Transferring out of NYU, help me fellow CCer's!!!

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm currently a sophomore at NYU, and I just can't take it here anymore. It's a mediocre school, with mediocre students. A lot of teachers in my high school told me I had a lot of unmet potential: partially because of my home situation, and the other half because I was very lazy and unfocused. Going into NYU, I knew I wanted to transfer out, but I gave NYU a fair chance. I worked really hard to get to know my professors (the best part of NYU besides the city itself) for potential recs, and I made sure to go to office hours to get the best grade(s) possible. So without further ado: </p>

<p>Current school: NYU (Class of 2014)
Entering as: Junior
High school GPA: 3.41 UW w/ strong course load (12 AP's)
College GPA: ~3.90 w/ 46 credits (However, I do have one "W" on my transcript...)
ACT: 32 (Should I retake??) No SAT II scores worth mentioning </p>

<p>Top college EC's: </p>

<p>1) SUNY/EPA environmental sciences internship-research (10 weeks)
2) Badminton club (Intramural)<br>
3) Islamic Center/PAKsa
4) Work-Study jobs (18 hours/week)</p>

<p>Top high school EC's: </p>

<p>1) Medical Club President (2 years VP, 2 years President)
2) Co-founder of Students for Improving Healthcare (3 years)
3) Student Government VP (4 years)
4) Varsity Wrestling, NY Journeymen (5 years)
5) Travel Soccer private team (8+ years)
6) State community service awarded by congressmen for hospital/mosque volunteering</p>

<p>List of colleges (I know I've made plenty of "chance" threads in the past, but this is my final one because I now have a solid list of schools whose applications I've already started)</p>

<p>1) Brown (went here for two summer@brown programs, SPARK and a pre-college program. Definitely my top choice.)
2) Columbia
3) UPenn
4) Vanderbilt (Has a rather easy application process, no formal supplements)
5) Cornell
6) UChicago
7) Rice
8) Swarthmore </p>

<p>PS. I am NOT applying for financial aid. I am a Pakistani male who won a prestigious scholarship. (It's a grant and interest-free loan combination worth 20K a year). It's gonna be a long road to a new college, and i've definitely made lifelong friends here at NYU, but something has to give! Be honest!</p>

2

<p>Really? You want to transfer out of nyu? Lol I want to go to nyu when I graduate high school.
Sorry I can’t help, but would you say that it’s easy to get accepted into nyu?</p>

3

<p>I wouldn’t say NYU is particularly “easy” to get into. You have to work hard in high school, and much harder once you’re inside the school. My problems with the school are that it has a rather minimal community, it’s really hard to get to know your professors in large lecture classes, there’s no campus structure, and there’s no school spirit. Also, the school is separated into distinct colleges (it’s all about money) and so you can’t take classes at every college without being in the college itself. I can’t take a class in Stern and then take an elective in Tisch if I wanted to. I’m academically constrained, and intellectually unfulfilled. </p>

<p>But hey, some of my close friends love it, so more power to them. You should apply, but make sure to visit and sit in a few classes.</p>

4

<p>As a freshman trying to transfer out of NYU, I feel your pain. Don’t retake your ACT, your score is fine. I’d say you have a good chance at Brown, especially since you’re not applying for FA. Columbia and UChicago will be exceedingly difficult, especially as a junior transfer. Swarthmore could tricky as well, and to a lesser extent UPenn, Cornell, and Swarthmore. I’d say you’re probably in at Rice and Vanderbilt considering your strong college GPA, but if you’re really unhappy at NYU, as in you can’t see yourself finishing your degree here, you need to add some real safeties to your list. Best of luck to you.</p>

5

<p>You have a great GPA and a solid ACT, but your lack of significant EC accomplishments in college is worrying. It may not play well for you, especially in such a competitive applicant pool for such competitive schools.</p>

6

<p>All of those schools are tough so it’s hard to tell but you have an excellent GPA and good ACT scores. I definitely wouldn’t retake the ACT, your score is good as is and it matters less anyways because you’re a junior xfer. I’d try to get involved in a couple more ECs (maybe some leadership position? or clubs that reflect your interests) between now and the application dates.</p>

<p>You have a pretty long list of schools, I’d be very surprised if you didn’t get into at least a couple of those schools. None of those are safeties by any means though, you might want to add some if you’re really eager to get out of NYU.</p>

7

<p>*Swarthmore could be tricky as well, and to a lesser extent UPenn and Cornell.</p>

8

<p>OK, here’s what I think</p>

<p>you’re going to have a lot of intra-school competition, let me elaborate. you are probably the seventh or eighth person I have seen on this forum who is trying to transfer out of NYU to an ivy league school, and I have only been on this site for a month or so. NYU for whatever reason attracts people who dislike the school and students who are upset that they did not get into ivy league schools. you’re basically competing for a limited amount of spots for NYU students at these schools, because I know for a fact that one of the goals of transfer admissions at upper tier schools is obviously to add diversity to their class, and admitting a homogeneous group of NYU transfers will not do so. it would be very strange if ten percent of Brown’s transfer class, for example, is comprised of NYU students. I can’t even imagine the hundred or so applications that NYU students send to columbia, or even cornell, every year</p>

<p>again, this is just sort of a theory. but there is no doubt that your chances are greatly minimized considering the fact that there could be several dozen (perhaps a hundred?) of prestige-hungry NYU transfers applying to those schools on your list</p>

9

<p>Godsgift1 - Hey thanks for pointing that out, and yeah, NYU just like the hundreds of schools out there has a (large) population of transfers. But why would I spend time worrying about xyz student wanting to transfer to xyz school? I’m confident in myself, and what I’m here on CC for is to improve my resume and my knowledge about each of these schools. (Which is what I’ve been doing since the early summer.) So thank you for replying, but now tell me what holes you find in my resume, and what I need to include. What sticks out in my resume, and what doesn’t? Could I get into…Vanderbilt? Thank you. </p>

<p>So someone made a comment about how my college EC’s are lacking…and yeah it’s so true. I’ve been earning necessary money working work-study jobs, and it takes out quite a chunk of my spare time. (18-20 hours a week). However, this Spring semester, I’m planning on doing internships related to finance or consulting. I imagine that would help legitimize my chances, and balance out my high school and college EC’s? </p>

<p>Thanks, and reply soon! :)</p>

10

<p>If work-study comprises a fair bit of your time, I would emphasize that on your application. I’m sure that admissions officers would see your work-ethic in a very positive light, especially considering you’re not applying for financial aid. </p>

<p>You make a legitimate and depressing point, godgift1. I don’t think it’s fair to characterize all NYU students that want to transfer as “prestige-hungry” though. I think what Portmanteau is saying, and I agree, is that NYU is not a very academically challenging or intellectually stimulating place. Combine that with the terrible FA, at least for me, and it’s a dealbreaker.</p>

11

<p>yea my bad, i probably used a bad word choice. but i think this is not just a problem with NYU (im referring to the large number of transfers), in general this happens with a lot of high ranked schools in the top 30 or so. even at my school i am almost certain there will be a ton of people attempting to transfer to ivy league schools. in general,there are a sizeable portion of students in schools like vanderbilt, emory, NYU, berkeley, michigan, etc… who were not accepted to ivy league schools, and are now in college attempting to transfer. </p>

<p>i think the key thing is to just try to differentiate yourself from the other applicants, much like freshman admissions. portmanteau, you have strong stats, but you must make yourself stand out among the sea of 3.8+ GPA’s, 30+ ACTs, who are all viable candidates academically to be accepted as transfers. perhaps you can differentiate yourself through your extracurricular activities, your essays, your major, or some other aspect of your application. but I believe how well your can make yourself stand out will be the dealbreaker when you are essentially competing for spots at these schools among several other perfectly qualified prospective transfers at your school</p>

12

<p>To the OP, I transferred out of NYU with solid high school and college e.c. My high school grades were really good, but my GPA was definitely not as high as yours. I go to vanderbilt now, so let me know if you have any questions.</p>

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<p>godsgift1 - Yeah you make a lot of good points, and it’s almost dizzying to think about how many qualified applicants there are. And I understand at this point, it’s all in the essays. </p>

<p>NYUtransfer1314 - Hey, I’ll send you a PM from time to time, so thanks for the offer. Also, I’ve posted another chances thread on the UPenn board, and someone made the comment that because I’m in LSP, my chances for transferring are greatly reduced? Is being in LSP really THAT bad? Half the courses I’ve taken have been in CAS…</p>

14

<p>I was thinking about that too since I’m in Global Liberal Studies - it’s not the same thing but the two tend to get conflated because people aren’t sure what GLS is. Does anyone have any thoughts?</p>

15

<p>GLS and LSP are grouped together partly because they sound the same, and then partly because the curriculum is similar with the exception of GLS students studying aboard for the mandatory year. I’m currently in LSP Economics, and there are a few GLS students in the class as well. </p>

<p>Personally, if I was a sophomore transfer, I would believe that it would matter that I was placed into LSP. This is because I didn’t do so hot in high school (you can tell from my resume) and high school stats still count a lot for sophomore transfers. As a sophomore I do not believe I would have gotten into any of the aforementioned schools. However, as a junior transfer, high school still matters but it matters MUCH less especially because I’ve taken many college courses and I’ve gotten straight A’s: something I never accomplished in high school.</p>

<p>To be honest, I’m certainly in a state of confusion. I have an idea of what I want to do with my life, but I’m just so unhappy at NYU. I don’t mean to sound melodramatic, but many days are a struggle, and I’m tired of living in a cold, impersonal city. And there’s no campus or sports to boot. If anything, wanting to get out of here makes me work harder academically.</p>

16

<p>Well, yes, the curricula are similar. But the schools I’m applying to will know that I wasn’t placed into GLS, right? I mean, I’m planning on including it in my Common App essay, anyway, but it’s still a bit worrying. No offense meant to you, Portmanteau, or anyone in LSP - I think NYU’s rationale for the program is pretty sketchy, anyway. If you want to get out of New York so badly, though, why are you applying to Columbia? Or do you think that having a less fragmented campus will resolve some of your issues with the city?</p>

17

<p>I’m currently an NYU freshman in CAS. For most of the year I’ve hated it here and decided to transfer practically since day one. The lack of community really makes a depressing college experience, with a very lame (and expen$ive) party scene. This is only hindered by the size of the student body, especially since there is such wide range of students. I’m from Houston, so I applied to Rice since I felt it would give me the college experience I’m looking for, and let me be close to home. And, though NYU is great academically in my opinion, Rice does have a bit more prestige, which is a definite plus. But also, I want a less rigid administration system, which will let me dabble between the arts and regular subjects (like English). I’m really interested in film, but I don’t want to have to transfer to the film school to study it, especially since I haven’t taken any film courses yet, so I don’t know if I really want to entirely dedicate myself to it yet. Also, I don’t even know if I’ll be accepted since I would have to apply next semester, and even if I do get it, i’ll have to take multiple summer sessions to catch up. Up until a few weeks ago, my desire to leave was unwavering, but I joined a sorority a couple months back, and now that I’ve made more friends I’m starting to feel more comfortable. Though I still dislike the same aspects of NYU, I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t mess with a good thing. Also, since I’m interested in film, it seems like I’d be shooting myself in the foot by transferring AWAY from one of the best film schools in the country or the world for that matter. Then again, there’s always graduate school.</p>

<p>Also, I can only see any semblance of community dwindling in the years to come, since people move more and more off campus to areas as far away as Brooklyn or Queens. Some people even commute from New Jersey. And there’s already so much division in the student body, Tisch and Stern kids and basically every minority sticks together.</p>

<p>Also, if I transferred to Rice, I wouldn’t feel bad that I was only there for 3 years, since I grew up in Houston (heck, I lived in West University for 11 years, the surrounding neighborhood) and I know a lot of people who go there already (an added plus since it gives me some friends). I would probably still do study abroad even.</p>

18

<p>You started your own thread on the Rice forum, please do it here too.</p>