Union College Transfer Hopeful

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello I'm currently a freshman at Union College, right outside of Albany in New York. Decent school, seems to hover somewhere in the 30's for US News and World Reports in liberal Arts ranking. I thought the small liberal arts community was what I wanted for a college expierence so I could focus on my studies but I realized I'm missing out on a huge component of my education. I want to hurl myself into the thick of it all and learn to deal with the chaos of city life in a large University. Sure I'll inevitably get good grades in a small college but that's because there is little else for me to do. My entire roaming ground at school consists of about a square mile or so. We're stuck in Schenectady which is a bit like a watered down version of Hartford, I guess Union is similar to Trinity in that aspect.</p>

<p>Anyway currently I'm quite interested in GWU, and BU for my realistic choices, both Tufts and NYU for reach.</p>

<p>Race: White
Gender: Male
Country of Origin: USA
State: Maine
Highschool: Small local public highschool</p>

<p>Basic HS stats:
GPA: 3.7 unweighted
SATS: 610 CR, 590 M, and 560 W (I flaked out on my essay for some reason)
Stupidly I took absolutely zero time to prepare for the SATs, I took them once, angry that I had to wake up so damn early on a Saturday, took them and was glad to be done with it. Looking back I regret doing so, but coulda, shoulda, woulda etc etc.</p>

<p>Highschool EC: Don't have any single defining EC's just a bunch unrelated impulses...
Alpine Ski Team 3 Years
Tennis Team 2 Years
Football Team 1 Year (Senior year oddly enough, and somehow I made varsity and even first string as the 1st string guy was suspended for weed which ****ed the coach off enough to give me his spot heh)</p>

<p>Scuba Diving: Logged over 50 dives in various locations, recently returned from Bonaire where I did a lot of deep/wreck diving. Advanced Open Water Certification.</p>

<p>Outward Bound: somewhat familar with mountaineering, have summited Mt. Washington in December twice which is pretty damn hard.</p>

<p>Community Service: Bits and pieces here and there, never logged hours, or kept track, maybe 40-50 hours.</p>

<p>Employment:
Worked in a Brewery, Vodka Distillery, and on a cruise boat during different summers.</p>

<p>Union College:
GPA: 3.8
Classes
Econ 101: A
intro to global issues: -A
into to literature: -A
We are on the Trimester system so we have 3 marking periods each 10 weeks long rather than two semesters of 15 weeks.</p>

<p>Next Trimester:
Intro philosophy:
Political Ethics
Bio 110
Physcology 101 (though I am battling for a spot in either a macroeconomics course or calculus course which I did not get just by the nature of being a damn freshmen)</p>

<p>College EC's:
JV Crew: They wanted walk ons to fill some spots so I went for it and got the spot!
Economics Club: Freshman Officer
Found Union Libertarians: Have plans in motion to get this off the ground, though it is difficult considering the schools political apathy...
School Newspaper: Just started writing articles
Took up the Piano: Never was too musically inclined but I love the sound of the instrument and gave it a try, usually put in 90 minutes of practice everyday.</p>

<p>and a couple other things.</p>

<p>I am a double major in Political Science (or international affairs if I transfer) and economics.</p>

<p>There is a noticable upward intellectual trend, Now that I'm in college my work doesn't seem like something to get done because I'm obligated to but because I want to do it. Well that's me in a nutshell.</p>

<p>By the time I get my application out I'll have completed two Trimesters so I'll have 7 classes worth of college credit to show them which I'll hope will reduce the emphasis on my lower end SAT's.</p>

<p>I could possibly retake them, I know I'd score quite well on the Reading and Writing portions, much more so than I did my junior year of HS. The math might go up a bit but I'm unsure, I haven't done a calculus problem in about 7 months now. I've lost quite a bit of knowledge so I've been spending a lot of time going back over Algebra 2 to make sure I'll at least know that much. If I don't get that Calculus spot I plan on taking some spare time to review pre calc and couple hours a week on my own to make sure my math skills don't continue to decline.</p>

<p>So yea, chances for GWU, BU, NYU, and Tufts.</p>

2

<p>GWU...Match
BU...Match
NYU...Match/Reach
Tufts...Reach</p>

3

<p>Agree with Isleboy. Your SAT I really kills your application, especially as a freshman transfer, because your h.s. record says more than your short college career does. Hope you did well on your SAT IIs or did you only take the ACT?</p>

4

<p>You always have the option of retaking the SAT...it might seem a little strange, but it's something you can do to improve your record quite a bit, considering the weight on the high school transcript for freshman transfers.</p>

5

<p>I was a flake when it came to the standardized testing. I think I took them my Junior year in the spring, either April or May. It was a beautiful Saturday and I had spring fever, was going crazy sitting indoors dealing with a couple hundred multiple choice questions. Needless to say when I got my scores I shrugged, said good enough, and decided just to use them. Then around November of my senior year I get hit with the ambition stick and regret the immaturity and short sightedness of my SAT decision ever since.</p>

<p>It's a shame I didn't take US history and Bio SAT II's, both my teachers in those two subjects were very demanding and those of us who took the SAT II's in those subjects usually scored in the 700's with minor preparation. Shoulda, woulda, coulda like I said.</p>

<p>I'm having difficulty weighting the oppertunity costs here. I know NYU doesn't even consider SATs taken during college for transfers and I know most dislike it as they are trying to get a snape shot of a student at a certain time in his/her career.</p>

<p>But that's about what I expected, I'd likely make the BU/GWU cut but I'd really need to figure something spectacular out to bring schools like NYU or Tufts into my range. Heh, who knows maybe I'll find a way to pull a rabbit out of a hat eh?</p>

<p>I think I'll see if the SAT review book my parents got me that I never even opened is still around here.</p>

6

I am just curious so my D is considering a transfer to GW and BU for the same reasons. Where did you end up?