Worth a shot, or back to the gulag?

abcxyz · July 10, 2007, 9:48am

Hi all-

I'm a rising sophomore at Dartmouth looking to transfer because my academic interests - a specific, usually highly available field in poli. sci. and biomedical engineering aren't available there. My first year transition to college was rough however, and I had extenuating circumstances, and ended up with only a 3.4. I'm looking to bring that up to a 3.7 by the time I apply for transfers, however.

Other than that - I've got stellar EC's, solid recs from teachers who know me well, and hopefully some good essays. I know how cutthroat transfers are, and I was wondering, is it even worth a shot - sometimes perfect stats get turned down, and less-than-perfect stats make it in, but it seems to be a crapshoot, so why not take my chances. .

HS stats are the usual perfect Ivy scores, the only 'remarkable' thing in HS was Presidential Scholar semi-finalist. I'm also doing research at Yale Law in my field of interest. .

Any thoughts and (constructive) criticism would be greatly appreciated, many thanks. . .

racnna · July 10, 2007, 10:05am

definitely apply. Like you said it’s a total crapshoot- there’s people on here with 3.3’s and 3.4’s getting into yale and penn. From what i’ve seen on here- the essays can make or break you. What schools are you applying to?

abcxyz · July 10, 2007, 10:12am

The 3.3s and 3.4s always stump me - there’s got to be something they’ve got, some x-factor, and I can’t seem to figure out what it is.

Apart from Yale: Columbia, Stanford, Brown, uPenn, Duke, JHU, WashU, Berkeley, Rice. Possibly also Harvard and UCSF. . suggestions would be great.

What do you think is the best way to approach this where I’m from, and in terms of what you’ve seen in the overall pool of applicants?

racnna · July 10, 2007, 10:56am

Actually, not really. None of them cured cancer or went to iraq- nothing ‘amazing’ about them. Their essays got them in. Make everything about your essays perfect. One of the kids who got into yale(i believe)was a non-traditional student–meaning he took a couple of years off from college.

So yeah- just really focus on your essays. I’ll look up some of the old threads and post their stats and backgrounds if i can find them.

racnna · July 10, 2007, 11:05am

heres one kid who got into yale:

I had amazing professors that really, really pushed me to apply and believe in myself. That’s the key thing. 

Beyond that, I’m guessing my life experience (raised in a war zone, then lived in a very segregated country before getting to the US on my own) and essay helped a lot. I decided it was a crapshoot anyway and so ended up experimenting with the “tell us about yourself” essay and just do whatever artistic I wanted. I’m extremely proud of how it turned out, it was no way close to traditional essay format but really had a lot of me in it.

My highschool grades were maybe 70% “excellent” and 20% “fail” because of all the skipping, but getting straight A’s after coming to a new country and adjusting to a third language was something my professors told me would count in my favor as an upward trend. 

The topic of my “why Yale” essay dealt with why I’d been sceptic towards school for so long, and now realized I’d need it and actually thrived when getting challenged. It was simple and honest.

As for the recommendations, my teachers made me look like an academic second coming, they’ve briefly summarized the recs (the most awkward, embarrassing thing ever to listen to!). They also had the president of my college meet up with me and ending up writing a personal letter, and he’s been getting in touch with me over the results ever since. 

Really – this could never have happened without the amazing people at my little cc. They genuinely care and believe. Which made me believe in myself when writing those apps.

sniff haha sorry for the mushyness. I guess my only advice would be, be brutally honest with yourself on why you want to go there. I think my not really caring about the prestige per se shone through - I knew my reasons for transferring spot on, and could convey them in a genuine way. It’s true that I have many “hooks” as some kids call it beyond that, but for someone with an ACT of 27 and no EC’s, it simply gotta have been my professors’ believing in me as special and the 2 essays standing out. 

I see so many kids on here with ridiculous 4.7 gpa’s, vice presidents of ping-pong anime club, etc. I just chose not to go that route. It wasn’t me. I spent all my passion reading stuff within my field and excelling in that field, not chasing admission stats. I really, really encourage people to do the same - or college will start making even less sense than it already does.

I’m still looking for other kids who got into the schools you’re looking into…

racnna · July 10, 2007, 11:08am

more info about the guy

here’s another kid who got into yale

well I was nothing that spectacular. here are my Stats:

ACT:33
SAT:2290/2400

College GPA:3.9
H.S. GPA:3.9

extrac’s:I was a member of the BSU and CESA
LDSSA and the BYU students support staff

I feel that the one thing that helped me gain admissions was the fact that I was from the middle of well nowhere Utah!!!, anyhow I wish all you all the best of luck with any of your other schools, if it makes you feel any better I have not recieved my package in the mail yet from Brown or Yale, however for brown I dont know the decisions on my application they have been a bit complicated in terms of giving the decision over the phone and for Yale well I was informed via e-mail and then a package arrived, this late yes yes indeed. Anyhow that is my story, and for frrpph , if you are reading this did you get your financial aid with your letter? cuz I am still waiting on mine they have delayed like everything on my application this year.

racnna · July 10, 2007, 11:18am

another kid who got in:

racnna · July 10, 2007, 11:37am

this guy got into stanford:

this one got into stanford too:

OK, I promised some people my stats. Hopefully someone will find this useful.

I must preface this by saying I really doubt Stanford accepted me because of my numbers. I’d be willing to bet that my academics are rather mediocre compared to most other people’s on this board. Not bad, just not exceptional. 

My SATs weren’t spectacular either, but I think the fact that I last took them a long time ago, and so retook them all over again solely just for the Stanford app I think may have helped a bit.

I feel what got me in was the fact that I’m a weirdo, plain and simple, and I made sure my essays reflected that. I’m a very non-traditional student, not just in the fact that I returned to school after a couple years, and have a wife and kid, but that I have some rather alternative views about life, people, and the world in general. Views that some might even consider downright decadent, if not just progressive.

I left school originally to start my own business. Most people don’t consider a rock band a business, but it most certainly is-- all too much for me. Sorry guys, life, and music, is about so much more than money. Next time you turn on the radio, or buy a CD, remember that you’re not listening to music, you’re listening to product. Disgusted, I decided to leave the music business and return to school in a completely different field. Who knows-- I’ll probably end up getting disgusted with this industry too, after a while, but for now I’m having fun just learning stuff. Hmmm, maybe I should just stay in academia.

I had some fantastic coaching on my essays from the resident Stanford alum at my CCC. I worked on them somewhat leisurely, but steadily between 30 Nov (the date the UC app was due) and 15 March.

Current school: San Bernardino Valley College ( & some classes at Riverside Community College)
Original school: Rhode Island College

GPA (@ the CCCs): 3.98
GPA (overall) ~3.6

SAT Reasoning:
Critical Reading: 750
Math 670
Writing 760

SAT Subject:
Math L2: 730
Physics: 740

alright..that’s enough lol just apply.

abcxyz · July 10, 2007, 12:12pm

haha thanks so much, you’re awesome!

this may sound like a pretty basic question, but i’m guessing that a good essay doesn’t require being raised in a war zone, or some spectacular life experience, right. . its just about how you fit with that particular college?

racnna · July 10, 2007, 1:09pm

Yeah focus on that. I heard Yale is big on having very good reasons for wanting to transfer.

So don’t try too hard to be unique.

Take a look at the essay questions:

<a href=“Home | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Home | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions;

Andale · July 10, 2007, 4:54pm

There are two types of good essays.

The “why transfer and why this school” should have a strong reason for transfer and show in-depth knowledge of the target school and how it fits.

The other essay - usually a personal statement or the “quirky prompt” essay that some schools have - can achieve “greatness” in many ways. You don’t have to have come from a war zone. Look at the various threads here on cc about essays or the Essay forum.

Andale · July 10, 2007, 4:56pm

You mention UCSF on your list, but do you mean UCSD? UCSF does not have any undergraduate programs to my knowledge.

If you are happy with Dartmouth as your “safety”, your list is fine. If you definitely want to transfer, you need to add some schools with higher transfer acceptance rates to your list, I believe.

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Worth a shot, or back to the gulag?

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