<p>Hello, I'm a senior in high school who got turned down by a lot of great schools, and I know this is because I did not apply myself fully in high school and got bad marks (a few Cs and Ds in difficult AP classes) on my transcript. I regret this very much, and I plan to study much, much harder in college.
I am planning to apply for transfer after my freshman year, and I was wondering what I should do in this coming year to make up for my bad high school transcript (aside from getting great grades in college). Do colleges put a lot of weight on high school records?</p>
<p>Get as involved as possible in college. Not just with clubs and extracurriculars, but do stuff that will really make you stand out. Internships, research positions, etc. Make sure to form close relationships with a couple professors early on to set yourself up for some good rec letters. Look at the requirements of some of the schools you are looking to transfer to and select your courses accordingly. Make sure your writing skills are top-notch and if not work hard to improve them. Take a hard and heavy course load and do extremely well. Last but certainly not least start your applications early. Otherwise, it will be the most stressful time of your life…trust me.</p>
<p>RobertoGonzalez - Your not going to like what I’m going to have to say. Depending on the universities you are hoping to apply to after your freshmen year (applying for sophomore standing), it is very likely your high school GPA and SAT’s will impact your admissions. Even when you are applying to transfer your sophomore year (junior standing) some of the colleges will still look at your HS transcript and SAT’s severly, coming from most of the privates and all the Ivies.</p>
<p>Although some universities will not look at your HS past when applying for admissions as a freshmen. But this only fulfilled at some universities where you will have to complete at least around 30 transferrable semester units that year.</p>
<p>some universities do not even ask for your high school/sat after 60 credits</p>
<p>Thanks for your kind responses! MakeBank24, you definitely have me worried because I’m looking at places like Brown and Georgetown… from which I got rejected this year. In high school I was totally ignorant about the college application process, so I slacked off and didn’t participate in enough ECs, and I really regret that now. I’d really like to start over with a clean slate, so I’m going to try to not make any of the mistakes I made in high school… thanks again.</p>
<p>@brahnema</p>
<p>I’m curious, how do you find out about research positions and internship openings?</p>
<p>BTW:</p>
<p>I see you are in Atlanta, and if I were you I would look into some good public colleges in your state.</p>
<p>I’m in California, and the UC schools don’t require your high school information when applying for transfer whereas private schools do.</p>
<p>RobertoGonzalez,
You’ve gotten some great advice. Unfortunately, MakeBank is right to have worried you. If you transfer after only one year in college, your HS transcript and SATs will be heavily considered for admission. If you really want to go to the top schools, you are going to need to wait two years, when your HS records are not weighed as heavily. If you scored badly on the SATs, you should probably take them again. Brown and Georgetown definitely require these scores.
See what happens when you get to college this year. You may love it and not want to leave! Try to find some things that you love about the school you are going to, make some friends, join some clubs, do well in school, and take it from there!</p>
<p>@ - womanofmanyhats
Thanks for your advice!
I did okay in my SATs (2160). It was mostly my GPA that brought me down (3.4 UW /3.9 W). What you said about waiting 2 years totally makes sense to me, but I really, really dislike the school I’m going to attend, which is a mediocre party school, and I feel like I have the potential to be so much more. I’m just hoping that if I can get a 4.0 in college, it won’t make my high school grades look as bad.</p>
<p>I disagree somewhat with this issue of HS grades. I think if you properly protray your lack of focus turned motivation to suceed in your application (through your essays primarily, and college envolvement), you can definitely have a shot at top schools. Again, make sure to suceed in something that will really make you stand out. Just check out this thread for inspiration: </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/465387-success-stories-bad-hs-record-w-great-college-record.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/465387-success-stories-bad-hs-record-w-great-college-record.html</a></p>
<p>I am actually in a similar situation as my HS GPA was about the same as yours, RobertoGonzalez; an excellent college record CAN overshadow a mediocre HS, in my opinion. (In cases such as yours and mine, where focus was an issue not potential)</p>
<p>@hapyro</p>
<p>This is hard to answer without knowing more about your interests/current school, but contact department heads, professors, and researchers and simply ask about opportunities. Often, there are various positions which you can apply for. Your school may also offer credit courses which involve supervised research. Basically, directly contact whoever you would like to intern/reseach with and you’re bound to find something. I was able to get an internship at a law firm, as well as a research position in my school’s psychology lab by simply contacting different people. PM me if you want to know more.</p>
<p>it really depends on what school you are looking at. but generally your highschool will screw you over if you are only a sophmore transfer. honestly no matter how great your college gpa is, there will be applicants with the same college gpa or a little worse, but if they have great highschool gpa they will probably be chosen over you. my best advice would be to address your poor highschool expeierence in your essay and get good recs from college that can attest that your hs was a fluke and your college is a real assessment of you. Also the fact that you were taking APs is helpful, sometimes the fact that you challenged yourself is meaningful.
out of my own experience, UIUC rejected me and when i called to enquire they said everything was competitive for admittance except my highschool grades, and that was the sole reason for rejection.</p>