Hi guys, so I’ve debated transferring out of UCLA for some time now and am not one hundred percent sold on the idea, but after one year here I have a lot of qualms with the institution. It’s too large for me and the learning style is very impersonal. To top that off, I don’t feel as though the LA vibe is necessarily my favorite. Since I’m fairly new to the “transfer scene”, I just wanted to list some of my stats and see whether or not I am competitive for transfer. Unfortunately, I am lower middle class and if I were to transfer, it would have to be to a school that would provide some form of good financial aid.
My high school stats in a nutshell: 2300SAT/800,780,730 SATII/3.9uw/4.4w
College Stats: 4.0 after three quarters, took part in a lot of research and won two awards/ two congressional internships/work-study job
I am also a Political Science major and intend to transfer as an IR major (UCLA does not have one).
The schools I’m interested in are as follows:
Stanford
Yale
Columbia
Penn
Georgetown
Pomona College
Vanderbilt
Dartmouth
Cornell
Your big problem won’t be getting in – but getting in with sufficient financial aid. There is far less FA for transfer students than for incoming freshmen. I would start with Pomona College; see if you can speak to someone there in person, maybe even make an appointment to see them in person. That might give you a bit of an advantage, and assuming you can present a well-articulated argument that Pomona offers you things you can’t have at UCLA. Meantime, get started contacting the other schools on your list now to find out what their FA policies are for transfers. Good luck!
If you’re seeking a more personal experience, you should consider the other LACs, small universities like Rice, and schools with residential systems or LAC-like experiences (U’Chicago).
Your objective profile is great, but it won’t be the reason you get into the most selective transfer processes. Pomona, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, etc. have transfer rates of 1-5% (factor in that they recruit heavily from community colleges, and that makes it all the more difficult). They’re really concerned about two things: do you have a compelling reason to transfer, and what will you add to the community? Scores are used to ensure that admits can handle the workload, but then it gets into subjectives.
Your reason sounds pretty compelling for Pomona (small, personal touch, IR major), but it seems like a harder sell for some of the others (especially Penn and Cornell- also huge schools). You should also think about what your special pull factor is. At Pomona, the admission officers value intellectual enthusiasm and sophistication/originality of thought among transfer applicants. If you don’t convey that, you won’t get in.
Awesome, thank you! I mean a big thing is UCLA doesn’t have an IR program and that a lot of resources are funneled to bio med research, so the opportunities on campus for Poly Sci majors are few and far between. I also hate LA and think that those other schools provide better research/mentorship opportunities with professors. Thanks for the advice everyone and if you have any other tips that would be great!
Also, when I do reach out to those schools, particularly LAC’s should I have my profile (resume+GPA) ready?
Sorry to double post, just pretty desperate. I guess I want to know whether I have a reasonable chance of admission