UGH! Need to finalize a list of schools

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am having some trouble picking schools to apply to as a transfer mostly because I don't really know where I stand. I am a freshman at William & Mary and am looking to start at a new school in Fall of 2009. I am a little confused on how colleges will see me as an applicant. I have a 4.0 here at W&M after one semester but my HS GPA was only a 3.4 UW. </p>

<p>Asian Indian male from suburban Cleveland, OH.</p>

<p>COLLEGE GPA: 4.0 after 1 semester (13 credits)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>International Relations Club (Model UN)</p>

<p>McGill Model UN in Montreal, Canada (end of January 09)
-Panama on Special Political and Decolonization</p>

<p>Security Council Simulation at Yale
-Thailand on the IAEA</p>

<p>Southern Regional Model United Nations
-Malaysia on the WTO</p>

<p>-Chinese Student Organization</p>

<p>Transfer Credit (AP): 6 credits received from AP Spanish Language</p>

<p>Semester 1
ECON101: Intro to Micro (3 credits)
Current Grade: A</p>

<p>BUAD203: Intro to Accounting (3)
Current Grade: A</p>

<p>HISP151 Mexican Cinema (Freshman Seminar 3 credits)
Current Grade: A</p>

<p>CHIN101: Intro to Chinese (4)
Current Grade: A</p>

<p>Total Credits for Sem 1: 13</p>

<p>Semester 2:
Prospective...</p>

<p>ECON102 (Intro to Macro) 3
ECON303 (Intermediate Micro) 3
CHIN102 4
MATH111 (Calculus I) 4</p>

<p>Total Credits for Sem 2: 14</p>

<p>HIGH SCHOOL</p>

<p>GPA :3.95 Weighted, 3.40-3.50ish Unweighted</p>

<p>Class Rank: Top 12% Could possibly be top 10%</p>

<p>Courses: Hardest possible at my school. 8 AP's, 10+ Honors</p>

<p>SAT1: Math: 710 Critical Reading: 720 Writing: 730 Essay:12</p>

<p>1430/1600 2160/2400</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Model UN: Officer 11,12</p>

<p>Spanish Club: Officer 11,12</p>

<p>Math Tutoring</p>

<p>Spanish Tutoring</p>

<p>Project Support: Help organize social activities for special ed. kids at our school</p>

<p>Youth in Government Judicial: will be working with attorneys and ohio supreme court justices</p>

<p>School Newspaper</p>

<p>Played Tennis Freshman and Sophomore year had to quit due to tendonitis</p>

<p>Piano: Have been playing for 10 years. 1 Superior at OMEA music competitions, played for choir, various other performances</p>

<p>Summer 2006: LeadAmerica for Global Business and Entrepreneurship at Bentley College in Waltham, MA</p>

<p>Volunteer: I'd say maybe around 70-100 hours</p>

<p>Travel Exp.: 20 countries on 5 continents</p>

<p>AP Scores: only really good one is a 5 in Spanish Language
Span. Lang: 5
Macroecon: 3
APUSH: 3
Euro: 3
English Lit: 3</p>

<p>Now, do I stand a chance at any of the following schools? These are the schools I am looking into. I want to know which ones I actually have a chance at and which ones I should cut off my list.</p>

<p>Amherst
Columbia
Dartmouth
Brown
Penn
Yale
Rice
UChicago
Claremont McKenna
Pomona
Swarthmore
Haverford
Colgate
Hamilton
Oberlin
Cornell
Wesleyan
Carleton
Middlebury
USC
NYU Stern (econ)</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for your help.</p>

2

<p>Do you want a large or small campus? I mean, Columbia's a bigger school than, say, Pomona.</p>

<p>Cold or warm location?</p>

<p>Do a spreadsheet and weight various factors.</p>

3

<p>Why would you leave W&M? Most of the schools you listed wouldnt be that much different than where you are now.</p>

4

<p>geographic diversity is one area of concern but its mostly personal reasons.</p>

5

<p>I am also considering Reed and Grinnell. I am pretty sure my list has been whittled down to:</p>

<p>Penn, NYU, Reed, Oberlin, Grinnell, Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Swarthmore.</p>

<p>I'm still looking to cut a couple but it's a start. Can anyone give me chances?</p>

6

<p>I would cut NYU, because it's the most "different" of the schools on your list. I don't know that it would really fit you.</p>

7

<p>Pomona is a huge reach for anyone...if you look at the 2008 results thread, someone said that they only let in like 10 people last year. The others on your list are very risky as well--They all have an acceptance rate around 15-25%. NYU is very different from the others, in terms of size and layout (no campus). How can you have NYU and Grinnell on your list anyways? Grinnell is very rural, and NYU is about as urban as you can get; and NYU is huge compared to Grinnell.</p>

<p>You really need some safeties and even matches. A 4.0 is good, but it's only one semester, and you only took 13 hours, and you're only taking 14 next semester. You'll be competing with people who have taken 18+ hours a semester and still kept a 4.0. Your SAT's are good, but your high school GPA is not spectacular, unless you went to a super hard prep school or something. And your EC's are not very unique at all.</p>

<p>I say you should look more at W&M's peers, colleges more along the lines of:
Wofford (47%)
Elon (58%)
Wake Forest (35%)
U of Richmond (40%)</p>

<p>If, however, you're looking for a completely different atmosphere from W&M, try:
Warren Wilson (67%)
Bard (28%)
Hampshire (43%)
Connecticut C (42%)
Bennington (59%)
U Vermont (43%)
Skidmore (34%)
New College of Florida (29%)
Eugene Lang (57%)
College of the Atlantic (89%)
St. John's, NM (63%)
Marlboro (98%)
Sarah Lawrence (37%)
Prescott (82%)
Ithaca (58%)
Guilford (38%)
Eckerd (52%)</p>

<p>Of course, if you're looking for prestige, rather than fit, your best bet is probably W&M, given how hard it is to transfer into better schools.</p>

<p>Apply to a couple of those that you mentioned as reaches, but don't bank all your hopes on getting into any of them.</p>

8

<p>W&M peers are more along the lines of Davidson, Haverford, Chicago, Emory, Georgetown.</p>

9

<p>doctorb is correct. If I am going to transfer, I don't want to take a drop in academics which I feel a lot of the schools yourfireescape mentioned would be.</p>

10

<p>While your college gpa is great, it comes from all intro courses and only a 13 credit load which is at the low end for a full time student. </p>

<p>I would disagree that UChicago and W&M are peer schools.</p>

11

<p>The Insiders Guide to Colleges lists Emory, Haverford, Davidson, Williams, Chicago, and UVirginia as similar schools to W&M.</p>

12

<p>doctorb:</p>

<p>Insider's Guide is just wrong then. Williams and UChicago are clearly the best on that list.</p>

<p>OP:</p>

<p>I would choose no more than nine (a safety, four matches, four reaches). It's hard to tell you which schools would suit you, as we really don't know you or every one of those schools in depth. As for chances, your high school GPA will hurt them for Ivies/top schools, so you may consider waiting a year before transferring if you're set on it. As of now, I can tell you Penn is not going to (likely) happen.</p>

13

<p>You have good GPAs from excellent school. You should have good chances at some excellent schools. However, there are a lot of students who are looking to transfer up also. 2008 was a very competitive year as far as admission is concerned and some students did not get into the colleges of that they want are now looking to transfer as well.</p>

14

<p>NYU: Worst college experience in the country by FAR in my opinion. I've met so many unhappy students its ridiculous.</p>