Transferring to Reed

<p>Hello all-
I'm currently a Freshman at a regionally ranked liberal arts school in the Midwest.
The school is in my hometown and I've realized that I need to get out of this place! I'm also transferring because I'm looking for a challenge, I feel restrained at my current institutions by more "practical" majors and I just want the opportunity to explore the classics, linguistics, anthropology, etc.
Reed is one my top choices, it would also be considered my "reach".
Reed transfer rates are really low and seem really daunting. I was hoping that kids who have successfully transferred to Reed would post their stats and how the process was like.
I already had my interview with a Reed student; and I thought it went really well. I felt as though I was able to convey my passions and personality.
I'm worried that my stats won't match up with what Reed typically admits, however. I'm taking the ACT again next week in hopes of getting my score up.</p>

<p>Some things about me: I did IB in high school and got my diploma.
I'm of Asian descent, although my ethnicity is typically less represented than others.
I was involved with many things in high school: newspaper, student government, debate, a lot of community service, etc.
On the college level, I'm currently on the debate team, really involved in the Feminist group and I just got an internship at a center for domestic violence here. Right now, I'm just trying to pursue my interests.</p>

<p>I have a unique viewpoint and I really feel like I could offer something to Reed.. I just need to get in! Reed seems perfect and I would love to be able to go there.</p>

<p>Anyway- I would really just appreciate any advice I could get!</p>

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I like you am an aspiring Reedie transfer. Unfortunately, I was waitlisted and then rejected last year, most likely because of my statistically below average highschool grades/SAT. </p>

<p>At the time that I applied as a transfer, I only had one semesters worth of college A’s under my belt, and I was advised by a Reed admissions councilor that having only one semester made it difficult to offset my weak highschool record. In other words, if you are going to apply to Reed after only one year in college and you too are hoping to have them bypass your less-than-perfect highschool record, you may want to wait, or atleast make sure you have something that can counterbalance you.</p>

<p>I wish you luck in applying, hopefully we can both attend.</p>

<p>Thanks for offering your experience! I did not know you could get waitlisted as a transfer student… when did you finally know that you were rejected then?</p>

<p>And thanks! Good luck to you too.</p>

<p>I am a current Reedie who transferred in this year.</p>

<p>My high school gpa was pretty high at a mediocre high school (3.9) and scores were probably on the lower end of Reed’s average… (mid-high 600s on each section of SAT) However, I had been out of school for a while so those numbers were becoming increasingly irrelevant. I was in the same situation of only having 1 semester of college under my belt when trying to transfer, and the admissions counselor advised that having more recent (good) grades on my transcript would help my application. So I actually waited a year, got straight "A"s, and then applied and got accepted. But if I had been rejected, admissions said reapplying wouldn’t have been seen as a bad thing. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about scores and transfer rates and would just give it your best shot. Academic achievement is important, of course, but fit matters a lot more to Reed than most schools, and sometimes those “intangibles” can tip the scales in your favor.</p>

<p>One thing to think about now are the group/departmental/major requirements. Reed is pretty picky about what they allow to count towards requirements (not fond of survey courses, math below calculus, easy science, science without a lab, and writing courses), so I would keep that in the back of my mind when registering for courses at your current school. And unless you love science, get it out of the way now. 2 consecutive courses with a lab in Bio, Physics, or Chem, the equivalent of 8 semester credits. Do it now. You’ll thank me later.</p>

<p>Good luck to you both.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help.
As a transfer student, have you met more students who were accepted as juniors of sophomores? I’ve found that for Reed I don’t think I’ve read of one person who was accepted as a sophomore. This is kind of a bummer for me since I will be applying to be a sophomore (and I cannot stay another year at my current institution…).</p>

<p>On your first point - seeing as how you received a good GPA in high school, why was Reed interested in seeing if you could get more A’s college? Or were your high school courses not the toughest? My freshman/sophomore year grades were a bit iffy, but junior and senior year I got a majority of A’s and a couple of B’s (while taking a full IB course load). This semester I have all A’s. Do you think this is enough to show that I am capable of the work? </p>

<p>Also, did you find that as a transfer student it was harder to make friends seeing as how students have already found their group of friends? Just something I’ve been wondering about…</p>

<p>In general, it seems like a lot of transfer students are “set back” at least a semester, if not a year because credits don’t transfer in so easily (see my rant about Reed being picky). So if you apply as a sophomore, you will probably end up having mid-year freshman standing. You could potentially take classes over the summer elsewhere, and bump yourself back up to being a sophomore…</p>

<p>My high school course load was not extremely tough in comparison to other schools, because my school only offered 2 AP courses. However, the main reason I think that they wanted to see more grades was because I had graduated from hs 5 years earlier and only had like 3 grades from my first semester of college, so I was sort of starting from scratch. For transfers, I think doing well at the college level matters more than how you did in high school, but that’s why they usually want to see a couple semesters of college under your belt.</p>

<p>If you live on campus and make an effort to leave the library, I don’t think it will be difficult to make friends. I would not consider Reed to be cliquey. I’m a non-trad who lives off campus, so my situation is a bit different…</p>