<p>Duke's a great school, but it just wasn't the best environment for me. I'd also like to be closer to home, which is in the northeast. </p>
<p>My stats:
HS GPA: 95/100 (Lots of APs)
ACT: 34 Composite
Two varsity sports in HS, One club sport in college
Active in clubs in both HS and college
Several Awards in HS
College GPA: Could very well be 4.0, will definitely be 3.8+</p>
<p>Schools I'm looking at now:
Harvard, Columbia, UPenn (Wharton), Yale</p>
<p>Does anyone have any advice on the whole transferring process? Also, I was wondering what types of topics are best for the transfer common app essay. Thanks a bunch!</p>
<p>It’s far away from home (bad reason, I know). It just isn’t the right fit. I’ve been finding it difficult to find the right balance between working and having fun.</p>
<p>I played soccer and baseball in high school and now I’m doing club baseball at Duke.</p>
<p>You should consider writing about yourself. What about you makes Duke unattractive & the Northeast attractive.
Harvard & Wharton are great as are your other targets. Just for fun, apply to Colgate.</p>
<p>Should I write about how it’s closer to home and how I like the environment more? Or should I talk about how I want to go into finance and being in the northeast near cities like NYC and Boston will provide me a strong path into certain job fields?</p>
<p>Sounds like another upgrade transfer. Harvard and Yale are impossible, as I stated before in a previous thread. I should have mentioned Wharton is also impossible. However, you guys are still going to apply, so good luck. You are well-qualified, but I daresay accepted transfers might be even still more so.</p>
<p>It’s not an upgrade transfer. I thought Duke would be the best school for me so I applied ED, but it wasn’t. And Duke tends to be on the same tier as Columbia and Yale for IB target schools anyways. I’m definitely going in with low expectations because the rates are so low, so don’t worry. I’m not that confident that I’ll get into even one of them.</p>
<p>Very well. In your essay, I recommend making Duke seem like a great school with a few important flaws. Just as in a job interview, you speak in positive terms as much as possible. Make sure the school you apply to resolves the problems you list, and the problems are legitimate concerns - you say Duke is on par with your target schools for investment banking, so you need to get more specific about what you are seeking in your education.</p>
<p>I also recommend leaving out the part where you want to move back closer to your home. There are transfer applicants willing to fly across the country to attend the school of their dreams. Even worse, they are willing to pay full tuition, even though their families make far too little to afford the costs. In comparison, your desire to be in the Northeast seems weak.</p>
<p>Yes, I am implying most transfer applicants trying for an upgrade lack the compelling reasons needed for transfer. The trick is to frame your “excuses” in ways to make them appear like reasons. I am sure many people lie about their goals or feelings in their essays to increase their chances.</p>
<p>Yes, I think you can. On the commonapp, you’re able to submit a unique personal statement to each university (so you can talk aboutt why specific places are going to better suit your career goals).
any academic concerns that prompted you to consider transferring?</p>
<p>You are getting good advice here, but understand that most transfers are athletes. A friend of mine went to a state university for freshman year, transferred to a lower-tier UC, then transferred to Penn to run track. Sadly, in his first practice session on the track he pulled a ligament and never ran thereafter. Point being: his stats were marginal, his experiences almost useless, but he was an athlete and – big reveal – the Ivies adore athletes.</p>
<p>So, you’re not an athlete they want, so how do you get in (now that your chances have been marginalized even further!): you need to have an ACADEMIC reason why the transfer colleges are better for you and an ACADEMIC basis that Duke could not fulfill. Optimally, you will have been in correspondence or some other form of knowledgeable contact with a professor whose work you have followed and who research you could enhance – preferably research that is not conducted at Duke or could not be conducted at Duke. Optimally, you would tell that professor you intend to transfer to his college and ask him for a rec. If you don’t have all of these “optimallies” in your favor, then you need to downgrade and find – again – something you have discovered at Duke that cannot be fruitfully pursued at Duke and which that particular transfer university is the one that best offers to fulfill your new academic focus. Your stats will hold up, but you need a very good reason, and personal blah-blahs like “fit” and “career opportunities” simply don’t cut it. That’s what thousands of other transfer applicants will say and it not news to the adcom. Get ACADEMIC and you may have a shot!</p>
<p>Not sure that contacting an Ivy League prof., kissing up to him or her, and then asking for a letter of recommendation will work. A great reason to transfer, however, is a demonstrated interest in a major area of study that is offered at the target school, but not at your current school.</p>
<p>The problem with transferring from a school like Duke is that it offers almost every major conceivable (except astronomy for some reason). Therefore, it is harder to justify your reasons for choosing to transfer.</p>
<p>The only true academic thing that I could use is that Duke does not have an undergraduate business school (i.e. Wharton), and thus does not have a major (or concentration) in finance, which is what I want to go into. So I think that is a legitimate reason and it would not vary that much from my other potential main essays.</p>
<p>That’s the only real academic thing. The classes aren’t that bad here, but two of my classes this semester have really bad teachers. That’s only a small thing though.</p>
<p>Yes, focus on the lack of a finance major. You can try to suck up to specific professors as a way of showing deep interest in a school, but the Common Application essay is intended to be written for all applied colleges. Naming specific professors and talking about what a particular school can offer you would be ideal in the supplement part of your application.</p>
<p>Coming from Duke gives you an advantage over many other applicants, but some of the people applying to your schools are from even higher ranked institutions.</p>
<p>"…and C has only Econ-fin." Compare that to OP’s username. OP has a solid basis for transferring to Penn’s Wharton School & to Columbia based on intended major area of study. Peruse the offerings at Harvard & Yale to see if a specific area of interest arises.
Otherwise, just be direct & explain, for example, that the Southern jock, fraternity culture is not a good fit as you prefer a more diverse & challenging environment. I’m not trying to put words into your mouth, but just suggesting that schools have different cultures & pointing out what about a particular school’s culture & environment prompts you to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>All of you guys have been such a great help. Thank you so much.</p>
<p>I’m a little hesitant to use the fraternity culture isn’t a good fit argument just because I know that the schools I’m looking at have a slightly similar culture, notably Penn. And would schools view that as a just reason or would it come off as just complaining?</p>