<p>Hi guys,
After a year and 2/5 at UCLA, I have started to realize that I really don't like it here, and would like to be elsewhere, preferably somewhere smaller/more flexible in terms of selecting a major. East coast or west coast is fine, I just want to know what kind of schools I should be targeting?</p>
<p>stats:
economics major
3.82 gpa
1390 sat :(
4.0 hs gpa, valedictorian
hs yearbook editor
captain of the football team
writer for the local newspaper
mock trial
concert choir
csf vice president
college--intern for ucla athletics--(I am currently the dj for the men's basketball team)</p>
<p>do I have any shot at schools like williams, penn, cornell or dartmouth (my brother is a current senior there)?? where else should I be looking? what about pomona or claremont mckenna? I know my low sat score is something of a problem...</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna seems like a school you should definitely look at, given your ECs. I don't know their GPA/SAT ranges off the top of my head, but though yours aren't off the charts, they are by no means close to poor. Your other interests--econ major, football, journalism, mock trial--make you a strong candidate, especially if you've spent your time at UCLA wisely (doing well, getting involved).</p>
<p>I know this is kind of off topic, but as a UCLA economics transfer prospect for Fall 2007, I would like to ask you what do you not like about UCLA. Lifestyle? Academics? Social life? Competition?</p>
<p>It's interesting to see how some people (like me) dream of going to UCLA whereas people like you are dying to get out of that school. lol :P</p>
<p>Williams, Penn, Cornell and Dartmouth along with CMcK and Pomona are not very similar to each other ;), so it is hard to glean from them what other schools to recommend. What they have in common is being excellent, not as large as UCLA, private and difficult to get into.</p>
<p>I think you are a strong candidate for transfer, but those schools are highly selective. So, if you want to transfer <em>for sure</em>, you would be wise to add a few with higher transfer acceptance rates. Tell us your criteria and we can make suggestions.</p>
<p>If you feel comfortable with UCLA being your "safety", then you don't really need other schools. So long as you would be happy to stay there if you do not get lucky with the schools you named.</p>
<p>I predict you will be successful so long as you write strong essays, get good recs and research each school thoroughly enough that you can show in your "why school x" essays how the school would be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>I think Northwestern would be a good choice. It has a very strong economics (always ranked in the top-10) department and it's relatively "transfer friendly" (has a history of admitting relatively large number of transfers as compared to its peers). It's very easy to switch majors within the school of arts & sciences or even transfer to school of education and social policy. Other than sharing the boarder with Chicago, Evanston is a fairly nice college town and has a theater complex, Boarders/B&N bookstores, many shops, cafes, and restaurants. The only potential drawback is that the econ department is very popular and the largest department in their college of arts and sciences.</p>
<p>ok, great. this is actually for my little brother (I am the senior at Dartmouth). I remember visiting Northwestern when I was applying for college and liking Evanston a lot. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>One more question. Will the fact that I am a current Dartmouth student, and have done well here (3.8+) help my brother at all? I really know nothing about transfer apps.</p>
<p>I'd think so. One of my former classmates was at Harvard and his younger brother successfully transferred to Harvard from U of Waterloo. Of course, he might have gotten in with his own merit but given the low rate, I am inclined to assume a hook.</p>