What do I have to do to transfer into an Ivy League school?

Transfer Students
1

I’m currently a senior in high school and I am almost certain that I will go to a “bad” school (my standards are very high) next year due to my low GPA; a 3.15 weighted. I kind of make up for it with a high SAT (1450 out of 1600) and ACT (33) score, as well as having spent a year studying abroad in junior year, but regardless it’s not looking too good. I truly hope that some notable college out there is willing to give me a chance, but in the case that they don’t, I pose the question: what do I have to do to transfer to an Ivy League from a less reputable one?

So far, I just know that I will have to get perfect grades (or as close to perfect as I can get) and show a massive improvement, but other than that I have no idea what else I have to do.

I was hoping that, if I find myself in such a situation that I feel I need to transfer into a better school, I could do so after one year. I know many people suggest that you do it after two, but I can’t stand the idea of being at a bad school.

Thanks in advance!

2

You really need to rethink “bad school.” There are hundreds of great schools in the U.S. including state universities with high admit rates.

Your GPA is relatively low which is one of the top factors colleges consider, combined with a rigorous course load. 1450 and 33 are in range to apply to top schools but not at the 75th percentile. A 33 and 3.9+ is a good starting spot to have the 5% chance at elite schools.

Now, to answer your question, the transfer rate at HPYS is around 1%. So, freshman admit is 5% and transfer is 1%. I expect most students who are admitted on transfer would have been admitted as freshman but chose not to apply to that school. People suggest two years because one year is really one semester so you are applying with a 1450/33 and 3.15 plus one semester of college GPA.

Each school lists it’s own criteria. Harvard wants to know why they meet an academic need tat your current school doesn’t. “My schools is bad” won’t cut it.

What is your list of schools?

What is your budget?

What are possible majors?

What are you looking for in a college, besides a prestigious name?

3

Unlikely.

4

Ivy and other top-rated schools have very high retention rates, in the high 90s. So few are leaving, which leaves few slots. And there are thousands of college sophomores with 4.0 GPAs who have no chance of transferring to Harvard. And tens of thousands who are in good colleges and very happy there.

With your high SAT/ACT scores you will be able to get into a Top 100 college or university. All good schools.

5

There are so many variables at play in the transfer process, that there is no “magic equation” to getting into an Ivy League institution as a transfer.

Getting a perfect, or near perfect college GPA is easier said that done. You’ll have to change your studying habits from the ground up if you want any hope of not only surviving, but thriving in a college environment. That requires a massive amount of discipline that not everybody can develop in couple of months.

Among an excellent college GPA, to have any hope of transferring to a “better” institution, you need a legitimate reason to transfer. As @Sportsman88 said, “I go to a crappy school” won’t cut it. Besides a fancy name, what does Harvard have that your current institution doesn’t? That question is surprisingly more difficult than you think.

Now, to the actual statistics of transfers. To back up @Sportsman88, here is admission stats from Yale and Dartmouth, derived from CDS:

http://www.transferstalker.com/uploads/1/0/6/0/106094795/yale-university_orig.png

http://www.transferstalker.com/uploads/1/0/6/0/106094795/dartmouth-college_orig.png

As you can see Yale and Dartmouth accept an average of 30 transfer students each cycle.

And Stanford, while not an Ivy League, at one point accepted a mere 0.99% of the transfer applicant who applied.

http://www.transferstalker.com/uploads/1/0/6/0/106094795/stanford-university_orig.png

The transfer students accepted at these institutions not only had the grades, but clearly expressed a narrative that explained how they could contribute and benefit from going to these schools.

6

The two parts of your post “my standards are very high” and “a 3.15 weighted” are pretty much not compatible with each other. With a weighted 3.15 you aren’t getting into an Ivy League university or equivalent. 1450 on the SAT would be only sufficient for a very top school if the rest of your application were superb, and it isn’t.

However, there are hundreds of very good universities in the US. With a 1450 SAT you should be able to get into a very good university. Something like the #2 or #3 or #4 public university in your state might be a place to look (unless you are in California, in which case closer to #10 or #12 might work).

When I was a graduate student at a “tippy top” university, there were graduate students there from a very wide range of undergraduate schools, including schools that you are likely to be able to get into. The one thing that they had in common is very good grades as an undergraduate.

I think that your best bet is to go to a “top 200” university for undergrad, do very well there (close to straight A’s), then try to go to a top school for graduate school. An alternate strategy might be community college for two years, your #1 or #2 in state public school for the rest of undergrad (or #4 or #5 or #6 if you are in California), then a top school for graduate school. If you would prefer to transfer to your good in-state public school after one year, then you are going to need to get very high grades, preferably straight A’s, for your last year in high school since transferring after only one year in community college means that your senior year high school grades will also be considered.

Please be aware that any university in the top 200 in the US is going to be significantly more difficult than high school. Community college will be significantly more difficult than most high schools. Whatever you did to get a weighted 3.15 in high school will not be sufficient in university.

7

@DadTwoGirls I know it doesn’t change anything, but the reason I have such high standards is because I know I’m smart - I’m in the 99th percentile for IQs - but I have been set back by my own lack of motivation. It took a while, but eventually I matured and became who I am now; a good student who is very capable.

Obviously colleges don’t know or care about this, but I do think I belong in a top university. Whether I deserve it is an entirely different debate; one I’d probably lose.

I guess my only question out of this is this: what is EVERYTHING that I can do this year to boost my chances of getting into a reputable school? I mean anything.

8

Sustained superior performance

9

I’m sorry, but all the viable options you have require you to swallow your pride and going to an “inferior” institution for an extended period of time.

10

Here is a list of things you can do to transfer in to Havard.

  1. Win the Nobel Price like Malala.
  2. Invent the cure of cancer.
  3. Found a company like Facebook or Microsoft.
  4. Run for the President of the United States and get endorsed by either party.
  5. Stop the war in the Middle East.
  6. Make peace between all countries with North Korea
    7, 1000 too many to write.

So you have it.

11

“Ivy” is “good” and every place else is “bad” is a false dichotomy. All of the tippy-top colleges maintain, year after year, that they could fill multiple classes, of equivalent strength, with the students that they have to turn away. Where do those other students go? Or the high-achievers whose family circumstances mean those schools are unaffordable?

It is a harsh truth that one of the best ways to get into those big-name colleges is to be not just smart, but to mature early (focus, self-discipline) and be lucky (get through adolescence with no bumps).

The other harsh truth is that in practice, your college portfolio is nearly finished at the end of Grade 11. As a senior you can really only affect 2 parts of your application: your essays and your selection of where to apply.

SOME colleges do not use grades from Grade 9. Recalculate your UW GPA w/out those grades: how much does it help? If it lifts you to (say) a 3.5 or better it would be worth looking at those colleges.

Look for colleges (such as Smith, Bard, Ohio Wesleyan, Occidental, American, BU) that have a reputation for looking at the whole picture / giving credit for an upward trend

Your biggest piece, however, will be to accept that it is not ‘Ivy or nothing’, and that your status as a “1% -er” isn’t enough to say that Ivy is the only place that you belong. There are at least 22,000 other students with IQs in the top 1% who will start college at the same time as you. There are approx 14,400 places at the Ivies: even if the only metric was IQ (and by a long way, it is not), where would the other 1%-ers go? Never mind the high achieving students whose IQs are “only” in, say the top 5% (and we won’t even get into the debate as to how meaningful that distinction is).

btw, be careful in your essays: it is surprising how easily a superior tone can slip into an essay, and that can be off-putting to AdComm readers. Many, many students have been stunned to find themselves turned down by schools that they saw as ‘last choice’ options.

12

i dont think you can get in

13

“I’m in the 99th percentile for IQs - but I have been set back by my own lack of motivation. It took a while, but eventually I matured and became who I am now; a good student who is very capable.”

I know quite a few people who could say this (although most probably wouldn’t say it quite this way). Some messed up in high school significantly worse than you did. Most of them ended up doing very well. Usually this was either by starting at community college or a “pretty good” university and then transferring, or by starting at an in-state public school and then going to a really top school for graduate school. Some of them ended up losing a year along the way but one year is not a big deal in the context of your lifetime.

The ones that ended up being very successful all have one thing in common: At some point they started working very hard, and recognized that they would have to put in their time at a university that was not their ideal choice in order to prove themselves. I believe that you can do this also and can be successful if you put your mind to it.

14

It’s highly unlikely that you will get into an ivy league with your stats as an undergrad. It can be even harder to transfer into an ivy league than getting in as a freshman admit as you need to keep your college GPA up, and ivy leagues don’t have a need to accept transfer students. However, with your test scores, I’m sure you can get some decent scholarships at your state universities. If you really want to go to an ivy league or a “top school,” you should focus on graduate school.

15

OP your best bet is to try for your state flagship or a mid-level LAC and work! Get over your lack of motivation. In what state do you reside?

16

Even for kids with perfect gpa and board scores, good majority of them will not get accepted into an Ivy and its equivalent schools. Your GPA of 3.15 (weighted) and 1450 will make it impossible for you to get accepted into an elite school without any significant hook. Kids I know getting recruited to an Ivy with a GPA of 3.8 and 1460 on the SAT were told their chances were “iffy” and needed to improve their scores to mid 700’s for all the sections, including SAT2 exams.
Despite your “extremely high IQ”, your GPA is showing your “motivation”. I would go to a “good” college that you are qualified for, and do very well, “increase” your motivation, utilize your high IQ, get high grades, then apply to an elite grad school.

17

Do you think all schools besides ivies are bad schools? That’s rather offensive and inaccurate in many ways.

18

I’d bet that half the students (or parents posing as students) salivating for the Ivies cannot name the eight members, or know there are eight. ('Okay, there’s Harvard and Yale and NYU, and one in New Hampshire or Vermont or somewhere, and oh yeah, MIT. A few more I forget right now. But I deserve to go to one. I got a 1420! And more than one middle school teacher told me I was smart enough to get into an Ivy!)