Hello. I’m posting this here as I was very interested in Harvard, but this is something I’m confused about universities in general in the US (I’m international). I know that they will look at your high school GPA when you apply as undergrad; if you transfer from one university to another one, though, after having completed like one year, will they still look at your high school grades or what will matter the most is the marks you took in your first year of university? Thanks in advance.
Also, how many chances you think one would have transferring to harvard from a non-top university?
Harvard accepts about 15 transfers a year with an acceptance rate of about 1%. Yes, they will look at your HS grades.
According to the Common Data SET 2013-14, the chances for an applicant are very small.
Of 1432 applicants, 13 were admitted. That’s less than 1%.
Yeah I saw those statistics… And how about the general criteria regarding transfers, though? Will your HS GPA matter a lot even though you’ve already done one year of university? My HS GPA isn’t great, that’s the point: in Italy we have a very different system and we aren’t really motivated to take good grades (that doesn’t affect the further education like in the US, there’s a system where you either pass with the minimum or you repeat the years you failed); but I know I would do very well once in university. I could do very well right now as well, but it’s too late for the GPA, soo…
Colleges pay MORE attention to a transfer applicant’s college GPA, than they do their high school GPA. Harvard does not specify the GPA they look for, but Yale does
As Harvard transfer applications are more selective than Yale’s, I would imagine that successful transfer applicants at Harvard have at least a 3.8 GPA in college, if not a 3.9 GPA. In addition, it’s important to note this from Yale’s transfer instructions
I also imagine successful Harvard transfer applicants provide the university with the same well-defined academic reasons that Yale looks for.
@Adrono, it’s generally not a great plan to try to get into a school by applying elsewhere and then transferring. You should be looking for a school that you think is a fit. If circumstances change, so be it, but don’t apply to schools with the intention of transferring.
Harvard is definitely not the best place to try to transfer into…
the acceptance rate is low enough as it is.
Think of it as a big picture sort of thing. You can try to convince the Admissions people that your HS grades were poor due to someone else failing to motivate you, but I’m reasonably sure that Harvard wants students who are self-motivated, so that strategy would likely backfire on you.
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@milkweed where can i get those statistics of common data set 2013-2014
Google is a wonderful tool: http://oir.harvard.edu/common-data-set
@gibby Interesting numbers in post 5. I would assume that with the number of transfers being so low, that transfers tend to have some particular distinction the university is looking for . . . even more so than for regular applicants.
In the case of Yale this seems to include sports. The 2014 football team starting quarterback and running back are both transfers as was another recent quarterback, and now they have a wide receiver looking to transfer in from one of the big time football schools . . . not sure if Harvard uses any of the transfer spots this way though.
^^ That may be true with some of Harvard’s transfer students as well, http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/12/4/transfer-students-at-harvard/?page=single
Student’s at Harvard declare their concentration at the end of their first semester of sophomore year, although they can change their mind anytime before the start of their junior year. That means that successful transfer applicants must know EXACTLY what they want academically from Harvard and need to hit the ground running from day-one on campus. That’s why they have to be super focused on academics, but it doesn’t preclude them from being involved in athletics.
I would imagine that a transfer applicant with a strong academic record at their current college, who also brings to the table the ability to compete in Division 1 athletics, is going to be a sought after candidate in the transfer pool.
That’s interesting about the two Harvard transfers mentioned being on the squash and rowing teams . . .it does seem like Harvard also uses some of its very limited transfer spots for people with contributions that include varsity sports.