<p>I have heard that if you are applying as a junior transfer, your high school grades don't really matter that much but some colleges will still ask for them. Now from some people I have heard that the top universities only take transfers who were accepted as freshman applicants but were not able to afford due to costs or transfers who were competitive as freshman applicants.</p>
<p>Now the word TOP is very subjective.</p>
<p>The thing I am concerned about in general is this, if you were not competitive as a high school student (graduated with a GPA in the 2.5-3.5 range) but have a 4.0 GPA as a college student, what top schools should you forget about applying to because your high school record would hold you back from them? (assuming you are applying as a junior transfer)</p>
<p>This thread is not relevant to my last thread, it is just speaking about transfers in general. Especially those to the top colleges.</p>
<p>Apply common sense. Someone who had a 2.5 in high school didn’t end up at a very competitive college, so just a 4.0 will probably not be of much interest to top colleges. A 4.0 with impressive ECs and some prof letters saying the student is exceptional may be different. But colleges are in general looking for sustained achievement which is why they’re still looking at high school.</p>
<p>State schools are often exceptions and really won’t look at high schools, so they may be the best targets for such students.</p>
<p>What if the student faced some unfortunate circumstances in high school, graduated with a 3.4 because his GPA became better and better every year, being a 4.0 during his junior and senior years. Attended up at a lower level university due to money issues but maintained a 4.0 there with good ECs and letters of recommendations from his professors. Has parents ready to pay for his final two or three years of college.</p>
<p>What is the best school he will be able to transfer to? </p>
<p>Maybe an Ivy?</p>
<p>Short answer: A 4.0 will get you into a top school. </p>
<p>Long answer: Course choices count. Try to take as many junior/senior level courses as you can. Match your course sequence to the course sequence of the school you want to go to. </p>
<p>Get involved, it will help you write stellar essays! </p>
<p>Find and get to know 2 professors who will be willing to stick their neck out for you.</p>
<p>Most importantly: focus on your studies and you will be fine! They want strong college students, not strong high school students!</p>
<hr>
<p>If Money is no longer an issue, than it will depend on what you want to get out of your last few years of college. You need to find a school which will be a good fit for you. What is your intended Major?</p>
<p>Thanks, but by top school can you give me an example? Because usually the word “top” is very subjective.</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, MIT, Stanford. </p>
<p>If you have a 4.0 after a year and half of college, your HS record will be an afterthought. (If you have an upward trend HS GPA, then it will be a favorable afterthought).</p>
<p>Now, don’t interpret this as me saying HS GPA and SATs don’t matter - they do. But if you get your 4.0, then those “predictive measures” wont matter nearly as much.</p>
<p>Sometimes transferring can really be a crap shoot, it’s quite a different game than regular admissions. With that said, most colleges respect each other; while a 4.0 might be more impressive from a place like Princeton where there is grade-deflation, it is nothing to trifle with–no matter where the student goes. So if you demonstrated significant academic growth by doing well in a fairly rigorous course selection, establishing relationships with professors, and getting involved on campus, then it shouldn’t matter. But like I said, it depends: some schools like Middlebury, which takes very few transfers, place a great deal of emphasis on your high school transcript. </p>
<p>My advice would be to look at transfer acceptance rates for schools you might be interested in; universities tend to be able to accept more students because of their size, but there are also many transfer friendly LACs. However, I think there should also be some other reason that you want to transfer, rather than you just want to go to a “top” school. </p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation. I did quite poorly as a freshman in HS, did progressively better sophomore and junior, but got lazy and slacked off senior year, and I am now trying to transfer.</p>
<p>here are the stats:
[Transfer</a> Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50 - The Transfer Book](<a href=“http://thetransferbook.com/stats/]Transfer”>http://thetransferbook.com/stats/)</p>
<p>Read them but obviously transfer acceptances must mean a lot more than the stats. I am currently a first year college student (almost done with first year), biochemistry major with a 4.0 GPA.</p>
<p>What colleges on the list would a student like me not have a chance at?</p>
<p>also, will retaking the SAT be worth it?</p>
<p>Sorry, but the poster listing ivies and Stanford as schools you can get into because you have a 4.0 is just plain incorrect. Those schools take less than 5% of transfer applicants and it’s a self selecting pool of highly qualified students. Retaking SATs, for the schools that allow it, is a good idea if your scores are not in the range of their freshmen admits.</p>
<p>Hmm, well Brown, Cornell, Columbia, and Dartmouth all take above 5 percent.</p>
<p>So what can I do to be competitive for Stanford redroses?</p>
<p>Also, what is the best place you can go to from a tier 4 school? Is it possible to jump from tier 4 to top 50?</p>
<p>i had a 80 hs average than got a 4.0 and i got into cornell for sophmore transfer</p>
<p>I transferred from UNM to UNC with a 3.25 HS GPA (UW) and a 3.46 college GPA. It is definitely possible to transfer to a top tier school with less than perfect stats. I most likely wouldn’t have gotten into an Ivy though. </p>
<p>My point being the jump from a lower university to a much higher is very possible. Be careful applying to a school on name alone, you can wind up pretty miserable that way. (Just a courteous warning, I have 3 friends at Ivies MISERABLE because they didn’t judge their schools based on their majors/fields of interests. I warned them too though. :P)</p>
<p>No, those schools used to take more than 5%, Dartmouth was 4% this year and the others will be as low or lower (with exception of Cornell, but majority there NYS guaranteed transfers).</p>
<p>I am sure Brown will have one above 5 percent. Anyways, what colleges are a possibility for me then redroses since you are so well aware of this topic.</p>
<p>What about your flagship university in YOUR state? That would be a terrific place to finish your bachelors degree in very good standing. Then perhaps you could go to grad school at one of these “top schools”. </p>
<p>Honestly though…what is your infatuation with “top schools”? Get a good education, and find a career and job where you can be successful. Once you’re working, the “tier” of your college becomes less and less important.</p>
<p>god no, I really dislike my state flagship university and in general I am looking to go out of state for college</p>