<p>Let me preface this by saying that I'm not planning right now to try to transfer to Harvard or any other Ivy League school, but I'm thinking about this as an option in case my other plans don't work out. </p>
<p>Right now the schools that I'm considering are Sciences Po/University College London (dual degree program), the University of Edinburgh, McGill, Tufts, and the University of Munich or University of Heidelberg. I was also waitlisted at Columbia and the University of Chicago, so I'm waiting to see what happens there, but I don't expect much.</p>
<p>My question is: out of these schools, which do you think would give me the greatest chance of transferring? The program at Sciences Po and UCL was extremely competitive to get into (only 10 accepted in total) and is taught in two to three languages (Sciences Po is one of the best schools in France). At the University of Munich or Heidelberg all my studies would be in German. As an American who taught himself French and German, I thought that could be an impressive experience for a transfer applicant. Would this actually help?</p>
<p>Again, I'm not planning on transferring because if I fall in love with the schools then I'll be happy to stay there. The only reason I've started considering transferring in is because I really enjoy a lot of the lectures I watch from Harvard and Yale online and if these schools don't offer lectures of that quality I might find myself unhappy.</p>
<p>The transfer rate for Harvard is incredibly low, just over 2%. Don’t plan on a transfer being a likely option. You would need incredible stats, impressive ECs, and an obvious reason why you could not find your major or concentration elsewhere. If your field will be sciences, it will be hard to prove that only Harvard would provide those courses. </p>
<p>If you have your heart set on H, why not apply to enter as an incoming freshman?</p>
<p>I should have mentioned that I didn’t get in as an incoming freshman. I also understand that it’s extremely hard to transfer into Harvard, but if this year’s acceptance rate for RD was 3%, a little over 2% doesn’t seem like it would be that much harder. </p>
<p>My field wouldn’t be sciences - Sciences Po is short for Sciences Politiques which means political sciences.</p>
<p>I see. Well, there are many political science departments around the world, so it still might be difficult to make the case why H would be utterly essential. Also, the fact that you were rejected in regular admissions will be a significant factor in a transfer application.</p>
<p>Were your test scores or grades weak? You could re-test to raise the SATs. However, the best path might be to work very hard for a top undergrad GPA and apply to the graduate program.</p>
<p>I think that a big factor in my rejection was my GPA. I never really applied myself in school, but I applied myself to a lot of ECs that were really unique. My GPA weighted was 93.42 and un-weighted it was somewhere around 87, but I still was able to get waitlisted at Columbia because of my ECs and essays. SAT was 2170. My hope is just that if I keep moving forward with my ECs and get published/produced/whatever is the next logical progression in each of them then I’ll have a good app for transferring.</p>
<p>But again, as I said, it might turn out that Edinburgh’s lectures or those of wherever else I attend might be just as good if not better - they are all world renowned schools as well.</p>
<p>I also really like Columbia and U Chicago so if I do by some streak of luck get off the waitlist there I highly doubt I’d apply to transfer.</p>