What Advice Would You Give A Transfer?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
1

<p>Hello there!</p>

<p>I am a Bard College student transferring to Smith College, worried if my poor GPA will affect the process. And I hate sounding cliche, so police me if I am!</p>

<p>I am looking to apply as a Sophomore transfer to Smith College. I currently am attending Bard College, but am not enrolled because it did not meet full financial need (on average it meets about 50% while Smith meets 100%). I also am not impressed with its academic life.</p>

<p>I have maintained As in courses that are mostly workshops and philosophy-related. </p>

<p>I have B- in a Philosophy class on Kant that was way over my head at the time and a C- in Arabic, although the funny thing is I had taught Arabic prior to the class and my dad's side of the family is Arab and speaks it fluently. I would extrapolate on this in a section on my application. I might have another B- somewhere. <em>Sigh</em> This clearly has brought my GPA down, down down.</p>

<p>I suppose I would like to know the weight my extracurriculars and recommendations hold. I can obtain great recommendations, and have a lot of work experience campaigning, with publications (I was a syndicated columnist in high school and wrote an opinion article in the NY times), and in leadership positions (as an Arabic and harp teacher, Girl Scout gold Award, ect.). My academic interests are there also, as I have been in many clubs, and started a blog on a post-strucural way of viewing Middle Eastern conflicts ...very Smithian and Bardian...I know ;) I won't bore you with that, anyway.</p>

<p>I normally would continue my education at Bad to improve my GPA, but like I said...I was forced out of enrollment due to their policies Smith College does not have.</p>

<p>Clearly, I think I'm a good fit for Smith...but due to my academic performance...will they?</p>

<p>Also, what do you think I should put in my section to talk about these grades?</p>

2

<p>Anyone? A word of advice?</p>

3

<p>One caveat: I don’t know how the transfer application is different from the regular application. I think your ECs and recommendations are quite important. Delineate them as Smith looks at the GPA but they also look at everything else. If you want to write about your classes where you didn’t receive stellar grades, I’d talk about what you have learned about yourself as a student–your strengths and weaknesses–knowledge which you can apply in the future. I think it’s really important to emphasize what experience you are looking for from Smith, other than a more supportive financial picture.</p>

4

<p>ilhagenah-- You didn’t mention your SAT scores. They might be useful to an admissions committee. If you haven’t taken them, I’d advise you to do so.</p>

<p>.02</p>

<p>David</p>

5

<p>When you say you are attending Bard but not enrolled, do you mean you are just taking random courses? How many courses are you taking? If only the ones you mentioned, then it doesn’t sound like you will have enough credits to enter as a sophomore. Do you get college credit for the “workshops?” Everything the two posters above is very important. One other thing to keep in mind regarding financial aid–While Smith says it meets 100% of financial need, that is based on what Smith thinks you need, not what you think. They have their own formulas for calculating aid based on you and your family’s numbers.</p>