I am an Indian student currently in my 2nd year of B.Sc in Economics at IIT Bombay (best institute in my country). I want to transfer to Harvard and I believe my essays and recommendations portray a nice strategic story. My stats are as follows:
GPA:
Std. 9th - top 3 in class
Std. 10th - 95%
Std. 11th - 60%
Std. 12th - 92% (after a drop year and an improvement exam, earlier got 70%.)
College CGPA - 9.54/10 (top 3 in class)
TESTING: (all of this taken during my 1st year at college)
SAT (new) - 1600/1600
Sat Subjects - Maths Level 2 - 800 Physics - 800
AP Courses - 5/5 in CalcAB, CalcBC, English Language & Composition, Music Theory, Physics1, Physics2, PhysicsC both
ECs COLLEGE:
National Music Composition & Production finalist
Spinnin Records Intl Remix competition RunnerUp
Finalist for National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Recognition Award
Represented my college at Regional ACM-ICPC championships
Led my futsal team to regional championship winners
Futsal National Scouted talent (our team among a pool of 50 teams)
Got Research credentials at a conference;
ECs HIGH SCHOOL:
Chess city finalist; High school winner
Football High school captain
Spelling Bee State Gold Medallist
Published author (got a story published in a collaborative effort of all schools in our city)
4th in Regional Quiz
I am mainly worried about my academic performance in my junior and senior high school years. Would it prove to be deciding? I guess the other parts of the application are good (Harvard is a lot of luck though). But I can explain those bad marks. I was busy with writing the manuscript of a book which has recently been accepted by a publisher. Would that be enough to make them not consider the poor marks considering I improved a lot in college. Thank You for any replies!
It’s thought by many that about 1/3 to 1/4 of those admitted transfer applicants (3 or 4 students out of 12 transfer admits) are recruited athletes, so the “actual” number of non-hooked admitted transfer applicants is about 8 students (out of more than 1600 applicants). That’s an acceptance rate of less than one-half of one percent! Given those odds – especially as an international student from India – my guess is that you will be rejected, as will 99.5% of transfer applicants who are also applying (sorry).
There’s no formula that will guarantee you admission to Harvard, but from what you’ve said, I think you definitely have a good shot. Just write solid essays (be very sincere and talk about your passions don’t just say stuff cause you think the admissions officers will like it) and you have a good chance of getting in. Also, if you do not get in, there are plenty of other fantastic universities in the United States so don’t worry!
As gibby mentioned, the numbers applying as a transfer student are much worse than as applying out of high school… Probably less than 1% of transfer applicants are accepted, versus 5% for those applying out of high school.
That being said, two of my good friends at Harvard were transfer students, one from Beijing University in China, so it does happen.
The thing is, no matter what any of us say here, you should still apply.
There is no reason NOT to apply, so just apply!
If you don’t get in, I would suggest trying again for graduate school. The admissions rates are much higher that trying to apply as a transfer student.
If anyone plans to apply, it shouldn’t be blind. You should do the due diligence to understand what they value and want, what it takes.
That’s not asking on an anonymous forum. It’s certainly not just grades and an essay. In fact, how does anyone write a great essay, if they don’t know what H looks for?