<p>I think I seriously screwed up first semester; my GPA is going to be around 3.3/3.4. Do I still have a chance at a transfer? I currently attend Amherst College.</p>
<p>My High School stats are posted here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/571219-chance-fer-transfer.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/571219-chance-fer-transfer.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>hs gpa is stellar, sats are decent, college gpa sucks for a transfer, at 3.3 you're about average for Amherst i'm guessing. you'll need to have a great reason for transferring, more flowery than class selection which can be had at other places, perhaps something like intellectual stimulation at a large research univ focused on undergrads. i'd say amherst is pretty competitive and so it's still worth your time applying.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, why do you want to transfer out of Amherst? I think I would've gone there over Columbia if I'd got in...</p>
<p>I'm and English major looking into marketing/advertising, and it's sort of hard to get job opps/internships around here.</p>
<p>also, i just miss the variety of the city. the student body here is pretty homogenous: you're either an east coast athlete or a socially inept Harvard reject. lame.</p>
<p>I would say auto-reject. You really have to be exceptional or above average at the school that you're attending - and you're neither. You're probably also not looking very hard for your internships.</p>
<p>Also, why have you decided so quickly in September that you wanted to transfer? You're a first semester freshman. Give it some time.</p>
<p>"I'm and English major looking into marketing/advertising, and it's sort of hard to get job opps/internships around here."</p>
<p>Why don't you apply to summer internships in Boston and New York if the transfer doesn't work out? there'll be lots of them. And Amherst is a great school.</p>
<p>Plus, what makes you think columbia kids aren't socially inept Harvard rejects? :D</p>
<p>"Plus, what makes you think columbia kids aren't socially inept Harvard rejects? "</p>
<p>Because reading these forums make me think, "wow these kids are so clever and awesome and New York" - and it makes me want to be part of that again so bad. It's completely cheesy and stupid as hell and it probably sounds like I'm pandering, but it's so true. I miss cynics and apathetic intellectuals. I even miss the mean-as-**** hipsters. </p>
<p>aerialblue, too! Wow you're a blunt jerk, dude. I still ****ing love you. And you're right, I'm not looking hard enough for internships - because I really don't want to.</p>
<p>When I'm at Amherst, I forget who I am. I feel stupid and slow (and not just because of my grades); I hate how boring and ridiculously miserable I am so I just walk around loathing myself and everyone around me. Everyone on my floor thinks I'm awesome because I hate them so much.</p>
<p>I know it's not likely I'd get in anymore, but if I don't even try - like I didn't in high school - I'll have made the second biggest missed opportunity in my life. So thanks, everyone who's taken the time to chance me and give me advice. I appreciate it because this really does matter to me.</p>
<p>SparkNote'd: New York I love you, please take me back. We can make it work.</p>
<p>Spoonerism, I apologize if I sounded rude. Truth is, I feel pretty much exactly the same way you do (I'm not even a Columbia student, I'm just another Transfer hopeful from Dartmouth with pretty similar reasons). My best advice is to delay your transfer attempt until sophomore year, when you can have a better profile (ECs and GPA-wise) by that time at Amherst.</p>
<p>And yeah...I really don't get this athlete social boost thing at the rural schools.</p>
<p>You created your original thread on the 25th of September.</p>
<p>I'm under the impression that you walked into Amherst with every intention of not giving it a chance.</p>
<p>Before applying ED, you should have consulted the Course Catalog.</p>
<p>Here are three amazing courses you could have taken first semester:
EUST 21 - Readings in the European Tradition I (Doran)
LJST 01 - The Social Organization of Law (Sarat)
PHIL 17 - Ancient Philosophy (Gentzler)</p>
<p>Do your research and make the effort to shop next semester.
That way, you'll find courses that are genuinely interesting and well-taught. If not that, then at least you'll enjoy them and earn good enough grades to be competitive for transfer.</p>
<p>Amherst isn't like Stuyvesant: it's not 67+ percent Asian. It's not cutthroat competitive, nor is it cliquish and petty. It's not a pure meritocracy. It's not homogenous.</p>
<p>Coming from a background where it was always easy to earn high grades, and accustomed to having perfect grades, I wager you're letting your poor performance in the courses you've chosen discourage you from trying at all.</p>
<p>I might as well be helpful to you as a fellow 2012er and Manhattanite:</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>Columbia wants only one single recommendation, and that must be from one of the four professors who taught you this semester. I reckon you're not too close to any of them, and they don't know you too well either.</p>
<p>An "expectation" is different from a "requirement." They are not going to immediately chuck your application in the wastebasket simply because you don't meet an "expected" cutoff.</p>
<p>Add UPenn and Johns Hopkins to your list.</p>
<p>If you'd like, I'd be willing to discuss courses for Spring 2009 with you.</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>^^OP, I'm thinking you haven't given Amherst much of a chance either.</p>
<p>"I hate how boring and ridiculously miserable I am so I just walk around loathing myself and everyone around me. Everyone on my floor thinks I'm awesome because I hate them so much."</p>
<p>I'm willing to bet they talk about how weird you are behind your back.</p>
<p>aerialblue: thanks for the advice, really - and I'm glad there's someone here who shares my feelings - but transferring sophomore year seems a little crazy, given Columbia's stringent Core.</p>
<p>kwu: Amherst got my ED! Of course I wanted to love it. After a month, though, it just didn't seem like the right fit. Still, people kept telling me to give it a chance, and I kept trying to adjust. Here we are in January and my feelings haven't changed.</p>
<p>And I did take the Sarat course. He's an excellent professor, but it's pretty difficult to not get a B in his class. His class accounts for a lot of my less than mediocre GPA. I'll look into the other two courses you mentioned, though.</p>
<p>No, I'm not giving up on doing well because of this. Bad grades don't bog me down as much as they make me itch to pull them back up. I'm not really too hung up over grades; Columbia's Admission Office takes them a lot more seriously, though.</p>
<p>I'm taking JHU into consideration. I've given some thought to UPenn as well.</p>
<p>I'm on relatively good terms with one of my English profs. She's a new prof, though, and her grading policies are a little bit weird. Regardless, I can get a rec from her.</p>
<p>I'm going PreMed for psychiatry in Spring. Doing english all the time lags my work ethic. I'll get back to you if it doesnt work out (though I'm really determined to make it work).</p>
<p>cerberus: KIDDING. I have no friends. Obvs I'm super cool.</p>
<p>Regardless, I've kind of reconciled with the fact that I'll be at Amherst for three more years. I'll just knuckle down and try for Columbia as a graduate.</p>
<p>Some thoughts:</p>
<p>I'm planning on a Junior transfer, and I don't see a problem with applying as a sophomore (sure it might be harder to transition or gain acceptance, but you can attempt to eliminate much of your Core at Amherst. You should be able to get out of Science and the Global Core, depending on what classes you choose).</p>
<p>The reason why I advise you to wait until sophomore year is that you honestly don't have an impressive profile right now. Yes, Columbia only strongly suggests getting above a 3.5, but I would say that the average GPA of admitted transfers is somewhere in the neighborhood of a 3.7 (you can reasonably infer this from the suggestion). Also, your recommendation with your prof is likely not going to be glowing or stellar - but that's precisely what you want it to be. It's not good enough to just simply get a rec - being average just won't cut it.</p>
<p>I feel like you'll be wasting your own time when you can be looking for other things to do to be competitive in the next Transfer admissions cycle. I can say with almost full certainty that you will be rejected with an average GPA and an average rec. Though, don't take any offense to this - I just strongly feel like you should be looking to improve yourself at the school you're currently at to give yourself a better shot.</p>
<p>Also Re. your other thread: Stuyvesant is grade inflated up the ***. So that HS 4.0 really doesn't mean anything.</p>
<p>^arialblue is accurate for the most part, but it's completely irrelevant, I'm pretty sure you can apply twice as a transfer so definitely apply both years, if i'm wrong and you can only apply once, then it's really tricky.</p>
<p>coming in as a junior is tough, you'll get minimal leadership in clubs that you join (unless you start one first or second semester that you're at columbia - which would be pretty damn awesome). Assuming you really really want to come to columbia you'll work hard and improve your chances by staying there an extra year. But then again you might hate amherst, and do even worse as a result which would put you in real fix, think about your ability to do well in things you dislike and whether transferring really makes sense. </p>
<p>I think right now you still have a decent chance, though they say 3.5+, the average college gpa would be 3.7-3.8 from a lesser school on average. If you can apply both years let's stop discussing this right now.</p>
<p>As of now, I am not thinking of transferring next year. If this doesn't work out, I'll just make the best of what I have.</p>
<p>aerialblue - yeah I heard about the Stuyvesant grade inflation earlier this month. That really ****s me over. And yes, I know about 3.7+ being the actual GPA expectant.</p>
<p>confidentialcoll - thank you for understanding that it might be difficult it is to do well at a place you don't like. if it turns out that I really can't stand it, I'll look into transferring next year.</p>
<p>thanks again for all the help everyone. this thread is dead no replies.</p>
<p>^^ Hang in there, I'm sorry about the situation :(</p>
<p>My $0.2: Amherst will get you what you want. If you're looking for marketing internships, career services will absolutely be there to help you.</p>
<p>Also, you say that the campus environment at Columbia is more appealing because the students there are "smarter and more New York," or however you put it.</p>
<p>If you don't think that the kids at Amherst are smart, or as intellectual (or pseudo-intellectual; these are undergrads), you probably haven't made the rounds yet. You'll find your niche yet. If you have a 3.3, you've definitely FELT the presence of the smart kids, even if you haven't necessarily met them.</p>
<p>Finally: I go to Penn, and am a transfer (from Cornell). I had a 3.8, as did most everyone else who transferred successfully - that I spoke to. Penn is very consistent with the transfers they accept. 3.8+ GPA, 2250+ SATs, etc.
Columbia, on the other hand, is far more capricious with their numbers. As Columbia2002 loves to point out, they look for a certain "type" of applicant. I'm still not sure what this type is, but there were some successful applicants with GPAs as low as 3.6 that were accepted, while other, more successful students (ahem, me) were waitlisted.</p>
<p>So, if you're the "type," perhaps you'll still see success, even with your relatively low GPA.</p>
<p>"Penn is very consistent with the transfers they accept. 3.8+ GPA, 2250+ SATs, etc."</p>
<p>and what makes you sure of this? anecdotal evidence?</p>
<p>"I'm still not sure what this type is, but there were some successful applicants with GPAs as low as 3.6 that were accepted"</p>
<p>so because you didn't get in, you think Columbia takes people with lower GPAs?</p>
<p>"while other, more successful students (ahem, me) were waitlisted."</p>
<p>you were more academically qualified, but still unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Academically qualified. Interesting distinction, confidentialcoll, although I would I would still classify myself as "successful." :)</p>
<p>muerteapablo, I can almost guarantee you that Penn does NOT have an average transfer GPA of 3.8+ (that's more like a Yale/Stanford number). </p>
<p>I'm also sorry that you think a 3.6 GPA is quite low. It's one thing to say that a 3.3/3.4 is quite average, but drop off a little bit of that hubris will you? Your post reeks of bitterness. </p>
<p>But if you want to analyze it for a little bit, your results make a lot of sense. One of my biggest criticisms about Penn is that it lacks a certain identity (for example, Dartmouth appeals to the laid-back, ski/nature lover, and Columbia appeals to the city intellectual) so perhaps your raw statistics and sheer academic performance alone paid off for you (but you could have been quite the boring applicant as well in Columbia's eyes).</p>
<p>EDIT: I realize you probably meant that a 3.6 is low for transfer students, and that's probably correct. However, that's not what I'm reading from your post.</p>