Hi I want to transfer to Vanderbilt next year. I am at a good school right now but it is just not a good fit. I have decent highschool grades, I got a 1410 on my sat, lots of job experience/ voulenteer work, and play on my college varisty soccer team right now. What GPA should I be shooting for to have a really good chance at getting in?
I had a similar testing score and got in, but testing scores are looked at less for transfers. You should ideally have a 3.5 at a minimum (however, it depends on school and classes) and lots of extracurriculars with good recs and a solid essay. Try to get really involved at your current school and keep up the grades.
Unless you have a strong hook, you will need a much higher GPA than a 3.5. Think 3.8 or above.
If you’re coming from a similar caliber school, like Brown or Duke, then a 3.5 would be sufficient.
But you’re right, if you’re coming from a LAC or a state school, at least a 3.8.
@anchoringdown : Which LACs? I am now confused. Are you talking about substantially less selective LACs? And which state schools? I guess you exclude the more competitive flagship publics Seriously, Virginia, Michigan, Berkeley, UCLA, etc. Let us not get twisted in the head. I can go even further down the list if you want). Be specific here, because the OP likely wants to ride on a sensible opinion.
Many of these are definitely the caliber of top ranked privates if not higher in certain majors/areas of study which would certainly be taken into account, so we have another confounding issue that should give pause to anyone who wants to state these hard cut-offs. We know places like Emory, Vanderbilt, and I think Cornell, as well some other selective privates and publics are among a few who take a decent % of transfers, maybe over 20% in each case. Trust me when I say that not all students gaining transfer admissions fit into those boundaries you stated for very specific cases. I bet there are a sizeable amount who get in without a 3.7-3.8 who are not coming from other highly selective privates and publics. A decent GPA (3.5+) from competitive (so not even highly selective) publics and privates is likely to be taken super serious by all the highly selective schools with a decent transfer-in rate. Those coming from the other highly selective privates are not set at some significantly lower threshold than other categories (which were just lumped together like they were all the same and couldn’t be the same “caliber”).
They should apply with the most competitive GPA possible from any school, and maybe if they were in a harsher grading STEM major, they will be cut substantial slack. Either way, usually 3.5-3.6 and other attributes proving they are ready for the transition get people a serious bid for these high % transfer elite privates and publics. This applies to even “somewhat reputable” schools.
@zpn9605 Usually 3.5-3.6 and other attributes proving you are ready for the transition (assuming there is any. Your school could likely be as rigorous as VU and other highly selective schools) get people a serious bid for these high % transfer elite privates and publics. This applies to even “somewhat reputable” schools. Just apply and see what happens. Please don’t let folks scare you into thinking: unless you come from a “similar caliber” school (specifically those that are private and research universities…I mean seriously?), you need to be near perfect. That would help coming from any school, but from any decent school that has a better than average reputation for academics, the 3.5-3.6 cutt-offs likely apply because your school would not be viewed as much lesser academically by ADMISSIONS OFFICERS (who aren’t silly, naive, and hair splitting like many undergraduate students when it comes to estimating prestige and academic “caliber”. They know the difference between rank and academic quality and what schools tend to train students well such that a transfer from there would perform solidly in the new environment) than most top 30 or so schools. The only exceptions are those very top tier Ivies and elites that have completely different curricula design in key areas so are unlikely to take transfers in the first place (even from other highly selective universities) because a) they don’t have room and b) the transfer may have to essentially start over with their major. VU is not among those. Usually those require much more than perfect numbers to transfer in. Depending on the program (especially if you are transferring to be STEM majors and stuff), some will want to see fairly advanced coursework before taking the candidate seriously.
Also, CDSs are our friend:
https://virg.vanderbilt.edu/virgweb/CDSD.aspx?year=2017
Transfers got in at about a 30% admit rate to VU. I am willing to bet they hardly fit the qualities and categories spelled out by the above poster. They probably were all solid academically, but come from a range of places in terms of both caliber and rank (please do not confuse the two folks!). The 3.5-3.6 is likely competitive for a bigger range of donor schools than suggested. Try to get higher, but do not worry if you only do that well or a little worse depending on major.