what is the reality: transferring from a state school to the top 20 universities?

<p>so i decided to go to a state school..
but what is the reality from transferring from a state school to a top 20 university?
is it possible?
or were people saying this just to make me feel better?</p>

<p>It is very possible dependent on whether you have what the college is looking for. What school? What's your GPA, etc?</p>

<p>People transfer all the time from state schools to top 20s like WashU, Emory, Northwestern, UChicago, USC, etc.</p>

<p>very possible, the key is to get good grades and good recommendations, which can be a challenge given the large class sizes at public state universities. </p>

<p>the key is to demonstrate (ie. fake) interest and sit in the front of the classroom where the teacher can see you, everyday, in the same spot.</p>

<p>I recently got accepted as a spring transfer student to Cornell University(CAS). I currently go to a 4th tier state school. I didn't take the SATs and my high school grades are below those of an incoming freshman. </p>

<p>Anything can happen, just write some good essays and keep your GPA up.</p>

<p>I too was accepted to Cornell, but from a community college recently turned 4 year lol. It is possible from pretty much any kind of school if your overall app is strong. I also never took SAT, and only had a 3.2uw/3.6w in HS (major turnaround my senior year though-3.9uw/4.6w). Just keep your grades up. And you probably already took the SAT, but if not you may need to for the T20 schools. Cornell doesn't require them, but most of them do, I was just fortunate to be accepted to Cornell, and it was my top choice anyways.</p>

<p>To add to what Lurker was saying about recs...what worked for me to get great recs (I am assuming both were, but I read one and it was outstanding) was to go to office hours and just talk with them. I have never really been vocal in class. Just talking with my econ professor and telling him my plans/asking for advice and staying in touch with him over the summer and this past semester got me an amazing rec. With my english prof I was going to his office all the time to edit my college and class essays anyways, so we naturally talked a lot about this stuff and he was really helpful. Now, if you have classes with hundreds of students this could obviously be a problem, but it worked well for me (and I didn't even do this for the purposes of a rec).</p>

<p>what would I need from a state school to get into 'nova?</p>

<p>lol this give me hope!!!
thanks guys</p>