Okay let’s talk today about how to transfer to an Ivy League school.
There are a few scenarios: either you applied to some Ivy League schools and didn’t get in, or you didn’t apply but realized you made a mistake and now you’re a freshman and you realize you would like to attempt a transfer application to a top university.
There are only a few reasons why I think you should transfer to another school:
-You’re very unhappy at your current school because you don’t feel academically challenged or you don’t feel like there are sufficient resources and opportunities
-You weren’t making enough friends and were deeply unhappy socially and think it won’t improve over the next 3 years
What’s important is that you should thoroughly think about why you want to transfer colleges before you do so. It’s a serious commitment, and if you’re unhappy at the transfer school you could theoretically transfer again but at that point it’s highly unproductive for your own career interests.
Now let’s get into how you would actually maximize your chances of transferring into Harvard or Stanford:
The first thing you want to do at your current school is to start an organization/club.
You need to do this because it immediately shows that you’re very interested in leadership and taking risks and doing big things.
Since transfer applications are due your very first semester at your current university, you don’t have much time to join an existing club and become its president.
In addition, it’s important to join a few clubs that relate to your high school interests, so if you were very passionate about foreign languages I would continue to participate in the Japanese club or the Latin club but a much easier and faster way to really demonstrate that you’re on a great trajectory is to start a club your freshman year.
The second thing is you absolutely must get a 4.0 GPA or something very close that first semester.
This is because if you don’t demonstrate that you can excel academically at a safety school, your chances of getting into a top school like Yale or Princeton is zilch.
In your freshman year most of your classes are fixed, so you won’t have too much choice about what classes to take. Regardless, you absolutely must do what is necessary to get straight A’s and preferably A-plusses in some courses.
This actually relates to my third point which is that you need to get to know one or two freshman year professors extremely well. Not only will this help you because they can write you a very great recommendation when you transfer schools, but building that relationship will also help you get top grades in their courses.
My guess is that your teacher recommendations weren’t incredibly strong in high school since you were rejected by an Ivy League college, so getting to know a freshman year professor is even more important now.
Here’s exactly how you do it: at the beginning of the semester, after class or even before class, introduce yourself to the professor and make sure they know who you are and what your name is.
Sit in the front or close to the front and participate as much as you can by asking questions and making comments. After a few weeks I would recommend showing up to an office hour.
By going to office hours you’re able to really build a relationship with the professor and when you’ve showed up to a few office hours and you’ve shown that you’re capable of doing high-quality work, I would offer to take the professor out to lunch. Invite them to a meal in your dormitory cafeteria.
By moving the interaction away from office hours and from class you’ll be able to build a better personal relationship with the professor. Do this at least twice, continue to perform extremely well in the course and get top grades, and you have a professor who will be willing to write you a very strong recommendation.
The fourth thing I would do is to visit your target schools if it’s convenient and not too expensive for you to do so.
I mentioned repeatedly in both my admissions guide as well as this blog that visiting schools and demonstrating interest is a key factor for borderline candidates.
If you applied to the college before and have already visited this isn’t necessary, but if you either haven’t applied or you haven’t visited, I would highly recommend you make a campus visit.
On the visit, put your name down to show your attendance. Talk about some of these experiences in your transfer application.
There are very few transfer spots at some of the top schools. In fact on occasional years, some schools won’t even admit people off their waiting lists and correspondingly very few people off of their transfer application list.
By demonstrating interest you greatly increase the chances that they’ll pick you because they want to be confident that any transfer student they accept into an already overcrowded class will accept the offer.
Finally and this is an extremely important point, make very good use of the summer after high school graduation.
Because transfer applications are due the fall of your freshman year, you won’t have much time to build a strong record at your safety school. One of the biggest opportunities to strengthen your high school record is to do something after graduation.
I would recommend the typical themes like traveling overseas for work or service projects, starting a company or doing a high profile internship at a corporation or startup.
Simply do something interesting that relates to your passions and to the experiences that you have had in high school. It’s absolutely mandatory that you keep yourself busy during the summer months.
Now the last point. If you already applied to, let’s say Wharton, and you are rejected or waitlisted the first time, I would really think hard about completely restructuring your application to show a different set of skills and a different story than the first time.
If you use the same strategy with broadly similar essays and broadly similar extracurricular experiences, the result will probably be broadly the same.
I would rewrite my essays and I would focus on something very different than what you did the first round. I would also tell a very convincing story about what has changed in the last 6 to 12 months since you first applied to Wharton that makes you a suitable candidate now.
All of the above – getting a 4.0 GPA, having an outstanding professor recommendation, visiting the campus, and starting a club in college, will really help differentiate you. But more than anything, you need to make sure that the stories that you’re telling and the picture of your candidacy that you’re painting in the Transfer Application is different this time around.
Applying to Ivy League schools? Learn how average students can get into Harvard.
Want to attend Ivy League schools? Check out my insider’s course and guide to getting into Harvard, even with a 1360 SAT from a public high school.
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a question rather– I have done horribly in high school just barely graduating and am now resting at a 2.4ish GPA. I want to be an ivy leaguer, and I would like to think that I do have the potential. I have withdrawn and stopped attending so many classes, but is it possible that if I transfer to a university from my community college and prove that I can be successful, that I could one day end up in an ivy league school?
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David Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Emma, I am a HS senior and hopefully a future Cornell Engineering student and I had a 68 in regents math the first semester of my Sophmore year. I turned my academic career around at the end of 10th grade and scored a 770/800 on the math section of my SAT at the beginning of this year. I would have never believed I was capable of doing so well in school back then, and I never though I would be a prospective Ivy league student.
This is relevant to your situation because I, like you, had a pathetic academic record and wanted nothing more then to achieve as highly as I could – which I suspected was Ivy league level – but was plagues by the knowledge that most Ivy admissions offerers would scoff if they knew someone with my record dreamed of and believed they could preform on their school’s level.
You self-questioningly say “I would like to think that I do have the potential.” You DO have the potential to do what ever you want, whether you are at a community college or not. I advise you to take the attitude that you are capable of doing anything you set your mind to, and to work as hard as you can to win admission to what ever school you want to attend. Students from my community college go to Cornell, Columbia and Brown. If you can turn your academic career around, one year of high achievement will be sufficient to make your past performance overlookable.
You never know what you can do until you try. Like I said, I went from a 68 in regents math to getting a 770 on the math section of the SAT..
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Penelope Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 3:23 am
WOW DAVID, READING WHAT YOU JUST WROTE GAVE ME ALOT OF COURAGE…THANKSS:)
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Penelope Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 3:19 am
I UNERSTAND YOU….I AM GOING THROUGH THE SAME SITUATION. I AM IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE AT THE MOMMENT AND TRYING TO GET INTO A IVY LEAGUE…I HOPE I STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO MAKE IT INTO ONE.
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I agree. I didn’t do extremely well in High School. Would I be able to do the path Emma said? Is it more difficult to transfer from a Community College?
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David Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Emma, I am a HS senior and hopefully a future Cornell Engineering student and I had a 68 in regents math the first semester of my Sophmore year. I turned my academic career around at the end of 10th grade and scored a 770/800 on the math section of my SAT at the beginning of this year. I would have never believed I was capable of doing so well in school back then, and I never though I would be a prospective Ivy league student.
This is relevant to your situation because I, like you, had a pathetic academic record and wanted nothing more then to achieve as highly as I could – which I suspected was Ivy league level – but was plagues by the knowledge that most Ivy admissions offerers would scoff if they knew someone with my record dreamed of and believed they could preform on their school’s level.
You self-questioningly say “I would like to think that I do have the potential.” You DO have the potential to do what ever you want, whether you are at a community college or not. I advise you to take the attitude that you are capable of doing anything you set your mind to, and to work as hard as you can to win admission to what ever school you want to attend. Students from my community college go to Cornell, Columbia and Brown. If you can turn your academic career around, one year of high achievement will be sufficient to make your past performance overlookable.
You never know what you can do until you try. Like I said, I went from a 68 in regents math to getting a 770 on the math section of the SAT.
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I didn’t graduate top of my class from high I graduated with a 3.5 GPA so I was accepted to a small college in New Rochelle NY and since I have been there I have been getting 4.0′s each semester. I would like to be accepted to Stanford University but I am wondering what is the required GPA to be accepted as a transfer student to Stanford? Am I smart enough to get in?
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I curently go to a C school in Wesley Chapel. I am in my first semester of my senior year and I have a weighted gpa of 2.96. I never thought about my future and started so my summer after my junior year. I don’t think I would be able to get accepted into a top university now but I am thinking about spending a year at a State University and then transferring to a school like NYU. Do you have any advice of how to secure that position for my sophmore year in college?
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Dear Chris,
I have purchased your book and I have found myself in a bad situation at the moment. I have been studying in Pakistan for the past four years( i was born and raised in California, but left for Pakistan at the age of 13). sense then I have returned to the United States to discover the O level exams I took during my junior year are not up to standard. I have no US or world history and electives are not available for me I have no PE credits and have only done seven O level exams. my situation in Pakistan was a hectic one I had gone to an institution where children would break apart the class room, massage teachers, and leave.
Due to this factor I switched schools, but later upon switching I discovered I was not allowed a teacher or teachers because individually as one student the school made no real profit on my attending. Thus I started a self study with only two and a half months to complete my courses from scratch i began.I have recived some of my exam results they are as follows: IGCSE math=B(only grade no percentage), pakistan studies = D(69%), ISlamic studies= B(81%) and I have achieved 3 As in physics, biology, and English and a B in chemistry( the percentages will come after sometime) please note that all the exams except math were taken at GCE O level not IGCSE level..
I would like to know if their is still any chance of me getting into a nice college and what I can do to achieve this goal. I would also like to include though the grades seem lame they were and are the top in my group.Also no APs are offered at my high school, please i look to you Chris for guidelines
sincerely,
Bilal Pervaiz
P.S. sorry this is for Chris not a person named John
[Reply]
Maliha Reply:
May 17th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
well i was also born in California but i went to pakistan when i was a kid. I did my O leves (GCE) from there. I was in a very good school still i couldnt perform so well in my finals. I Got B.s.
but now i am back in USA and want to get into Ivy league school.
I want to know the req
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Maliha Reply:
May 17th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I was also born in California but i went to pakistan when i was a kid. I did my O levels (GCE) from there. I was in a very good school still i couldnt perform so well in my finals. I Got B’s.
but now i am back in USA and want to get into Ivy league school.
I want to know if its possible for me to get into Ivy laegue school.
I am in a same situation as yours.
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ignore that sorry this is for john
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Is it possible to tranfare from a community college to Havard?
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Luke Thomas Freiburghouse Reply:
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Harvard does not accept transfer students anymore. Neither does Princeton. But other Ivy League institutions do such as Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, et cetera. Good luck!
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FU Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Harvard does, bi-yatch!
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Kaw Reply:
October 5th, 2010 at 11:56 am
They actually do. They have resumed their transfer program recently. I am aware It had been interrupted for a while for a number of reasons. But now they are re opening their doors to transfer students, provided there are vacant places of course.
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I have a complex situation. I am now studying Electrical Engineering and I am a sophomore. But, I had been failing miserably in engineering in my sophomore years.
So, what I am planning to do is to go to another college and study Political Science and after a year in that college, I will try to apply for a transfer to Harvard.
Is this a plausible plan? I mean; am I eligible for a transfer, because I wanted to get into the Political Science program in Harvard, will the failures in my engineering years be considered in my admission despite having great result in Freshman Year Political Science in another college?
[Reply]
I recently graduated (~3 weeks ago) from a public high school in central Illinois with an unweighted GPA of 3.889 and an ACT Composite score of 31. I realize that this, while not entirely terrible at all, is not the level of purely academic achievement that schools such as Harvard, Stanford, or Princeton require.
I originally planned to apply to the University of Illinois College of Business to pursue an undergraduate degree in Accounting, but was denied acceptance and instead placed into the “Division of General Studies”, for students without an actual major. This denial, along with my previous sentiments regarding Business-related courses — especially Math — has illuminated me to the fact that maybe I should not be even considering a career in Accounting, etc., due to my overall dislike of the coursework. Instead, after reviewing my specific grades and interests, I have decided that a career in Law or Medicine would suit me much better. This leads to my main point and question: Considering the aforementioned, exactly how should I go about transferring into a school such as Harvard, Stanford, or Princeton? My grades and ACT (Yes, I know that these schools prefer the SAT, but I unfortunately did not take it) were slightly above average, and I am by no means admitted to a low-ranked school at the moment, yet I feel that I have the drive and potential to succeed in an Ivy League school.
Any responses and/or constructive criticism will be appreciated, thank you.
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hi, i would like to email john (he wrirtes that people can do it). can any one tell how can i do it? i didn’t find his email address.
thanks
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Hi,
I am currently a student in a Community College. This FALL semester is going to be my third one. I am concerned about the transfer deadline. I recall reading somewhere that Harvard doesn’t take transfer students who have spent more than 4 semesters at another University/ College. Is that true?
I have another concern : I had to drop all of my classes last spring due to medical reasons, would this affect my chances of getting into an Ivy League school?
Thank you
[Reply]
Hello.
I would like to know if your book helps students who are currently in a college Bachelor’s degree program and thinking of applying to graduate schools. Do you have any e-mail pages about that or any information available on your website about it?
Thank you!
Diana
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“A’s and preferably A-plusses in some courses.” Uhhhhh….there is no such thing as an A+ in college.
[Reply]
Grace Reply:
April 8th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Yes there is.
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hi,
I’ve recently applied as an international transfer applicant to Stanford.
I would like to know what I should do at this time between ‘application deadline’ and ‘admission decision’.
I would like to show that I am very interested in attending the University.
How may I be able to do so? Should I be writing mails; if so, what should I be writing about without portraying myself as desperate
thanks
[Reply]
Hi, guys,
I am an international student from Japan who wanna transfer to Harvard . However, when I read the requirements , it says that I should be studying in Liberal arts college or similar to Harvard’s educational system. So, what it does mean? it means only USA college student’s can transfer to Harvard?
[Reply]
As a former Stanford student I must tell you that things are more competitive than they were 18 years ago when I went there. 12 percent acceptance rate vs today’s 7 percent. Do well in whatever college you’re from and network. If you are struggling in your current classes how do you expect to do when you get thrown into an environment like Stanford? For example for many of the bio majors, a 90 percent on an exam is a ‘C’ because it’s graded on a curve. There’s a whole bunch of people scoring perfect that screws the entire curve for everyone. Find something that you like and excel, don’t worry about the ivy league name. There’s always graduate school and you can apply there and excel at your current college. Seriously. Because you’ll end up spending 4 years unhappy at a school rather than just being happy and excelling in the school you are in. At Facebook where many of my friends are, some are from stanford but a lot of them are from San Jose State and other schools.
It’s really who you know.
[Reply]
Pui Pui Chang Reply:
July 19th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Grace
I was also a biology major at community college. I did get A’s there, but I also got B’s. When I transferred I had a choice between either UC Berkeley and Stanford. I sort of went to both: I accepted Stanford, but then visited at Berkeley for a semester. But in both cases, I was able to get A’s there because the tests are so darn easy. It’s not the curve to be worried about, it’s actually studying the material. And let me tell you that getting an A at Berkeley or Stanford meant a lot more than getting an A+ at a community college.
[Reply]
Tran Reply:
October 6th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Pui Pui Chang,
Would you give me advice on how to transfer from a community college to UC Berkeley and Stanford? I am a biology major as well, and have just started my first quarter at a community college. I am not very well-informed about how to successfully transfer from community college to a bigger university, and I appreciate it very much if you could give me some guidelines and advice.
[Reply]
I am a freshman in high school. For my first semester of high school I did not do good. I got a C in honors geometry and a B in honors biology. I also received A’s in health, spainish 2, literature and composition, and social studies. Can you please tell me if I have a chance at harvard? I also am in scholastic bowl, speech team and I play varsity tennis.
[Reply]
spanish* not spainish sorry.
[Reply]
Dear Chris,
I have purchased your book and I have found myself in a bad situation at the moment. I have been studying in Pakistan for the past four years( i was born and raised in California, but left for Pakistan at the age of 13). sense then I have returned to the United States to discover the O level exams I took during my junior year are not up to standard. I have no US or world history and electives are not available for me I have no PE credits and have only done seven O level exams. my situation in Pakistan was a hectic one I had gone to an institution where children would break apart the class room, massage teachers, and leave.
Due to this factor I switched schools, but later upon switching I discovered I was not allowed a teacher or teachers because individually as one student the school made no real profit on my attending. Thus I started a self study with only two and a half months to complete my courses from scratch i began.I have recived some of my exam results they are as follows: IGCSE math=B(only grade no percentage), pakistan studies = D(69%), ISlamic studies= B(81%) and I have achieved 3 As in physics, biology, and English and a B in chemistry( the percentages will come after sometime) please note that all the exams except math were taken at GCE O level not IGCSE level..
I would like to know if their is still any chance of me getting into a nice college and what I can do to achieve this goal. I would also like to include though the grades seem lame they were and are the top in my group.Also no APs are offered at my high school, please i look to you Chris for guideline
Hey my situation is like yours I am now in my last year of Alevels and combined O levels and A levels I have 8 subjects.5 in Olevel and 3 in A level..though i got 3 A’s a B and a D in Olevel and I had business subjects and the D was in math :/ and then in A.s I got A B C…i was wondering what happened in your case??? its been two years now..
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Hey I’m just wondering does ur book have any detailed info on how to transfer from cc to Ivy Leagues? Thanx
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Hi I’m in grade8 this year and Im thinking about going to Harvard but I have no idea what the requirements are. Ihave aced all my classes so far.( I’m a nerd…) and I also do no what to do after high school to get to Harvard can someone please explain and I also live on Canada.
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ey am an average student living in africa.I just wrote my IGCSE and i want to get into Havard or Stanford how do i do it i need help and fast.
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