going in with as open a mind as I can but know which school i’d prefer.</p>
<p>Based on your SAT scores, you should consider yourself VERY lucky to get into Stanford. I agree with your sister, you havent even started school! Stanford is a WONDERFUL school, and it just looks bad on you to transfer. Try Stanford for at least a year, with an open-mind!</p>
<p>Yeah seriously, count your blessings. You scored an extremely low SAT score and still got into one of the most selective schools in the world. You can’t totally write off a school before even starting your first day there, especially since you were granted an opportunity that many other, more qualified, students weren’t; give it some time and you may like Stanford after all. Even if you don’t like it, sometimes it’s just better to stick with going to one school for four years because changing schools halfway through college will mean you’d have to restart with social acquaintances-- something which could ultimately mean a hit on your GPA. Additionally, you can establish better faculty connections at a school you’ve been at for four years as opposed to 2-3 years, which could help you in getting research opportunities with Stanford faculty. </p>
<p>Also, you do realize you come of as extremely ungrateful by wanting to transfer to Brown even after having gotten in to Stanford with sub-par SAT I’s and II’s, right? I’m sure you’re a bright student, being valedictorian and all, but you got lucky. Make the most of this opportunity.</p>
<p>^ transfers2010, please go on about that un-supported “fact”. </p>
<p>Being black has almost negligible effect on admission, and the only way a black person has an advantage over an asian, is if they both have almost similar scores/gpa/ec (overall applications). </p>
<p>OP, you are lucky, and if you think you can get into Brown with that SAT score, you deserve to be rejected. This is serious talk.</p>
<p>@nothingto – I believe transfer2010’s statement has some truth. Many schools practice affirmative action even if they don’t outright say so. In fact, if you look at black applicants applying to top schools, they have lower SAT scores on average. A lot of these kids truly do deserve to go to top schools but for socioeconomic reasons may not score well on the SAT as a richer applicant who has gone to expensive prep classes. The SAT isn’t an indicator of anything but supposed strength in a few archaic academic topics and colleges thus don’t weight the SAT as much on a black applicant who, again, may not have had the money to take a score-boosting prep class. </p>
<p>I didn’t want to assume the applicant was black (he may not be, after all) because that’s an unfair stereotype I’m attaching to all black applicants and low SAT scores literally has no correlation to how smart of successful any individual will be. A legacy scoring a 1700, on the other hand, is something I have a problem with. If the OP was a legacy at Stanford, his parents likely had the money for prep courses. If, after squandering money on prep courses, the OP still couldn’t break the 2000 barrier, then I have a problem.</p>
<p>Everyone on this thread needs to calm down and stop making assumptions. We don’t know what the circumstances behind the OP’s application were, and it shouldn’t really matter. There are patterns in admissions (i.e. top schools prefer students with 2100+ SATs), but it doesn’t ring true for everyone. At Brown I know people who are neither legacies nor minorities, and also who do not come from particularly unusual backgrounds, AND scored below 2000 on their SATs. They just happen to be talented individuals.</p>
<p>Yes, the OP shouldn’t be worrying too much about transferring to Brown given that he (she?) hasn’t actually started at Stanford yet. But saying that the OP does not “deserve” to go to Brown given that s/he is thinking about transferring with such bad SAT scores is unnecessarily aggressive. So is saying that other students were “more qualified” than the OP on the basis of his/her SAT scores. Again, the OP has not extrapolated on his/her application, so we don’t know what got him/her in.</p>
<p>The OP asked about chances. It’s fine to say that the SATs are sub-par, or don’t think about transferring yet, but the comments above are completely out-of-line.</p>
<p>Haha, affirmative action. People seem to forget the eastern european and other underqualified athletes that make it to the top schools, and are white. Stop using black folk as scapegoats. All in all, affirmative action is a positive thing.</p>
<p>If the OP has what it takes to get into Swarthmore and Stanford (both in the uppermost stratum of U.S. schools), then Brown should in theory be a slam dunk. That said, many schools have relatively few slots available for transfers, and it would be important to get excellent grades in your freshman year (easier to achieve at Stanford than Swarthmore). Definitely give your current college option a chance.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s fair to say getting into Brown should be a slam dunk because the OP didn’t even initially get in. Admissions are a crapshoot and I don’t think we can theoretically assume that a student accepted to Harvard will get into Cornell, let alone the OP getting into Brown just because he got into Stanford and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Levelheadedness, on CC? Ha. Anyways, even if you are going to submit a transfer application (I know people at Brown who did it), and while you may have to start the process early, try to be open to your experience regardless. It’s not that you should feel “lucky,” but you shouldn’t shut yourself off from making friends, having the freshman experience, etc. etc. I know two transfers from Stanford: one chose to go back after his first fall semester/quarter here (because for at least a year Stanford just considers you a student on leave, if I understand correctly), while the other found Brown a more agreeable place. Yes, putting in the application won’t cost you much, and luckily Stanford gives you a great opportunity, if you get in somewhere and still want it, to see the grass on the other side, without any real harm, except the money (which could, in fact, be quite a large harm, but eh, that’s for you to figure out).</p>
<p>This is ridiculous. Be HAPPY that you got into Stanford with a 1700. Many people would kill to take your place. Go to Stanford and try it out. If you don’t like it, transfer. But certainly do not waste an opportunity someone else could have had. I agree with the others, count your blessings! College Admissions are tough, I have a friend that go rejected from Stanford with higher SATs. He really wanted to go. Appreciate what you have.</p>