I am a current freshman at UPitt and I don’t really feel like I fit in Pittsburgh, which is also pretty far from my hometown (Philly). I ended up doing poorly this semester with a 3.23 GPA and wanted to know if you guys think I have a chance with any of the top 20 schools for transfer? Or should I just wait to apply as a junior applicant?
I went to a great high school (Conestoga HS in PA).
My High School GPA: 3.95/4.00 (UW) 4.90/5.3 (W)
Asian American Culture Club (9)
Band (9,10)
Liberty in North Korea (10)
Key Club (10,11,12)
Hip-Hop Club (10,11,12)
NHS member (11,12)
AP Scholar with Distinction (one 3, three 4s, and 2 5s)
ACT: 34,35
I also went on 5 different summer mission trips with my church from 6th grade to 12th grade. I held a leadership position within my youth group.
College:
1st Semester: 3.23
Bio 1: B
Chem 1: B+
Medical Sociology: B+
Seminar in Composition: B+
2nd Semester: Anticipated 4.00
Bio 2
Chem 2
Public Speaking
Intro to Korean Culture and Civilization
Intro to World Music
I am also hoping to take Genetics this summer.
I am a PR committee member within the Asian Student Alliance at Pitt.
Oh…I forgot to mention that Im an Asian female. I am also a pre-med student.
For either a prestige upgrade transfer or a realistic chance of medical school admission, you need a college GPA a lot higher than 3.23.
That is true. I did slip up a lot with my grades, but I normally am an A or A+ student, so my GPA is going to increase starting next semester
@ucbalumnus do you know if they consider spring grades too? Cuz if they do, then I may just apply this year and if not, I might just wait til next year
Earning a 4.0 GPA in college is much harder for most students than earning a 4.0 GPA in high school.
Spring semester grades are likely too late for admission consideration, although any admission offer will be conditional on doing well enough in in-progress courses.
@ucbalumnus okay i see. Thanks!
@ucbalumnus do you think I’ll have a better chance if I wait til sophomore year?
Getting into a top 20 university can derail your medical school goal. Competition in the life sciences and hard sciences are intense in most top 20 schools. I know of students who intentionally attend a less competitive college in order to get the top grades to get into medical school. Doing well on the MCAT is still another an obstacle.
I do not think that you would be accepted as a transfer to any top 20 National University, but do think that you might be accepted to some top 20 LACs. Also, a more convincing reason for transferring could be made if moving from a large public university to a small private liberal arts college.
It would be helpful to know what you are seeking in a school besides a high US News ranking as there are many great National Universities which are reasonable transfer targets.
Is cost a significant factor ? If so, you may need to limit your search to in-state options.
Did you apply to top 20 colleges last year and get rejected? If so then transferring would not be likely.
Transferring can happen if you have a 4.0 or near 4.0 GPA. S’s friends, who attended a large UC last year as a freshman with a 3.95 GPA, was accepted as a transfer sophomore to both the University of Michigan and University of Southern California, the only schools he applied for as a transfer. I’ve also heard of others recently transferring to Cornel. They again had high GPA’s.
@Publisher I was thinking of going to the top 20 schools since they would offer the best resources and faculty. I looked at the majors for a lot of the colleges and they are really interesting and unique like the Medicine, Science, and the Humanities Major in Hopkins or the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine Minor in UChicago. Also, they would have a high med acceptance rate among their pre-med students. Another reason is because a lot of them are closer to my home than Pitt is and tend to have weather that I prefer. Cost isn’t too much of a problem, but I would probably choose the best fin aid among my accepted colleges
@TomSrOfBoston Yes, I did apply to them. However, I assumed that it was my bad essays that got me rejected because I had the stats to get in and there were many other students in my grade who got in with inferior stats. I thought that if I did at least a 3.7 GPA and did some hospital volunteering and clubs at Pitt that it could change their minds (and a much better essay)
@UCBUSCalum Would a 3.72 GPA be enough with the addition of great essays, hospital volunteering/shadowing, club leadership/activity, and service ec’s like mission trips?
When it comes to top 20, you dont guess.
No, a freshman B average and a few non-stem activities won’t get you in.
These colleges have high freshman retention rates, few spots for transfers. Just wanting them isn’t enough.
" I assumed that it was my bad essays that got me rejected because I had the stats to get in and there were many other students in my grade who got in with inferior stats."
It’s not just about stats. Anyone applying to top colleges has got to know that stats are not it. The others may have had a different range of ECs and nailed the rest of their apps/supps.
Your gpa at a non-top 20 school indicates you can’t achieve the required 3.75+ a top school expects from transfers. Until you correct the low gpa there isn’t much to soend time thinking about. FWIW Pitt has fantastic resources for a pre-med as it has a top 15/20 med school affiliation. You shouldn’t be lacking for clinical and research opportunities. I totally sympathize with the terrible weather there. Your best bet is a 4.0 this Spring and next Fall and applying for admission next cycle. By my math you can pull your gpa up to a ~3.8 which puts you in range GPA wise for transferring to a top school.
I agree with @ucbalumnus that your current college GPA is not going to help you at all in getting into a top 20 school.
Also, the fact that you want to transfer to any top 20 school makes me think that you don’t actually know what you want in a university. The top 20 universities vary quite a bit. They are not all a good fit for you, nor for anyone else. If you don’t actually know what you want in a university, this will make it more difficult to get accepted to a highly ranked university.
Finally, if you want to ever get accepted to a medical school, then you are probably a lot better off staying where you are. Premed classes where you are will be very challenging. You haven’t gotten to the hardest classes yet. Premed classes at MIT or Caltech would be even more challenging. You need to focus on getting your GPA way up. You need to appreciate that you are already at a university that is significantly more difficult than your high school. You need to take every class seriously, pay attention in every class, and work very hard to stay ahead in your work.
Forget about transferring. Right now you need to start getting A’s. Experience volunteering in a medical environment is a second high priority issue.
You should review in the internet, the schools you are considering and their requirements. A 3.7 GPA may get you into a top 20 school as a transfer.
I don’t think you are targeting the West Coast. I know in the West Coast, Stanford and Cal Tech, with very low acceptance rates for transfers (less than 2%, and they admit very few transfers) are almost impossible to transfer to even if your GPA is about 4.0.
UC Berkeley and UCLA give CA community college transfers first priority, then next priority, other UC’s, then CSU’s and other colleges. They take only two year transfers. Their acceptance rates are around 20 to 25% and need a GPA of at least 3.7 to have a chance. USC, a private school, also has about the same acceptance rate and GPA requirements (3.7+), but USC takes 1 year transfers and does not give priority to community college applicants… For you, since you are out of state, for the UC’s, out of state tuition and room and board plus fees will almost equal the cost of a private school like USC. University of Michigan is a possibility, but I don’t know if it fits your criteria. UM’s transfer acceptance rate is higher.
OP, this info ^ is available to you. You need to put some researching ahead of dreaming. On top of gpa, you need the ECs, a record of achievements, and a better reason than a course or two and weather. You’ve hardly begun your college experience. What do you think would compel them to admit you over another candidate? Or an athletic recruit transfer?