Transferring to Penn.

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello, I'm a current member of the NYU Class of 2016. Now, before I continue, I realize some of you may be wondering why I already want to transfer from such top-ranked university without even attending it yet. Well, truth be told, I never wanted to go to NYU. I had only gotten into three schools: Penn-State, Lafayette College, and NYU. Penn-State gave me terrible financial aid, and Lafayette College was too close for my liking, so I decided to choose NYU. Penn had been my first choice school from the start, but unfortunately I was flat-out rejected as an ED applicant. While NYU is great academically, I really dislike NYC and they don't exactly have the major I'm looking for...</p>

<p>So, here I am now, simply looking for some advice on applying as a transfer. Here are the stats I am currently dealing with:</p>

<p>High School GPA: ~3.65 (4.0 junior and senior year)
Class Rank: 18/416
SAT super-score: 2220/2400
SAT IIs: 740 on Math II and 720 on US History
Current Major: Technically undecided but I stated that I'd like to apply for the IR major sophomore year.
Reasons for transferring: Penn has a PPE major. Love its location. Also, I could feel the ambition surrounding me by simply walking around the campus. </p>

<p>What could/should I do to improve my chances of transferring to Penn? I realize it is even more difficult to get accepted than applying as a freshman, but I'm hoping my freshman/sophomore years of high school won't matter too much anymore (they're my biggest weakness). </p>

<p>Also, I'm a little afraid of financial aid. I live with my single, unemployed mother, and I was able to get a lot of financial aid from NYU, but I'm still afraid that I will get screwed over as a transfer.</p>

<p>Thank you. :)</p>

2

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</p>

<p>If you are accepted as a transfer and cannot afford the school, you don’t have to attend and can stay at NYU.</p>

3

<p>^I know, but getting accepted with little financial aid would be a huge upset, because I’d have to turn down such a great school simply because I don’t come from a wealthy background. I heard that transfers get terrible financial aid packages. Is this true when it comes to schools with large endowments such as Penn?</p>

4

<p>Some schools gave me very generous financial aid this past year and others were laughable to say the least. I realized that the majority of the financial aid for me came from merit scholarships. The best advice I can give is to keep your grades up and find out how/if to apply for merit scholarships at Penn for transfer students.</p>

5

<p>Penn states that it provides 100% of need to transfers and no loans:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/info/Penn_Transfer_Guide.pdf[/url]”>http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/info/Penn_Transfer_Guide.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Have you run their NPC?</p>

<p>If you got good money at NYU, is it merit or need based, or both? I don’t have personal experience w/NYU but it is known for poor need based FA.</p>

<p>Guy, does Penn have merit aid? I didn’t think so, but I learn something new every day.</p>

6

<p>I’m actually not sure Ento, that’s why I put the “/if” because a lot of schools, especially top tier, do not provide merit aid for transfers.</p>

<p>Edit:</p>

<p><a href=“Submit My Documents | Penn Student Registration & Financial Services| Penn Srfs”>http://www.sfs.upenn.edu/paying/paying-grants-scholarships.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Penn does not award merit scholarships.</p>

7

<p>My NYU scholarships were definitely need based, considering my household’s income in 2011 was $24K. It might be a little higher this year, maybe around $40K, so I’m worrying that:</p>

<ol>
<li>Should I choose to stay with NYU, my aid will drop.</li>
<li>If I get into Penn, my aid will be low.</li>
</ol>

<p>See, even though a $16K jump in household income seems like enough to justify lowering aid, consider that I’ll be moving from a socioeconomic level of being barely able to afford food to being able to live semi-comfortably. Either way, my mom wouldn’t be able to give me any money toward college.</p>

<p>Also, do you guys think a 4.0 my freshman year is too unreal of a goal?</p>

8

<p>I make no guarantees about FA as I can’t see all of the details, but I have a difficult time believing that Penn would be more expensive than NYU given all I have seen and heard over the years.</p>

<p>Here’s some information about Penn:</p>

<p>[University</a> of Pennsylvania Launches Financial-Aid Initiative, Sets Lowest Tuition Increase in Seven Years | Penn News](<a href=“http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/university-pennsylvania-launches-financial-aid-initiative-sets-lowest-tuition-increase-seven-ye]University”>http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/university-pennsylvania-launches-financial-aid-initiative-sets-lowest-tuition-increase-seven-ye)</p>

<p>This is from 2008, and some schools have retreated somewhat from their generous FA policies due to the financial crisis. I would give Penn a call and see what their current low income policy is.</p>

<p>[Examples</a> of Aided Students](<a href=“Submit My Documents | Penn Student Registration & Financial Services| Penn Srfs”>Submit My Documents | Penn Student Registration & Financial Services| Penn Srfs)</p>

<p>These are ONLY examples, again I would stress that you run their NPC to get a better estimate of what you are likely to be paying.</p>

9

<p>As a transfer student accepted this past cycle, I echo entomom’s comments about Penn’s financial aid potentially being more generous than NYU’s. Penn’s aid package was extremely generous, especially when a lot of schools seem rather stingy when it comes to transfer financial aid, and I would have been able to graduate without loans. I ended up ultimately choosing a more expensive school to transfer to (Columbia) but just go into NYU with an open mind, work hard, and if you still want to transfer at the end of your first semester definitely give Penn a go.</p>