Hey, I’m a current Haverford student and am interested in transferring to another college for next fall. My reason for transferring is how uncomfortable I feel in the political climate at Haverford. I consider myself a political moderate and Haverford is insanely liberal, with a suffocating amount of political correctness. I feel that the extreme PC culture really stifles intellectual inquiry and discussion. I would prefer to attend a place with less of a culture like this. What colleges should I look at that I’d have a chance of getting into?
My high school stats are as follows:
3.78 UW GPA with 4 AP classes and a 31 on the ACT; I also have great extracurriculars
In college I will likely end with between a 3.4 and 3.7 GPA this semester.
It would be nice to go to a college of comparable academic quality to Haverford, but I would be willing to compromise a bit if necessary. Some colleges I was looking at were Emory and College of William and Mary. What are some other schools that I might stand a reasonable chance of getting accepted at and what are my chances for transferring to Emory and College of William and Mary?
Lafayette, Gettysburgh, Lehigh, and U of Richmond might be worth checking out. Vanderbilt would probably be a bit of a reach but might provide more of what you’re looking for in student vibe.
I was thinking about Vanderbilt, but it looks to be insanely competitive to get into. Gettysburg would probably be too much of an academic compromise for me to consider, but I’ll definitely check out U of Richmond when I visit family in Virginia during winter break. What do you think my chances would be at College of W&M, U of Richmond, or Emory?
William & Mary is generally friendly to transfers and accepts a higher percentage of them than in regular admission, although this may be in part due to the guaranteed transfer agreements that exist between them and other schools. On its Admit It! blog page, it states that transfer students with at least a 3.5 GPA are generally competitive for admission, although obviously you would still have to have other things to make you stand out among the crowd of applicants.
I totally understand your situation! I’m a sophomore at Smith College and am also applying to W&M and Emory as a transfer next fall. I’ve tried to make the best of things at Smith, but after the election I realized I can’t stay at a school where no diversity of opinion, discussion, or debate is allowed.
If Haverford has the same atmosphere, it’s great that you’re getting out of there sooner rather than later. Good luck with your search! I visited W&M and University of Richmond 4 years ago, but haven’t been to Emory (yet!).
I currently go to Emerson and know exactly what you’re talking about. (Have you gotten the death stare in class, as well?)
I applied to Emory as well (and got in!). Most liberal arts schools are probably going to be primarily liberal…I’ve got a friend at W&M who says it’s pretty liberal there as well (he’s had a teacher who calls anyone who’s not liberal a racist, and students tend to give him said death stare, if he speaks up in class). That’s not to say you shouldn’t apply though. I applied there too, but haven’t heard back yet. Your experience might be different than his.
Some other schools I applied to: Cornell, Hamilton, Colorado College, Colgate, Colby, Boston College. You may want to look at some of those. From what I’ve researched, their political atmospheres, although liberal, don’t tend to be as one-sided.