This time of year, we get a lot of messages from students who know they want to transfer but aren’t sure where they want to apply. Here are our four steps to making your transfer list:
How to Write the Harvard Transfer Application
So you want to transfer to Harvard. Welcome to a very large number group, with a very low success rate. By very low, we mean minuscule. Harvard accepts less than 1% of transfer applicants on average, and some years they don’t accept anyone. Seriously. That’s a 0-1% acceptance rate. Does that mean you shouldn’t try? Not at all. We’re all about beating slim odds, but first, you have to accept that no matter how hard you work, or how great your grades are, or how many times you’ve walked on the moon, or how many Disney shows you starred in, you’re not getting in. Accept it, embrace it, and then try anyways.
The Transfer-Up Myth
As we’ve shared before (in our post about writing transfer essays), more than a third of college students transfer, and nearly half of those who transfer will go on to transfer at least one more time.
How to Transfer
Millions of people transfer schools each year for a hugely diverse number of reasons. Some are looking for an academic program they didn’t know they’d pursue; some want a smaller community; some feel claustrophobic in the small school they picked because they thought it’d feel cozy; some are just unhappy with their original choice but can’t quite put their finger on it.
Should I Transfer?
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Culinary Arts
While the temptation to sit and watch Ratatouille for the 10th time might be strong, don’t succumb to the couch just yet. Instead, we encourage our students to take advantage of the opportunity to blow top-choice colleges away with just how dedicated and brilliant they are. Summer is a great time to develop a niche that will set you apart from your competition. So, if you’re interested in pursuing culinary arts after high school, consider the activities below:
Summer Ideas for Students Interested in Hospitality
While the urge to lounge pool-side following a year of grueling SAT prep may be strong, we recommend that kids interested in pursuing hospitality studies stay off the beach blanket and take advantage of one of the industry’s peak seasons. Since the hospitality connoisseurs out there are probably going to be helping their families book relaxing travel plans and accommodations this summer anyway, they might as well make it count towards getting into college.
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Teaching
While most educators get summers off, for those aspiring to become teachers, summer break is, perhaps, the best time to get ahead. We have highlighted a few ways in which you can spend your summer investing in your college admissions process while your competition is taking it easy. Before we get started, there are a few things you should keep in mind:
How to Write a Transfer Common App Essay
Does Going to Camp look bad for College?
Will Taking Harder Classes (honors, AP, advanced, IB) Help me get into Top Schools?
We receive dozens of the same questions during every single application season. They range from questions about testing, grades, time management, and class selection, but we want to make sure that you know we hear you. Every time you email us, we reply to each individualized question. But in order to make this knowledge as accessible as possible, we’ve started to address these questions in the public forum (on the blog) so that you can understand our stance on the hot topics of college applications. Let’s get started with a question that plagues every single student around this time of year as they’re selecting classes for next year: “Should I take the AP class?”
How Much Do SAT/ACT Scores Matter?
Listen, we agree that humans are not quantifiable, that your potential isn’t dictated by a number, and that standardized testing is sometimes fickle and frustrating. All of that is true. But while we’d love to be able to say that scores don’t matter and that you being a great person and a world-class tap dancer will get you into your dream school, they do matter. A lot.
How Many Practice ACTs/SATs Should I Take Before the Actual Test?
Jennifer Lawrence was supposedly discovered by chance. Legend has it that the young Lawrence was on a trip to New York with her family when a talent agent stopped them on the street and asked Lawrence to come read for a part. Sylvester Stallone, on the other hand, worked as a dirt-poor struggling actor for many years. Stallone worked tirelessly to get the film “Rocky”--a film that he wrote-- made. Some say he pitched the script to producers 150 times before it got picked up and though he finally fulfilled his dreams, it is said that he was forced to sell his dog to make ends meet in the process.
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Math
Junior year can be grueling. Many kids look forward to making like Kevin Arnold and spending the summer riding bikes around or going to visit their significant others who are working at mountain lodges for the break. But perhaps there is a reason we all knew Kevin’s friend Paul ended up at Harvard and no one can remember where Kevin, himself got in. While Kevin was busy chasing Winnie, other kids were using their summers to get ahead in the college process.
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Entrepreneurship
The Bitcoin revolution has demonstrated one thing—innovation rules the roost. With the expansion of the Internet of Things, the cryptocurrency market, the sharing economy, and every other advancement that has descended upon Silicon Valley in the last few years, innovators and technologists are chomping at the bit to bring the world the latest revolution. For the rising stars of tomorrow’s workforce, now is the moment to develop vision and entrepreneurial acumen. If you don’t launch your first startup at 17, that’s ok. Elon Musk didn’t start Zip2 until he was 24, but believe it or not, right now, when you’re still in high school, when you have no kids, no mortgage, and no job that demands 40+ of your hours each week, is as good a time as any for you young entrepreneurs to get going with your dreams.
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Theater
Summer is a wonderful time to catch up on all of the R&R you missed while you were manically editing personal essays, trying to burn the Fourteen Points into your memory before the APUSH test, and trying to replace the Fourteen Points with the four phases of Mitosis before the Biology SAT Subject Test. But before you get too deep into another season of Downton Abbey, consider getting ahead in the admissions process.
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Debate
So, you have a lot to celebrate this year. You studied your butt off for standardized tests, developed your college list, and perhaps even became president of the Debate club. While we’re sure you’re looking forward to spending your summer escaping into West Wing because it’s so much better than real-life politics, we recommend keeping your heels on the ground for just a little bit longer…like, until you retire.
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Science
Many kids dream of taking the summer after Junior to go on a Teen Tour, go spend one last summer at camp, or catch up on the last 26 seasons of Doctor Who. While the desire to engage in these activities is totally understandable following the completion of an entire year of SAT prep, we encourage our students to fight the urge and consider summer the optimal time to secure their eligibility at their first-choice schools.
Summer Ideas for Juniors Who Are Interested in Writing and Journalism
Rory Gilmore from the CW classic, Gilmore Girls was a model student. She was a staff writer for her high school paper, transferred to a prestigious prep school to increase her odds of attending Harvard, and when she wasn’t hanging out with her boyfriend (Dean or Jess, depending on the season), she could often be found beneath her favorite tree, reading “Anna Karenina” for fun.
How to Write the Washington And Lee Supplement
Washington and Lee University is a small liberal arts school of about 1,800 undergraduates. It’s located in Lexington, VA. It is known for being academically rigorous, and students who attend greatly embrace the outdoors. It has been coeducational for only 37 years, having admitted its first class of women in 1985. The university also operates on a peculiar schedule—each year is comprised of Fall term and Winter term, where classes are in session for 3 months before finals period begins, and then there is Spring term. Spring term is only 4 weeks long, and students take just 1 class during that time period. It’s a time to delve deep into a particular subject. Students get a lot out of studying something specific for a short period of time, as all of their attention is devoted to that one class. However, before enjoying their interesting academic schedule, you have to get in. We break down their supplement below: