what do i need to do to transfer

Transfer Students
1

<p>im an hs senior.. family problems + me being lazy completely destroyed my high school class rank/GPA
GPA: 86.2
Rank: 33%
but my SATs are good(1500 combined m+v and 700 writing)</p>

<p>what will i need to do to transfer from the college i will be attending next year(probably not a very good college due to my stats.. worst case scenario would be rutgers) to a very highly ranked university(brown, cornell, uchicago)</p>

<p>how high will my senior year grades need to be in hs and freshman year grades in college using my worst case scenario at rutgers?</p>

<p>will it make a big difference if i get into a better college than rutgers for my freshmen year?</p>

<p>here is what i came up with but i do not know how important any of these are if at all:
clubs
community service
leadership
lab experience
intramural sports
a job</p>

<p>maybe you can help me come up with other things i need to do or rank what i have already
i think my family problems would be a good reason to transfer as well</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

2

<p>I am currently a college sophomore who was in kinda the same situation as you.</p>

<p>I had a father who was diagnosed with cancer and a sister with multiple sclerosis in the same school year and my grades plummeted to a 3.1 weighted average. Even with a decent testing score, I didn't quite make it into the colleges that I really wanted to go to. </p>

<p>First of all, note that, when you transfer, it will not matter what type of university you are coming from - the only distinction that will be made is whether your institution is two year or four year. Since your scores are already really good, you don't even need to woeey about that. </p>

<p>When you begin filling out transfer apps, make sure you EXPLAIN your high school grades to the committee - if you had a family problem that really affected you academically, they really do want to know and will definitely take that into consideration.</p>

<p>Second, do as well as you possibly can (get as many A's as possible!) your senior year to show how you have triumphed in spite of your problems. You should plan on acing your freshman year at college also. Although your list of actions is good, colleges will focus mostly on how your academics in the classroom have improved. Show them that you've worked hard and you deserve to be at their school. I know you may not want to, but you will need to spend a majority of your freshman year hitting the books. I did, and it paid off for me with a perfect 4.0 average.</p>

<p>However, you should do some activities outside of the classroom as well. Join some school clubs or do some community service. Don't just join a bunch of clubs and then never go to the meetings or do stuff just because it "looks good". Find things that you will really be committed to - like a part-time job or a volunteer activity that you really like. I think that admissions committees, just like in high school, will be focused on quality rather than quantity. That way, you can take on one or two really meaningful leadership positions and your activities don't feel like a chore. </p>

<p>I advise you to make the best of your experience at whatever college you go to. If you decide that you are not happy, then transfer. But keep in mind when you are thinking about transferring that academics and GPA is key here. You have wonderful testing scores - I would really like to congratulate you on that. Just focus on bringing your grades up and keeping them up. Although I will be a junior transfer (I wanted to give them 3 semesters of improvement rather than 1), the principal is the same - it won't be SOLELY about your clubs, community service, leadership, lab experience, intramural sports or job. It will be about those three dreaded letters - G - P - A.</p>

3

<p>Lbtg -actually, the kind of college you're coming from will make some difference. At a school like Rutgers, you ideally want to make at least 3.7 GPA in hard courses to go to an ivy league school. You may want to aim for transferring as a junior, b/c I have seen that recommended for people whose high school record is not great. Half of all people who transfer once transfer twice, indicating a sophomore transfer for someone who's not absolutely sure what they want to do may be rushing things a bit anyway. All in all, I feel we are in similar situations (w/ similar test scores), although b/c you are younger you have more time to get yourself straightened out. </p>

<p>I'd also add that for the school you are looking at, your GPA will determine whether you are even seriously looked at. But ECs and essays will determine whether they pick you above the many other candidates with equally strong GPAs...</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>