<p>I recently just got rejected from Harvard, Yale, UPenn, Brown, Dartmouth and Wesleyan for Regular Decision. My life is miserable at the moment but I am not going to give up. Anyway, I think I understand the reason for my rejection as I was very naive last year about choosing the "right" college and my high school guidance counselors were good for nothing.
First of all, my SAT scores were too low to even be considered for these colleges. I took many Princeton Review courses, PSAT, SAT (twice), ACT and SATII's; my scores for all these tests were pretty persistence (low I should say). I've tried again and again to improve my scores but nothing seem to work. I also understand that the Ivy's require more than 2000 on the SAT. What is the best way to improve one's score? SAT or ACT? (stupid questions at this stage but I want to hear feedbacks)
I will be attending the University of Connecticut (UCONN-main branch) next semester majoring in agriculture (also a mistake because I hate biology now, hopefully I can change my major to economic or history). I am also considering Fairfield University where I got accepted into their selective business program. I am very interested in business and economic hence I applied to PENN and Yale. Which university would give me a better chance to transfer into the Ivys?
Many people from this forum had told me that the transfer acceptance rate for the Ivys are even lower than the freshman acceptance. They also said a 4.0 GPA in rigorous courses will only give me a "realistic" shot. The big question is WHEN is the best time to transfer? I was thinking about transferring immediately after the first semester.
My mom has a very close friend who teaches at Columbia, will that do any good?</p>
<p>The schools I would want to transfer to are: Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, UPENN and MAYBE Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>By the way, how much is the fee for transfer applications?</p>
<p>You can't talk about your test scores without giving us a figure. What did you get? How are your HS stats? Give us more information.</p>
<p>I think you might find the SAT forum more helpful on how to improve your score. One thing that helped me was to take a practice SAT with a friend who got 1540 (old one). She explained her reasoning and helped me for a couple of tetst and that was enough to get the boring thought process that is required for the SATs. </p>
<p>Yale should be harder to get in as a transfer. Penn has a fair acceptance rate for transfers, but you should check it out, its not that hard to find figures like that so you should do so.</p>
<p>You probably know this, but just making sure...Harvard, Dartmouth, Columbia and Yale don't have business for undergrads, they have economics. While those two subjects are similar, I don't think its quite the same so you may want to look into your major and see what you really want to study (but then again, a large percentage of college students change their major after taking a couple of courses on it).</p>
<p>You should use the search tool as there were quite a few threads a couple of months ago on when to transfer.</p>
<p>Perhaps rather than 'when' to apply you might want to reconsider 'where' to apply as those schools are very hard to get into for transfer students. You might want to look at Brown though. I'd keep UPenn up there, but I think the others are very difficult (I think UCB would be hard if your an OOS student too).</p>
<p>I've paid about 65 bucks on average for an application. Why is this a concern for you at this stage? </p>
<p>Sorry if I appear to be mean...deadlines are fast approaching. Sorry to hear you were rejected from those schools, I remember the feeling... :(</p>
<p>Bieu, you're not going to want to hear this, but the schools you want to transfer to are unrealistic. Set your sights lower. The reason why is that these schools acceptance rate of transfers range in the 9-15% range. Your chances are slim to none since your SAT scores will figure prominently in them if you transfer after first semester. </p>
<p>Word of advice: stay the course at UConn for at least a year. Your SATs will have much less weight and the two things that'll be important: 1) your transcript (courseload plus grades) and 2) the essays. You should also set your sights on schools with strong business and economic programs just below the bar you've just set & were unable to make -- and ones with transfer acceptance rates over 30%. (If you want Ivys, think later in your academic career, like for grad school). Possible schools to transfer into after freshman year might include: Bucknell, Wake Forest, Lehigh, Northwestern, Chicago, USC, Vanderbilt, Emory, Holy Cross and Richmond.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. In the meantime, enjoy UConn; it does get to be fun, especially during basketball season.</p>
<p>I am planning on taking classes at a local community college in the summer. I'm not really sure how summer courses work and are the credits transferable</p>
<p>it depends what classes you take. it could save a lot of money. take summer classes and knock out some of the basics (eng1, 2, history, math, etc). why take the classes with 200 people in them if you dont have to? not to mention an english class at a community college is probably a bit easier than that of one of the ivies. the more college experience you have, the less focus there will be on your high school record.</p>
<p>I also plan on going to Uconn. By the time I get there, I will already have 4 college courses done at UNh with my high school. They are Calc 1, Calc 2, Intro to comm., and E110. I plan on only using the clac and comm courses. I have all a's in these courses. Could I transfer after my 1st semester, since I technically have enough credits to qulaify as a sophomore. Thanks. I would like to transfer to Brown. I had a 3.66 gpa during high school, and a 1880 on the sat with a 1330 for the math and c.r. Should i retake the sat 2s if I am going to take calc3, bio, chem, and E117, next semester.</p>
<p>Don't listen to people who say that you need to set your sights lower. </p>
<p>If you really want to go to one of those schools, do whatever it takes.
If you have to go to school over the summer to get your GPA up and transfer for the second semester of your Sophmore year, then do it. If you need a higher SAT score, study and learn how to ace that test and then take it again and get a 2400.</p>
<p>You probably won't be able to transfer out of UConn after the first semester; most places want to see at least a full year's worth of credit for a transfer application. Staying at UConn for one year will probably give you a better idea of where you want to go, what you want from college, what you want to do, and probably more ambition to do really well and get out of there. You may find that you don't want to go to one of those schools and that it isn't necessary to go to one of those schools to get a good education. </p>
<p>Don't give up. If you want to, you can do it.</p>
<p>i think you can do it if you stay focused on your goal good luck and im sure next year you'll be posting under an acceptance post (if you decide to transfer next year)</p>
<p>I'm unsure about transfering after one semester given your SATs. Regarding your question of when is the BEST time is when you've finished the lower division requirements for your proposed major.</p>
<p>If you initiate transfer too early, your high school background will factor in as much as your college background.</p>
<p>For recommendations, get people/professors to recommend you if they know who you truly are, and how you perform in various situations. The recommendation is there to supplement who you are; if your mom's Cornell friend cannot speak of your attributes and back them up with specifics, then getting a recommend from the friend would not be a good idea.</p>
<p>Bieu, contrary to noct, you shouldn't retake your SATs. It'll set up a huge red flag to the transfer adcom and depending on the school to which you're applying, SATs carry little if any weight. You'd most probably doing yourself more harm than good by retaking them. What they want is top grades in college as well as great recommendations from college professors. Also, your essays will count for a great deal. Again, my advice is to stick it out at UConn -- and while you're of course welcome to apply as a transfer to any school you choose, please give yourself some options. As you noted in your original post: "Many people from this forum had told me that the transfer acceptance rate for the Ivys are even lower than the freshman acceptance. They also said a 4.0 GPA in rigorous courses will only give me a "realistic" shot." The variable in all of college admissions, including transfers, is: what is the competition I'm up against for extremely limited openings? It's something you won't know until the decisions are in -- which you learned applying as a first-year. Good luck at UConn and hopefully it will be a stepping stones to your dreams.</p>