What tends to be the calibre of transfer applicants?

Transfer Students
1

<p>NOTE: I'm not overly concerned with prestige as I am only considering a Caltech transfer but am assuming that the calibre of Caltech transfer is similar to the calibre of transfers to other top schools.</p>

<p>I'm concerned - transfer applications to the top 15 seem to be evem more competitive than undergraduate applications to the top 15. But how competitive tend to be transfer applicants? Are most of them ones who aren't extremely strong in their own colleges (in that a lot of people within that college would discourage the applicant from transferring) but rather people who aren't the top in their respective colleges? Also, do people from state schools/community colleges have advantages over people from top 15 schools as they have a more valid reason to transfer?</p>

2

<p>When you look at top 15, it generally varies. Top 15 is quite broad, and I'm personally a mediocre transfer student who will be attending a top 10 university next fall... So I can't really give a generalization about top 15.</p>

<p>But, if you start looking at the cream of the crop... MIT, Stanford, etc. you start seeing a horrible trend. Barely any transfer students even apply, and you could count on your fingers how many get accepted. The reason?</p>

<p>The only people who get accepted as transfers into high-and-mighty private universities are the REALLY exceptional ones. You have to create a complete concert, you have to write bestselling books, you have to invent something great, you have to do extensive research work with that college's faculty.</p>

<p>For the most part, normal people don't transfer to Ivy League schools.</p>

3

<p>hellbender....you yourself mentioned that you are a "mediocre transfer" who will be attending a TOP 10 University. That TOP 10 University, whatever it be, must sure be one of the hardest universitieis to get into. It sure might be well ranked close to the Ivies. But then at the end of your post, you mentioned that "normal people don't transfer to Ivy League Schools". How can that be when you are most likely to be attending a top 10 university next fall which surely has Ivy caliber qualities? It seems that you contradicted yourself in your own post.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
The only people who get accepted as transfers into high-and-mighty private universities are the REALLY exceptional ones. You have to create a complete concert, you have to write bestselling books, you have to invent something great, you have to do extensive research work with that college's faculty.

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<p>
[quote]
For the most part, normal people don't transfer to Ivy League schools.

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<p>That is blatantly incorrect.</p>

5

<p>I am just guessing here but I would say it breaks down as follows:</p>

<p>1)students who are really amazing and attending another comparatively ranked school, this students would have gotten in had they applied freshman</p>

<p>2)sophomore transfers who where borderline on freshman transfer and hope that a little extra college work will help them. Many probably were waitlisted/rejected before</p>

<p>3)junior transfers who had fairly low grades in hs and are hoping to prove that have turned their life around and are really qualified now. The grades are really high but it is hard to tell what that means as they come from ccs where As are far easier to acheive</p>

<p>4)junior transfers who are sub-top 15 or lac and have relized that they what their degree to mean more or they have exhuased their current reasources. These students are normally better qualified with research and so forth than the cc junior transfers</p>

<p>5)senior transfers who wont get in because they have to many units</p>

<p>6)students who hate their current college and want to go anyplace better, low stats but going scattershot appoarch</p>

<p>I would say the general acceptence pool is a few 1s (majority that applied though), large number 4s, a mid-small 3s or mid-large 3s depending on private/public, mid-small 2s filling up the pool and no 5s,6s</p>

<p>Overall I would say that the transfer students dont have stats that are as high but have more notable things they have done (ie research, work, etc)</p>

6

<p>Yeah. My academic stats are pretty wack, but I had really good ECs and Excellant Recs, so I think it comes down to how you write your essays and how sincere you sound about your reasons for transferring.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
2)sophomore transfers who where borderline on freshman transfer and hope that a little extra college work will help them. Many probably were waitlisted/rejected before</p>

<p>3)junior transfers who had fairly low grades in hs and are hoping to prove that have turned their life around and are really qualified now. The grades are really high but it is hard to tell what that means as they come from ccs where As are far easier to acheive

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<p>Not that I disagree with you, but I have trouble with these two. It would seem to me that students with terrible high school records can still apply as a sophomore transfer if their grades and their SATs are good enough. From my perspective, the transfer admissions process does not weigh the high school transcript, but rather uses it as an indicator. I would argue that if a student shows outstanding performance in college and an outstanding SAT score, they would have a sufficient chance at being admitted in an Ivy-Caliber institution. </p>

<p>Here is my reasoning for this:
1) Of the numerous counselors, professors, deans, and even adcoms I have spoken to, nearly all hinted at the importance of the high school transcript as a sort of a predictor of how a student will perform in their institution. However, if the transcript is atrocious, they still yield to other factors when making their decision; for example, what progress has this student made. This leads me to my second point...</p>

<p>2) It does not seem right that students should be rejected merely because of an atrocious high school transcript; even though the student might not have been qualified had he applied at that period, the transfer application asks the adcom to consider whether the applicant is qualified now.
(In other words, the question of qualification is not asked in the past-tense, ie. "was the applicant qualified," but it begs qualification in the present-tense, in that, "is the applicant going to do well at this institution?"</p>

<p>3) Students may have a good reason to transfer as a sophomore, even with an atrocious high school record. Perhaps they wish to enter a program that is significantly useful for them or perhaps they wish to pursue a major that is only being offered by that school; spending an extra year only wastes time, and thus, delays this process needlessly further.</p>

<p>Finally, why should a student be penalized for a bad high school record? Yes, I would argue that a student applying with but nine college hours should have a decent record, but for students with 20+, a good SAT score, good recs, and good ECs... and maybe compelling reasons, it seems to be that the high school record is over-rated in this regard.</p>

<p>In fact, I have yet to see a source from a Top 5, or Top 10 school for that matter, provide a definitive answer as to how they use the high school transcript in rendering their decision!</p>

<p>Edit: I conjecture that transfer admissions can be narrowed down to two conditions:
1) Is the student qualified?
2) Does the student have a compelling reason?</p>

<p>The first condition can be objective, but it may also be subjective in that it integrates ECs, essays, and recs in such a calculus, and the second condition is probably purely subjective.</p>

8

<p>_42, I found it insulting to say that community college is easier to obtain that highschool, it's a very ignorant comment. I found it extremely easy to obtain high GPA in highscool, which is the epitome of grade inflation.</p>

9

<p>Blackdream, 42 is saying that with community college students it is much harder to tell if there are real improvements since CC are so much easier than most colleges. I think 42 is absolutely right. I went to Columbia for a year and transferred to Dartmouth, and I have many transfer friends so I saw the type of candidates he listed first-hand. </p>

<p>Also, some colleges are much easier to transfer into than others, and there is MUCH more variance year to year than first year admissions since the classes are small and are dependant on the graduation rates of each years classes. Brown's acceptance rate has been as high as 24% and as low as 6-8% in past years. Cornell is known as the easiest Ivy to transfer into, and UNC is much easier than its freshman admissions for out of state applicants. Yale is almost impossible, Princeton doesnt even accept transfers (but this policy might change).</p>

10

<p>"Normal people don't get into top schools". The heck? Let's see, I'm an English major and I am a transfer student. Will be declining Columbia, Penn and Harvard, believe it or not. Frankly, I have no EC's and no other "exceptional" achievements beyond the ones that most people on here have stated. I take a little umbrage with that comment.....yes umbrage. ;-)</p>

11

<p>will be considering NYU, UCLA and Cal......failed to mention that.</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
Also, some colleges are much easier to transfer into than others, and there is MUCH more variance year to year than first year admissions since the classes are small and are dependant on the graduation rates of each years classes. Brown's acceptance rate has been as high as 24% and as low as 6-8% in past years. Cornell is known as the easiest Ivy to transfer into, and UNC is much easier than its freshman admissions for out of state applicants. Yale is almost impossible, Princeton doesnt even accept transfers (but this policy might change).

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<p>what are you talking about? Cornell is not the easiest ivy to transfer into. Brown by far has had an acceptance rate of mid twenties to low 30's. </p>

<p>For cornell it depends on the college. ie. CAS is around 15-16%, Agri and Life sciences is around 50%, and human ecology is around 44%. </p>

<p>As you can see the degree of selectivity for transfer admissions ranges greatly from colleges to colleges withing the university.</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
"Normal people don't get into top schools". The heck? Let's see, I'm an English major and I am a transfer student. Will be declining Columbia, Penn and Harvard, believe it or not. Frankly, I have no EC's and no other "exceptional" achievements beyond the ones that most people on here have stated. I take a little umbrage with that comment.....yes umbrage. ;-)

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<p>declining harvard, columbia, and penn? what do you mean? have you been accepted? To the best of my knowledge most of these schools have not even released their transfer decisions yet. I'm confused?</p>

14

<p>
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declining harvard, columbia, and penn? what do you mean? have you been accepted? To the best of my knowledge most of these schools have not even released their transfer decisions yet. I'm confused?

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<p>I am wondering the same...</p>

15

<p>These schools do practice rolling admissions...it's a long story, but I just had to make a comment about that ridiculous statement.....lol. It's honestly not that difficult to get into any of these schools.....maybe I'm wrong. I would never move out of state just to go to college though. My whole life is here (read: older student, mid-20's and practical, thank God).</p>

16

<p>I know you said it's a long story, but what do you mean by rolling admissions? Can you at least expand on that a little? (please?)</p>

<p>thanks,
Annie</p>

17

<p>
[quote]
These schools do practice rolling admissions...it's a long story, but I just had to make a comment about that ridiculous statement.....lol. It's honestly not that difficult to get into any of these schools.....maybe I'm wrong. I would never move out of state just to go to college though. My whole life is here (read: older student, mid-20's and practical, thank God).

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<p>harvard practice rolling admissions? since when?</p>

<p>But let me get this straight, you turned down columbia, upenn, and harvard, all of which has admitted you for fall 2005, or whatever semester you applied for, because you want to attend nyu, and so on?</p>

<p>are you kidding me? I mean prestige aside, the education and opportunities you will get at columbia or penn will surpass NYU, even though nyu does have a killer location in nyc. Also what i don't get ifs that you state that you would not move your whole life because of the location of a college. It doesn't make much sense to me because you are currently awaiting to hear from NYU and UCLA. Maybe i'm wrong here but the last time i checked theses two colleges were seperated by a few thousand miles. I mean the fact that these two very large schools are so far apart voids your statement:

[quote]
I would never move out of state just to go to college though. My whole life is here (read: older student, mid-20's and practical, thank God).

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<p>i don't know. I wouldn't be approaching you in this manner but this all seems alittle to fishy for me.</p>

18

<p>first, how can you prove community college are easier than universities? this is a common misconception. </p>

<p>second, 42 is suggesting that community college is easier than highschool, another outrageous claim.</p>

19

<p>Prestige does nothing when you get hit by a bus.</p>

20

<p>"3)junior transfers who had fairly low grades in hs and are hoping to prove that have turned their life around and are really qualified now. The grades are really high but it is hard to tell what that means as they come from ccs where As are far easier to acheive"</p>

<p>given my grammer I could see how you might parse this as easier than hs but I think the context clearly shows I am talking about than normal colleges. slipper said as much and I dont see why you keep insisting that.</p>

<p>Can I <em>prove</em> cc are easier, of course not but I think to most people this fact is obvious. cc largely work to provide supplimental training to jobs or more specialized training, they have students who are working or of older ages who simply can not put as much time or work into schooling. Highly qualified students go overwelmingly to 4 year colleges.</p>