Where to Transfer?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi, I'm currently enroled in Wesleyan University and have enjoyed my time here very much. However, I am unsure if Wesleyan is the best place for me and am keeping my mind open to the possability of transfering. </p>

<p>Heres a rough summery of my statistics.</p>

<p>I attended a highly selective boarding school where my Freshman and Sophomore grades were pretty poor, but began dramatically improving as the years progressed, ultimately ending with straight A's my senior year. I played varsity sports, did community service projects and remained somewhat active throughout my school community. I ended highschool with somewhere around a 3.35 or 3.4ish unweighted gpa.</p>

<p>ACT: 33
SAT: 700r 700m 630w (I was fairly dissapointed with these scores and plan to retake the SAT's if I apply for a transfer)</p>

<p>AP English: 5, Psychology: 5, AB Calculus: 5</p>

<p>SATII: Math Level 2: 800, Literature: 750</p>

<p>As far as random extracirriculars: I'm a certified EMT, play guitar, played some international soccer at an early age and have created some well received photographs and student films.</p>

<p>I have increased my school participation in college, trying pretty much everything I possibly can (from clubs to mock trials to model un to student publications to club sports, etc). I am very busy and hope to finish Freshman year with something close to a 4.0 gpa at Wesleyan. </p>

<p>I am curious what my top options are when considering transferring, and any help or imput is greatly appreciated. Also any advice from previous transfer applicants would also be helpful.</p>

<p>I have a legacy at yale (impossible?) and columbia.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Edit: I'm a California resident.</p>

2

<p>I guess your schools haven't graded you on spelling...</p>

<p>Best of luck, though!</p>

3

<p>As a cali resident, I would imagine you have lots of options. what are you looking for?</p>

4

<p>Why do you want to transfer? I don't think that any school will accept SATs taken as a soph/junior in college. You need very compelling reason to transfer into a school like Yale. Your test stats are fine. Spelling needs work. What boarding school? (This will help to understand your background and school culture.) Major? You sound a bit lost, but more info. needed in order to make relevant suggestions. Is Wes too liberal? Too Eastern? etc.</p>

5

<p>Also, keep in mind that while you may hope to end freshmen year with close to a 4.0, that's a fairly rare thing at Wes, esp. if you are ALSO doing lots of ECs. (I mean, I know people who did it, but they were either a) insanley smart or b)insane in their study habits). Have you been getting As so far?</p>

<p>I really agree with icy9ff8 that it would help to know WHY you don't think Wes is the right place for you. I mean, we're going to have different recommendations if the problem is that it's too small/not much of a uni vs. it's too liberal vs. you wish people cared more about athletics vs. it's not strong enought in your area of interest, etc. etc. etc.</p>

6

<p>I like Wesleyan, but as I said before, I'm not sure it's the right place for me. It lacks the access to more prominent speakers because it's a little bit 'off the radar' as a small slightly polarized liberal arts school. I have been generally unimpressed with the visiting speakers and lecturers at Wesleyan, especially when compared to my close friends at other prestigious universities who keep me constantly updated on the renowned guest lectures visiting their campuses, from National Security Council Advisors to New York Times editors to ‘the real life Indiana Jones’ (that one sounded pretty cool). This carries on to lecture professors, where larger more recognizable institutions can acquire larger more recognizable professors.</p>

<p>I feel I may have rushed into my decision to attend a liberal arts college and am unsure if that’s where I want to spend the rest of my undergraduate years.</p>

<p>We just got our midterms back, and I currently have straight A’s. Trust me, my (admittedly) terrible spelling on an online forum is no indicator of my intellectual or academic capabilities.</p>

<p>I realize how vague I’m being and the weakness of my reasons for transferring, but it’s still early in this process. I may end up staying at Wes, but I want to at least weight my options. I am confident that if I decide to transfer, I will be able to articulate very valid reasons for transferring. Remember, at this point, I’m just trying to weigh my options.</p>

<p>Um as far as what I’m looking for: a good school? Any size/athletic involvement/location is fine, if the classes, professors and people are stimulating, engaging and motivated, respectively. Those are my priorities.</p>

<p>I appreciate the help—ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU MAKE FUN OF MY SPELLING IT MAKES ME FEEL G-R-E-A-T.</p>

<p>But seriously,
Thanks.</p>

<p>Also, I apologies if any of this comes off as pretentious—I do enjoy Wesleyan and everything it offers, and I realize how fortunate I am.</p>

7

<p>As a former university-to-university transfer student, I can offer some advice:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Keep your grades up. Your college academic record is more important than high school. A lot of colleges will only accept junior level transfers, so you may have to wait an extra year.</p></li>
<li><p>It helps to have a compelling reason for transferring that you can express in an essay. A couple reasons could be that you want to pursue a major not offered by your current college, or for financial reasons.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Since you're a CA resident, Berkeley is a fine choice...my biased opinion, of course. ;)</p>

8

<p>^^ give it a chance -- it's only October. Within the last 365 days, the Chairman of the NAACP, The editor-in-chief of The New Yorker, the brigadier general in charge of Abu-Ghraib prison, and the host of PBS' The News Hour all managed to find their way to Middletown.</p>

<p>True, as an LAC, Wesleyan does tend to ignore celebrity in favor of the slightly geeky; witness the uproar that ensued two years ago when the committee on Commencement speakers chose the president of the University of Pennsylvania (a fairly prestigious university, you would agree?) as the graduation speaker -- because no one had ever heard of her.</p>

9

<p>I think your main reason for wanting to transfer is a really bad one. I think you're overly impressed with the name-dropping your friends at other schools have been doing about speakers they've heard. What's the difference between hearing a speaker live and watching him/her on CSPAN? The big-name speakers cruise onto campus, glad-hand the faculty, blow smoke for the audience, make a play for the hottie in the front row, pick up their generous check, and can't wait to get back to their real lives.</p>

10

<p>If you went to the extent of posting this thread, you are certainly not finding what you need at Weslyan. My first impression was that you need to be in New York City at Columbia, possibly NYU. My second impression is that you belong at Columbia, possibly NYU. My third impression confirms my first two impressions. If transferring is too difficult, then you need to make it happen on your campus,or, possibly, study abroad for a year in Paris, Shanghai or whereever you can find what you are looking for. College is supposed to be one of the best times of your life, so go out and get it so you won't have any regrets later in life. This is your time to make mistakes, have fun and discover yourself without recrimination.</p>

11

<p>Why not Berkeley? Why not LA? Why not UCSD?</p>

12

<p>I have one other question, and I know it may sound silly; but, what I am about to suggest depends greatly on the answer: are you male or female?</p>

13

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I am male (please don't try to track me down) and am curious how this could affect any advice you might give me.</p>

<p>TourGuide446: As I said before, that is not my main or only reason, it is just one. For example, instead of driving 2 hours to hear Michael Pollan speak at…Williams, I could take a class from him at Berkeley. This is just one example. Also, understand that when I say ‘big name speakers’, I’m not talking about a celebrity name (although that could be nice), I’m talking more about academics and intellectuals that very rarely find themselves on CNN (and I watch a fair amount of CNN). I am not saying Wesleyan completely lacks this because it certainly don’t, I’m just saying that it’s an undeniable fact that Wesleyan—an off the radar small liberal arts college—has a smaller amount of these speakers and professors than some larger universities. </p>

<p>And, as I’ve said before, I'm trying not to concentrate on articulating reasons for transferring and instead am more focused on enjoying my time at Wesleyan while considering all my possible options (as I believe any intelligent and pragmatic individual would and should do). </p>

<p>As to Berkeley: I'm considering it. UCLA: I lived on the UCLA campus for a few years and would rather spend the remainder of my college years living outside of Westwood. </p>

<p>Columbia has a 3-2 and a 4-2 program with numerous LAC's (including Wesleyan) where you are automatically accepted into the Columbia school of engineering after 3 (or 4) years at your LAC. Then you receive a bachelor of arts (from your LAC) and a bachelor of science from Columbia at the end of the 5 (or 6 years). Since that program allows me to take classes outside of engineering at Columbia, it seems like a better alternative to transferring to Columbia. </p>

<p>But once again, this is just another option I have considered and kept open. Also I am very interested in a postgraduate education (leaning towards Law or Medicine, but, as previously mention am keeping engineering open). </p>

<p>Johnwesley: I am certainly giving it a chance—don’t worry about that.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help and input. Any more advice, recommendations or input on the difficulty of transferring to some of these schools would be greatly appreciated. Are there any other schools that you think could be a possibility?</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>

14

<p>^ If you're interested, Caltech also has 3/2 program with Wesleyan.</p>

15

<p>Hi, arbiter - have you considered joining a fraternity (hence, the gender query?) </p>

<p>Now, now -- before you wrinkle your nose, hear me out. Frats are a relatively minor part of life at Wesleyan, but, if the fit is there, why not? It sounds like you may be paddling about in the sink-or-swim public pool of Wesleyan's "slightly polarized" political atmosphere -- and sinking. Just a bit.</p>

<p>Why not take a break from all of that? I'm thinking specifically of Psi U. But, there are others. It's not the stereotypical WASPY scene you might think. They're smart, politically savvy and they put on a heck of a lot of good party concerts. I count about fifty or sixty brothers in this picture:
<a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_XlLhnDRpOmc/RuxJnnVfHlI/AAAAAAAAAQw/5Qp5c281DvM/s1600-h/pastedGraphic.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://bp3.blogger.com/_XlLhnDRpOmc/RuxJnnVfHlI/AAAAAAAAAQw/5Qp5c281DvM/s1600-h/pastedGraphic.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If I'm totally off base about this, I apologize. BTw, I am not nor have I ever been a member of a frat.</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
I don't think that any school will accept SATs taken as a soph/junior in college.

[/quote]
This is inaccurate. Many schools will, some won't. You need to check each school's policy on this.</p>

<p>In addition, I am guessing that the OP is a freshman in college. In any event, some allow re-takes after college matriculation. And, in some cases, it could probably enhance admissions chances.</p>

17

<p>Just wondering whether the OP was able to attend this:
The</a> Wesleyan Argus - Robin Williams entertains packed Memorial Chapel</p>

18

<p>If you don't end up transferring, you can participate in the 12-college exchange program and spend a FULL YEAR at Dartmouth, Amherst, etc. However, you're explicitly prohibited from transferring to any of those institutions after your exchange ends.</p>