UF to Duke, Harvard, or Yale

Transfer Students
1

<p>Ok, here are my stats:</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Hispanic and Chinese
High School GPA: about 3.8-3.9 weighted (4.0 in senior year)
Class Rank: 5/22 using unweighted GPAs. Weighted GPA places me at around 3rd or 4th.
Rigor level: highest offered
College credits earned by time of graduation: 27 </p>

<p>SAT: Verbal: 730, Math: 730
SAT II: Writing: 800, Math IIC: 800, American History: 700, Literature: 630
ACT: English: 35, Math: 34, Reading: 32, Science Reasoning: 31 (Composite: 33) </p>

<p>High School Extracurricular activities: </p>

<p>Junior Varsity Baseball: 9
Varsity Baseball: 10, 11
Junior Varsity Basketball: 10
Varsity Basketball: 11, 12
Junior Varsity Golf: 9
Varsity Golf: 10, 11
School Academic team: 10, 11, 12 (Captain 11 and 12)
County Academic team: 10, 11, 12 (Captain 11 and 12)
State Academic team: 12
Math team: 11
Beta Club: 10, 11, 12 (President 12)
Key Club: 10, 11, 12 (Vice President 11) </p>

<p>Awards: </p>

<p>-Presbyterian College Award for academic excellence
-Wofford College Award for academic excellence
-President's Award for academic excellence
-NEDT Award for high standardized test score
-20th Annual Commissioner's Academic Challenge State Division III championship as captain of Team Gadsden
-Placement as 1 of 6 students statewide into Team Florida for Panasonic Academic Challenge
-2005 Panasonic Academic Challenge national competition fourth place as member of Team Florida
-2005 Florida Beta Club state convention academic tournament championship as member of the high school academic team
-2005 Beta Club state convention mathematics competition 3rd Place
-2005 $10,000 Scholarship winner for TDS National Essay Contest
-High Academic Scholarship winner for Gadsden country (one senior chosen annually to receive a $6000 scholarship disbursed over four years of undergraduate study)</p>

<p>College Stats:</p>

<p>College GPA: 3.82/4.0
Major to be applied for: English/Pre-law</p>

<p>6 Hours during Summer Term and 17 Hours during Fall Term.
B in a 2 hour introductory Chemistry Course
B+ in a 4 hour Calculus Course (top 15% of class)
All A's otherwise:
-American History (Post 1877, 3 credits)
-Warringotn Welcome (Introductory Course, 1 credit)
-Film Analysis (4 credits)
-Creative Writing (3 credits)
-History of Science and Religion (3 credits)
-Logic (3 credits)</p>

<p>A strong Spring courseload heavy in Honors classes (I was just accepted to the program last week). </p>

<p>College Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>-Student Upstart Films: 3 Completed Short Films, 2nd place in the club's "Film Slam" competition.
-UF College Bowl: Participation in 1 tournament, Work at 1 tournament
-Volunteer Note taker
-Participation in 3 day novel contest, completed work of 25,000 words
-Volunteer work at local homeless shelter over summer
-Plan to participate on UF debate team
-Plan to submit various fiction pieces to college publications</p>

<p>Recommendations:</p>

<p>My professor of Science/Religion History who has a PhD form Harvard.
My instructor for Dual Enrollment in high school with 35+ years of experience.
An music instructor at Duke University whom I have been in close contact with.</p>

<p>Other considerations:</p>

<p>I am one of two minorities graduated in senior class, one of about five out of the hundred students at my high school. The area is quite rural, with no representation at any of the schools in the last ten years. Father never finished high school. High family demands outside of school (i.e. working at a family operated business).</p>

<p>I was denied at these three institutions when I applied in high school; however, my national essay and academic tournament accomplishments came after my application, which placed an emphasis on determination. I will try to build the case that if the universities are to accept anybody from a rural area that doesn't offer AP or IB, my application should be strongly considered.</p>

<p>What are my chances? I am forfeiting a Spring '06 acceptance to Cornell (long story) to apply to Harvard, Yale, and Duke for the fall. I think that my case is quite strong, and will be strengthened further by a perfect (I hope) mid-year report. Anybody have any input? What should I emphasize this time around? How damaging are the B's in math and sciences (my first true college-level math courses, by the way) if I plan to go into English, business, or law? Thanks so much for your thoughts!</p>

<p>Happy holidays and new year!</p>

2

<p>All those schools accept very few transfers, and it's arguably harder to get in as a transfer than straight from high school. Even though you're probably a smart kid, the likelihood of your getting into any of those schools is essentially 0.</p>

3

<p>no way brown u shouldnt say that... U def have a shot id def apply</p>

4

<p>By all means, go ahead and apply and put all your effort into your applications. All I'm saying is taht these schools accept like 4-5% of transfer applicants (plus I know that at least Duke overenrolled class of '09, so they're probably begging for frosh to leave), which means that lots of smart kids with great GPAs, great ECs and really sad sob stories apply and get rejected for no good reason.</p>

5

<p>but these schools love a good story:
must work long hours with family, from rural area, minority/mixed cultural background
+still has other OK academic credentials</p>

<p>a compelling essay would be very helpful here . . . </p>

<p>I don't think you'll get into all of them (Yale 2-3%, Duke has the enrollment issues), but you might get into at least one.
I would add two or three schools of that caliber to broaden your chances of getting into at least one, something like Brown.</p>

6

<p>I did consider other universities. I don't think that my science/math credentials are good enough for MIT, although I do have a telecommunications national essay contest on my resume. Stanford is a bit far for me, as I'd prefer to stay on the east coast. UPenn seems to be another good possibility, but I don't know enough about it. My plan is to enter as an English major and "explore" a science possibility via clubs and electives. I don't know enough about my math abilities to commit to an engineering career. I realize that it may appear shallow that I'm after these "big names," but my knowledge of the curricula and desire to attend these universities extend beyond attaining a prestigious degree, as I'll outline further in my essays. </p>

<p>Thanks for the input, guys. Keep it coming. Am I correct in assuming that MIT is pretty much beyond possibility with my Chemistry and Calculus B/B+?</p>

7

<p>MIT is not necessarily beyond your possibility, it's prob the same as the other schools you listed.</p>

8

<p>I've got a pretty good idea of what my chances are of being accepted to MIT, and they aren't pretty. I'm actually going to take two SAT IIs in January, likely Literature and US History. With enough work, I should get 750+ on both, and likely an 800 in the latter. Here is what I hope to ask someone reviewing my application: given the caliber of applicants coming from rural areas like mine, what could be improved in my application that hasn't been improved in the last two years?</p>