<p>My son didn't get into any of his early decision or early decision II choices colleges despite having good grades (top 5%, 2190 SAT, 34 ACT) and significant research experience. He plans to attend the local state university which is an excellent school. I suspect his essay is what did him in because he didn't highlight his experience or his knowledge and interest in the schools.</p>
<p>Question: </p>
<p>What can he do in the next few years to try and transfer in to his preferred schools? As his parent, I like his attending the local university. I think once he knows the obstacles in transferring then maybe he will be more committed to doing well where he is and focusing on building credentials for getting into his choice for graduate school.</p>
<p>I'd just like to hear what others experiences are.</p>
<p>If he wants to get into very competitive schools then he will have to do extremely well in college. The longer a student has been out of HS the less likely transfer schools will look at the HS record. I would think that would also be good incentive to buckle down.</p>
<p>My son was in a similar position a few years back. He attended a large state university and was not happy. He did very well academically, but thought he wasn’t particularly challenged by the other students. He also didn’t find his niche socially. It felt like an extension of high school - but a really big version of it. </p>
<p>He spent quite a few weekends early in his freshman year traveling to other colleges that friends attended to really figure out what he wanted in a school. By October, he started writing application for transfer. The colleges he chose to transfer to were different schools than those he initially thought he would like. I never saw his essays for transfer, but they must have been great. I think the time he spent really figuring out not only what he wanted, but also experiencing the various colleges, must have been reflected in his essays. Anyway, he was admitted for transfer to several top 20 LACs. Last June he graduated from the perfect school for him - Oberlin College.</p>
<p>Perhaps it was the letters of rec. Did he specifically ask the recommenders if they would be willing to write strong letters of rec? Just assuming they will because of a good grade is not enough. </p>
<p>I know someone who was on the alumni scholarship committee for a well-known U and they regularly received letters of “rec” for the full-tuition scholarship that raked the kid over the coals. In the book “The Gatekeepers” drawn from a year with the admissions committee at Wesleyan, is a real-world example of a bad rec. Obviously when the student asked for a rec she assumed it would be positive, but here is what she got:
You seem to be conflating the concepts of transfer and apply, or perhaps your post just isn’t clear to me. Is he planning on doing well at State so that he could get into top grad programs when he applies to them? One does not transfer into a grad program, one applies and is accepted. Or is he hoping to do well at State so that he just attends for a year or two, transfers to one of his first-choice schools, and then is a good candidate for grad school?</p>
<p>See the Transfer Admissions 101 sticky thread for information about transferring. And for selective colleges, use the CB Big Future website to check fr vs. transfer acceptance rates. Depending on where he is interested in applying, transfer rates can be significantly lower than fr admit rate; taking a gap year and reapplying as a fr could be an option.</p>
<p>His grades are good and the letters of recommendation were very good, in my opinion. If he makes all As as a freshman, maybe then he can transfer to his preferred school.</p>