Rejected by your dream college? Consider the ‘T’ word April 24, 2009
So, your daughter tried everything. She got good grades. Took SAT classes to boost her test scores. Wrote good essays. Lettered in 2 sports. Played sousaphone in the band. Clipped senior citizens’ toenails. Wove blankets for shivering children in Nepal . . .
. . . and still it wasn’t enough to get accepted at Vanderbilt, her dream college since she was a little Commodore.
Alas, all is not lost. Because there is still hope – if you’re willing to live with a little delayed gratification – via an often overlooked backdoor entrance. The good news is, it may actually be easier to get in this way than through the usual means.
What I’m talking about is the ‘T’ word: transferring. Put in a year at one college or university, then transfer into your dream college for Year 2.
Some schools, such as Princeton and Harvard, have stopped taking transfer students altogether. At other Ivy League schools – Yale, Brown, Penn, for example – it’s actually more difficult to transfer in than it is to be accepted in the first place. Cornell is the exception; transfer applicants there enjoy better odds of getting in.
The same is true at other ultra-competitive schools. According to a recent New York Times article, “Transfer hopefuls last fall did better than freshmen applicants at M.I.T., Georgetown and Notre Dame.”
And get this: Vanderbilt admitted an astounding 55 percent of transfer applicants (versus 25% of freshmen applicants).
Perhaps the most surprising trend is the increase in students from community colleges being welcomed into the hallowed halls of elite colleges. At Amherst, for example, 57 percent (12 out of 21) of the transfers admitted last year came from community colleges. According to the Times, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation gave Amherst and seven other top schools a $7 million grant to encourage them to seek high-achieving transfers from two-year colleges.
So . . . the back door is open.
Posted Under: Uncategorized
