I was hoping I could get some advice for the coming year by anyone who has experience in sophomore transfers or Yale transfers in general as I’m thinking about applying as a transfer to Yale this upcoming Spring.
I am a rising sophomore at Duke University in Durham, NC and despite it being an excellent university, I just don’t feel as though it fits me well. Rather than try to transfer freshman year, I wanted to give myself time to really explore Duke’s opportunities, but after a great deal of reflection I came to the conclusion that Yale may be a much better fit. I’d be happy to talk more about the specifics of that decision with anyone who thinks they may be able to give some guidance.
Just to give a little background: I applied early action to Yale as a high school senior and was deferred then waitlisted and finally rejected. I am unsure how this would affect the admissions committee’s decision. I
Is it even worth trying to apply given the extremely low acceptance rate? Is the rate different for sophomores applying?
If you have any advice or think you could be helpful please leave a comment or PM me! I’d be happy to provide more details about my thoughts on Duke/Yale and where I stand as a college applicant.
My guess is that you will be hard-pressed to elaborate on any educational opportunity that Yale could provide that Duke doesn’t provide as well. So, regardless of your stats, GPA or other accomplishments, I think your chances are slim to none (sorry). IMHO, it would be easier to apply to Yale as a transfer student from a community college or state school rather than from an ultra competitive peer school such as Duke.
This falls into the scenario where your reasoning for transferring plays a huge role in admissions. It almost always happens with the most selective colleges in the country.
I wish I could have written/verbal evidence of it from an admission counselor, but I would certainly agree with @gibby in that extraordinarily exceptional community college students are slightly favored when up against someone from a university of high-ranking.
I’m sorry to hear that you feel as though you don’t fit in at Duke but remember… Those admissions officers chose you, out of many other extremely qualified applicants, because they felt like you fit in and that you could excel on their campus. They saw something in you and opened the doors to an absolutely amazing institution. Have you been participating in clubs and/or making a lot of friends?
@Kizzys - I wouldn’t disagree with anything that @AGoodFloridian and @Gibby said above. But if you have genuinely compelling reasons - social, political, cultural as well as intellectual - to transfer, then you should go ahead and submit your application. My daughter had a similar experience her first year at a highly selective university and transferred to another highly selective school. It can be done. But if you are determined to leave Duke - and not just determined to attend Yale - make certain that you apply to a wide range of schools, just as you presumably did when you were a senior in high school.