Hello, Im 19 and getting ready to receive my associates degree here in about 3 months! I was wondering if any of you guys can help me kind of figure out which one of these colleges to go to (ill provide some general specs).
Major: Psychology
Degree: AA (only thing my college provides)
Credits: currently 46 credits, but i will be graduating with 61 credits
Classes: 2 English composition classes, 1 English literature class, 1 biology class, 3 psychology courses, 2 college level math courses (stats and quantitative literacy), 1 sociology class, 1 history class, 1 philosophy class, 3 appreciation courses (art, drama, and music), 2 Spanish classes., various other classes!
Rigor: Not really rigorous, ive only been in community college for 5 semesters (currently in my 5th semester, i took a summer semester). I haven’t had a break at all, so all my classes were probably 13-19 credits per semester yeah!
GPA: Not really impressive but currently a 3.48 (got two C’s sadly :c) (im hoping to get a 3.7-3.8 by the time i graduate /cross fingers)
Test: Im taking the ACT +writing after i graduate, so this will be pretty ambiguous! (im hoping to score in the 25-31 range)
Clubs: Student Government, Spanish clubs
EC: boys and girls club/working with under privileged kids in another club associated with boys and girls
Anyway, those are just some general specs! I already have 4 teachers who can write letters of recommendations for me and im also very close to the director of the psychology department and i also have lovely conversations with the vice president sometimes haha!
The colleges i want to transfer to are 7 colleges that i want to narrow down!
Yale (huge reach, but never know)
Cornell (reach)
Wake Forest (reach?)
Emory (reach?)
NYU (reach?)
Stanford (only because their psychology program is top notch)
Upenn (reach)
These are just some of the top colleges i would love to attend! I have some other lower tier colleges i know ill get into, but i just want to know about these schools! If you want, use the projected numbers (GPA/Test Scores) i gave you to make a decision! Im still in the middle of my fifth semester and so far its going amazing!
First, how do you plan to raise your GPA from 3.48 with 46 credits to 3.7+ with 61? If you get straight A’s, you will not get above a 3.61.
Honestly, you’ll need to lower your expectations. I don’t know much about Wake Forest and Emory, but the other 5 accept very few transfers. With your scores, you should be applying to less selective options.
i know because i calculated the credits with my math teacher!!! I never provided the amount of credits and weights for each of my classes so how do you know which classes had 4 credits and which didn’t? i would not provide information if i did not already double check!
Your second comment sounds like you really do not want many opinions… but here goes. Your GPA isn’t up to par for any of those. Your extracurricular stuff is way too far gone, and even if you get a 31(the high end of your range) you’re barely in the middle 50% of freshmen. I’m sorry to be brutal but those schools are quiet a bit past the range of someone with a 3.5 an even more so as a transfer student.
I guess I’ll do the generic list then…
Yale: Very Very High Reach
Cornell: Very High Reach
Wake Forest: High Reach
Emory: Very High Reach
NYU: Very High Reach
Stanford:Very Very High Reach
UPenn: Very Very High Reach
Im sorry if i sounded brutal, i really do want opinions! But not opinions that dont have any bases. I was just “sticking up” for myself. If you guys want me to provide the actual credit hours vs credit values then i will be happy to provide that for you. (i forgot to say that my school goes by the 7 point scale and not the 10 point scale ) Im not really a social person my nature which i do need to get over, so im trying to be more active in my community before i apply to transfer next year! But thankyou for your feedback! School really is brutal and its sad that is a competition between the best! I know those colleges are reaches for me, but you never know i guess.
@Bambiixoxo - Unless you take a gap year, how can you take the ACT after you graduate for colleges that have March 1 or March 15 transfer application deadlines, and don’t accept SAT or ACT tests taken after February or March?
Following up on the @KZmizzle 's GPA observations - to go from 3,48 with 46 credits to 3.8 with 61 credits would require you to get a 4.78 GPA this semester, assuming all credits are weighted equally.
If you apply this year, you will be applying with your current GPA, and 3.48 is not competitive for most of these schools. Yale and Stanford are completely out of reach, I’m sorry to say.
I’m no expert on transfer admissions, but generally it is tougher to get into selective colleges as a transfer than as a freshman. In my opinion, most of the schools on your list are very high reaches. I would think if you applied to just these seven colleges, the most likely outcome would be that you would not get accepted to any of them.
The people on this site are typically not encouraging, so there’s no need to try to argue with them. You sound like a nice person with an interest in your field. That alone can be more valuable than a fancy education at an expensive university. Just work hard and you’ll be happy anywhere.
As for the schools that you are interested in, they are all very competitive. Even though they are reaches for many, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t apply. A teacher of mine once said, “One thing is certain: you have a zero-percent chance of admittance if you don’t apply.”
Who cares about the stats or the odds or the competition. Statistics won’t be viewing your application, but a human being will. Maybe that admission officer will see something in you that the arrogant, pompous people on this site chose to ignore.
@BldrDad: I am not transferring this year. I am actually taking a gap year to save up money to go to a university (its expensive, very expensive) and also to take the ACT (possibly more than once). Next year i plan on transferring before the deadline for fall of 2016 to start my junior year. It would be asinine to apply with a 3.48 to any of those schools no doubt! thanks for you feedback! I never trust those GPA guessing websites because they are usually 10 point scale and my school is on the 7 point scale, so they are different (i dont know how to really explain this). Im also not applying to just those seven (that would be stupid of me), im actually trying to lower my pool of colleges atm @vortex275: Thankyou for your encouragement. I am very passionate in my field, and i hope that shines through once i begin the application process. But alas just because it is a human being looking at my stuff, that doesn’t mean they wont use quantitative measures to make decisions. I know i dont need a fancy education, but i do want to go to a graduate school and unfortunately they look at the rigor of the undergrad program you did and the internships and ect ect. I feel that going to a more “well connected” school will provide me with more interning opportunities and the chance to network and expand my horizons! Thankyou for your feedback!
@Bambiixoxo - It sounds like you have this all figured out. My only advise is to make sure you apply to a continuum of colleges, not just those you would love to go to, and those you would settle for if you don’t get into any of the dream schools. Focus on schools that are good fits for you. Good luck!
I’m sorry, but witha 3.48 GPA with 2 C’s at a community college will not get you into any of those schools (besides wake forest since I have no idea). Do you understand how tough some of the courses are at schools like Yale and Stanford? Even if there was a miracle and you got in, you would almost certainly do horrible grade-wise. If you want to consider transferring to a good school from a community college, you better have a perfect 4.0, EC’s, test scores, etc. You should look at lower colleges and save your money because there is basically a 0% chance you will get into those schools.
@vortex275 - I’m sorry, but offering realistic appraisals of someone’s chances is in no way pompous or arrogant.
On the other hand, offering false hope can be a great disservice - it can cause people to make bad decisions that can have real consequences. If everyone here were to advise someone with so-so grades and scores that Stanford was a sure thing, and they shouldn’t bother to apply anywhere else, and this advice was followed, odds are that person would be without options come April.
In my opinion, the OP would be overreaching by applying to some of these schools. There is a cost to apply, and it’s not just financial - the time and effort spent researching and applying to schools that are out of reach could be better spent finding and applying to schools where there is a realistic chance of acceptance. It certainly makes sense to apply to a few reach schools, but it makes no sense at all to put effort into applying to schools that are beyond reach.
Keep in mind that the comments “it’s a reach for everyone” and “it’s a huge reach, but you never know” are perceptions, not reality. There are clearly students who have excellent chances at any school they apply to, and there are candidates who would have no chance. I think most students are realistic about their chances - and these forums can be extremely helpful in assisting people in determining what is realistic and what is not.
Thankyou to everyone who is responding, but i would like to point out for the third time that i am NOT transferring currently right now, im actually transferring a year later! I just want to make that clear so that people dont get confused that im transferring right now!
Don’t be misled by Cornell’s high transfer rates, it’s inflated by guaranteeded transfers. Yale, Stanford, Cornell, and Penn are out of reach <0.01% Most people that actually do transfer to these schools are usually in other Ivies or top 20s.
Where are you attending community commege?
If it’s NYS, you can try CALS at Cornell ( the college that actually admits 90+% transfers at Cornell).
If it’s in CA, you’d have a vast array of choices provided your GPA is higher.
No matter what, you’d be better off taking classes over the summer and over the Fall to bring your GPA closer to 4.0, and take the most difficult classes your CC offers in psychology, sociology, philosophy, and other social sciences. See if you can take more statistics classes because your math background looks below what they’d want (they’d probably like to see calculus1 and advanced statistics or 2 quantitative courses for social sciences).
Most transfers admitted to the schools you listed don’t come from community colleges. They’re lateral transfers - they’re attending good or excellent 4-year universities but have demonstrated superior achievement, especially with research involvement. A 4.0 is basically expected unless they’re applying from a Top LAC or university – but even then a 3.6 may not be sufficient (course rigor would also be taken into account). Having the AA/AS or not won’t matter, what matters is course rigor, cf. what I explained above.
Universities that are good for psychology include Clark, Dickinson, Furman, Rhodes, Connecticut College, Hampshire, Whitman, Colorado College. Those would all be reaches.
A bit less selective than these: Albion, Wooster, Allegheny, Juniata.
