Transferring

Transfer Students
1

I’m a freshman at the College of the Holy Cross, and I wanted to ask about what my chances of transferring would be to some other colleges. For the past three years, I have been sold on being an English major, and although it sounds ambitious so much so that I may seem presumptuous, I want to be a novel writer. Latin has also been one of my passions since the beginning of high school, and its effect on the development and understanding of my writing has been so profound–I don’t think that I can express how much so in a few words. Throughout high school, I enrolled in one of the hardest class loads in the entire grade while I also struggled through some depressive phases. I dreaded standardized testing, so when it came time to take them, I did not do nearly as well as I liked. Here are my test scores:

ACT
English - 35
Math - 23
Reading - 32
Science - 23

6 AP Exams (US Government and Politics 4 my sophomore year. English Language 3 my junior year. English Literature and Composition 4, Latin 4, US History 4, and World History 5 my senior year. Throughout high school, I had a GPA of 3.9 on a 4.5 scale, though my school did not weigh GPAs. Had they done this, I think that mine would have been around a 4.2?

SAT Subject Tests
Latin - 730
World History - 680 (Not to sound pompous, but I was in my second month of actually studying world history, and I think that I could have done better had I taken it later).

If I wanted to transfer, I would want to do it by the end of my freshman, and honestly, I am not sure if I want to transfer yet or not. I am making myself open to experiencing Holy Cross, and I am not opposed to staying there; however, I want to know my options. Throughout high school, I traveled a lot. Going into my sophomore year, I went to Ecuador to do mission work. Going into my junior year, I went to Philadelphia for the same reason and then to the Grand Canyon with my school’s adventure club. Then, going into my senior year, I went to Rome to study Latin abroad through the University of Dallas, through which I earned the equivalent of sophomore college level Latin, and to Germany on a foreign exchange program. As an alumnus and chaperone, I went to Costa Rica with the adventure club. These experiences have been, to say the least, eye-opening.

I want to know which colleges have the best English departments or the ones I have the best shot of transferring into. For the longest time, I wanted to go to Princeton, and as low as my chances may be, I still want to give it a shot. If it doesn’t happen, it’s okay, but I want to see what my other options are. Do I have to take the ACTs again or any other standardized tests if I were to transfer? I am really not sure what a college would look for in a transfer student, and I know that I can inflate my resume with my high school extracurricular activities, but I really do not want to do that. I want to show them that I am genuinely unique and show that I am passionate, engaged learner.

A little bit about myself: I was essentially the man of the house for most of my life, so to help my mom out, I would drive my brother to school and pick him up from practice and sacrifice a lot to help out my family. Before I accepted my role, I was beside myself and thought I was a failure. During that time, I didn’t understand that failing at something despite giving it a shot is better than being too worried to do anything at all. It’s funny because when I was taking those AP tests my senior year, I was in a really bad place, and luckily I came out on top. I really appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read this, and I sincerely thank you. It’s been a while since I came to this forum–I used to have an account but my email got deleted inadvertently.

2

Transferring into an Ivy like Princeton would probably be tough with your stats (which are excellent! but transfers, esp into an Ivy are tough), but you never know. Any of the Ivies or top liberal arts colleges are going to have strong English programs. Hamilton and Kenyon are two other LACs with well-regarded English programs and an overall emphasis on writing, but in much more rural environments than HC and with different campus vibes. However, the English department at Holy Cross is also very strong (one of its strongest) and well regarded. USA Today (I’m not sure how much merit I put in this, but…) had a ranking a few years ago of the top ten English programs and the results were as follows: 1 Georgetown, 2 University of Pennsylvania, 3 University of Washington, 4 Harvard, 5 Brown, 6 UVA, 7 Princeton, 8 Yale, 9 Holy Cross, 10 Columbia University. If you wind up at HC and apply yourself you should do very well with your writing. What you want from college apart from academics is the other big part of the equation. Do you prefer a university vs a LAC? Urban/rural? Do you jive with the Jesuit mission at HC, or not? Liberal/conversative, sports/arts, etc etc. Your interest in mission work and travel could also sync well at HC - full year study abroad programs are strongly encouraged, and there are program options at Oxford, Trinity Dublin and St. Andrews in Scotland. PS Happy HC grad ('92) here - full disclosure. Best of luck!

3

I don’t understand why you want to transfer away from Holy Cross. It is a very good university in an attractive location. You can learn as much there as you can at other very good universities.

If you write a novel when you are older, no one will care where you got your bachelor’s degree. They will care whether the novel is any good.

Why do you want to transfer?

4

Based on your interests you would have some options:

The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers | The Freelancer
http://contently.net/2014/11/06/resources/10-best-colleges-creative-writers/

The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America | Flavorwire
http://flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america

Writing in the Disciplines |
U.S. News
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/writing-programs

However, I think your best hope should be that you thrive at HC.

5

I don’t really have a preference between a university or LAC. I enjoy both for different reasons. The sports are Holy Cross, despite the fact that they’re D1, aren’t really competitive. For example, no one really goes to the football games, which is something that I have done ever since my freshman year back in high school. I went to an all boys catholic school, and I do like the Jesuit aspect about the school, except it’s not really that involved. I understand, though, that college is what you make of it, and it is entirely my choice as to how involved I am in the community whether it be religious activities or other organizations. I played lacrosse throughout all of high school as well, and I know that I would not be able to make the D1 team at Holy Cross, and the club team is a complete joke. I miss really how everyone cares about the sport, and I’ve begun to realize how much I care about it, especially now that I am not on a competitive team. Not that D3 schools have amazing football teams, but I feel that if I were on a college lacrosse D3 team, then I would be in that competitive environment again.

6

You might want to look at the NESCAC schools (Williams, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Middlebury, etc etc) for the sports aspect if you want to play. At D3, maybe you could play? I don’t know. They are great schools with great all around academics.

7

I’m not sure if I want NESCAC or not. I’m not even sure if I would play lacrosse, and I would not transfer just because of lacrosse. I’m not much of a fan of the English department’s curriculum, but I need to go through more time here before I decide anything. I went to a Jesuit high school, and though I really enjoy the Jesuit mission, part of me is thinking that it may be time for me to move on, though I’m not totally sure.

8

So far, after about 6 weeks at your current college, your reasons for leaving seem to be

  1. wanting a particular Big Name
  2. wanting to be in a more sports-centric school
  3. maybe possibly a better Club level lacrosse team
  4. maybe possibly a different English department
  5. maybe possibly a bigger pond

The thing about transferring is that to make a good decision about whether and where to transfer you need to know enough about you and what will work best for you. You have some hard thinking to do.

Most transfer application deadlines are after the winter break, so you have some time to think. Be aware that if you apply to transfer during your first year of college, your HS record will weigh strongly (but you don’t re-do the standardized testing). You apply to transfer during your second year, your college record will weigh more heavily.

9

Honestly, in the past month, I am becoming less and less a fan of the party scene. I don’t mind going out, but to do it every weekend is a bit much for me. I find it funny that my number one school before Holy Cross was Michigan, and my friend there goes out, maybe, twice a week. She told me that kids there go out as many as five times a week. I just don’t see the appeal of going out and getting wasted all the time. Holy Cross is cool in that it isn’t as competitive as what I was used to in high school, not that I am negating the fact that Holy Cross is a good school. It really is. But the party scene is a bit much for me right now. I don’t go out all the time just because I don’t want to, and I feel like I’m viewed differently by my friends here because of that. I’m just not sure how things are going to end up, and I am hopeful. I’m not even done with my first semester of college, and I imagine that there are many other people out there who feel the same way as I.
If I were to transfer, yes, I would want to try and be able to play lacrosse. Lacrosse isn’t my top priority. I don’t think that any of my interests could take too much time over the other. My focus is creative writing, and though I am willing to devote the majority of my time to it, I don’t want it to lose its wonder. Is it possible that there is a college with a great competitive writing program with kids who want to learn for the sake of learning and not just to out-do one another? Not just for some score or some comparison to another person?
Maybe a school with a small party scene would be good for me. I’m not on social media anymore and don’t really care what everyone else is doing. If my friends from home want to go out and party, that is fine with me. For those of them don’t, that’s equally okay with me. I just thought that it would be good to come here and try to find out something.