I am currently taking the semester off from school due to some medical complications I had in the summer. I was originally attending a university in Nashville, TN and was on the Division 1 Track & Field. I would love the opportunity to attend an Ivy League school and still continue to run track. I have read that it is extremely competitive to transfer into any Ivy League school. Can anyone give me more information about how hard it actually is? My GPA from both high school and college are good but my test scores are on the lower end. I did a lot of extracurriculars in high school. I know that the essay for college can make or break an app. But how crucial is the essay really? Do people get into Ivy League schools solely based off their essay? Appreciate any help!
Ivy league transfers are extremely difficult because you have to hope that someone drops out to make space for you. That doesn’t really happen at the ivies.
Once you attend a university, your high school record is, somewhat, a moot point. They look at your university level GPA, EC’s and work. If you are a recruited athlete, there needs to be a space made for you.
Transferring to an ivy would be extremely difficult.
Harvard gets something like 1200 transfer applications and accepts 12, It wasn’t an essay that got these kids in.
You can look at the Common Data Set for each school. There’s a section on transfers. It will show how many applications they receive and how many they accept. I’ve never been able to find a CDS for Yale. I’m not sue how athletics works but if you are a great runner maybe you can contact the coach with your stats.
Here is what you should know, at least for Ivy schools–the seats at Ivy-plus schools that are available for transfers is largely tied to attrition. Since attrition is almost non-existent in the top Ivy schools, so are the seats available. By way of example, recently, Harvard had over 1500 applicants and admitted about 15, and Yale had over a 1000 applicants in which about 2 dozen were offered seats. Brown is close to 5%.So, while being qualified is certainly a criteria, the other portion must convey why these schools; typical reasons are that these schools offer programs and/or degrees not offered at your existing institution. Transferring because of the desire to attend a more elite institution is NOT consider a valid reason for transfer.
Second, that you could have obtained admission as a freshmen applicant. Third, that you have perfect scores at your current institution. Long story short…it is much more difficult to obtain admission as a transfer than as applying for a freshmen seat…
Ivy League transfers are VERY hard. If, however, you can get the track coach to see you run, and try to get recruited for one, you will have a much easier ride through admissions.