I’m currently a junior at Cornell who is looking to transfer to Columbia. I’m looking to transfer because I want to switch majors (to do that at Cornell requires internally transferring and for the college that I’m interested in here I’m not even allowed to internal transfer as a junior) and also because I seek a change in atmosphere (I have SAD which means that my mood and ability to concentrate is heavily influenced by the weather/climate and obviously Ithaca is an incredibly AWFUL place to go to school).
Although I feel that transferring is an appropriate action for me to take at this point, I have 2 concerning issues that will probs negatively affect my transfer chances and I’m not sure if it’s still worth pursuing it. First of all, I transferred once to Cornell already so I’m pretty sure that transferring again will be a negative for me in the admissions process. Secondly, my GPA isn’t that good (approx. 3.6 currently). I had a 4.0 in my previous college. The discrepancy in the GPAs is mainly due to the difference in location/climate and how it impacts my SAD (the previous college was in the city/good weather, etc).
Given everything that I said above, is it even worth applying to transfer to Columbia? I ask this primarily because I know transferring to Columbia is incredibly difficult and I’m not sure if it’s worth all the time and effort that I will have to spend on my application.
According to the website, Columbia College no longer welcomes transfer applications from juniors:
“Candidates with more than four semesters of college coursework elsewhere are not encouraged to apply. Columbia’s academic requirements and institutional policies make completion of all graduation requirements in a reasonable and timely fashion unlikely.”
Also, if you have SAD due to dreary Ithaca weather, NYC may not be that much of an improvement. Why not transfer to Arizona State or someplace else where it’s nice and warm, beer flows freely, and the classes aren’t too hard?
If you take a gap year, then you would be eligible to apply to the School of General Studies. Or if you want to study part time, then GS would be an option.
But I’ve heard that the financial aid at GS is not the greatest.
I am currently a Sophomore that just transferred to another school and I am considering transferring again-maybe not, who knows. While transferring twice probably isn’t the most ideal situation, a couple exist. I know one girl that transferred from Columbia —?---> My current school.
No one can tell you what adcoms think because no one here is adcoms. If you really want to try for Columbia, you won’t lose out much by applying for ONE college.
Also, answering morningsiders comment above, I think the key word is “more than”. As in, if you enter as a Junior, you’ll have 4 semesters remaining, which is the bare minimum they’re asking for. If you’re a super junior then you’re screwed. Best of luck to you.