ohyikkes Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Hi! I'm a 2nd year Philosophy/Economics student at a canadian university...it's one of the well-known universities, but my parents have been asking me about transferring to an ivy league or another US college. Any advice? I've never taken the SATs before...! I graduated early from high school with a 90%+ average and studied a year abroad in England (my grades dropped a little from all the sudden realization of partying and then had an internship for a year...now I'm going back to school in September. I'm mainly interested in Columbia...any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've seen their website but they are just so vague ("holistic" style application process etc, grades, extracurricular). Has anyone else done the transfer process? What are the standardized tests like?! Link to comment
Cognitive_Canine Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 As far as the standardized tests, you can find practice tests that are retired tests that were once used (they retire them to prevent people from somehow taking the same test twice) and those are a big help. For the ivy league schools (I think all of them) you'll need to take the SAT with writing, math, and physics. This should include an essay section and is a 2400 point test. You may not need the physics part of the test but you'll have to find out through the school. Otherwise, it's a 1600 point test. Are you a good test taker? Because if you are, the SAT isn't much different than a regular scantron test for an english class. Taken any AP's? They are almost exactly like that. Make sure to get plenty of rest, bring food and water for the breaks (It's ungodly long) and Turn your phone off (you'll get kicked out if it rings or vibrates) and good luck! Edit: BTW, if you don't get into an ivy league, don't be discouraged. Unfortunately, a lot of people get in because they have family members who went there and the ivy leagues like to have family lines attending there. For philosophy, you should check out University of Michigan, It is one of the best in the world as far as philosophy and a lot cheaper than any ivy league. I have a lot of friends going there and they love it! Link to comment
Cognitive_Canine Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 also.....(sorry, I keep wanting to add stuff), the SAT takes away points for wrong answers. It keeps people from guessing. If you don't know a question, star it and move on. Come back to it if you have time because time is tight and it's better to skip over a few and answer more question that you for sure know, than guess on a few and not get to the ones you would otherwise get. Link to comment
Cognitive_Canine Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 okay, one more thing. If you can, definitely do an early submission. If you get yours in with the early application, there is a smaller pool of people to choose from. They value early applications more. Also, I don't know about all the colleges, but for mine, I had to write 7 essays. Do those as soon as possible and I'd use your colleges writing center to get proof reads and editing help with grad students. That is, if your college has something like that. "hollistic" means that they will look at all parts of your application and judge it as a whole. That means that if you for some reason bomb your SAT, you won't be thrown out of the accepted pile for that. Your internship and good grades could make up for it. Link to comment
ohyikkes Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 haha thanks for all the great help. So the SATs are out of 1600? What do ivy leagues usually look for? And yes, I've heard of that if members of your family went there, you have a higher chance of being accepted. A cousin of mine graduated from Stanford, but she and I have met only once since we are estranged...could that still be a family relation? How do they check?! O_o. I wish I could do an early application...but I'm an international transfer, so I have to apply November 6th. And I have to write one essay, a good standing from my university, and a recommendation letter from a professor. And could you define junior, sophomore, etc? We go my first year, second year, and so forth, and I'm not understanding the college terminology What's the math section of the SATs like? It's not my forte and I'm just wondering if I should brush up on calculus! Thanks so much. KEEP ON RAMBLING. you're a great help! Link to comment
kaoticbaby Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 haha thanks for all the great help. So the SATs are out of 1600? Actually, I'm pretty sure that all schools now require the math, english, and writing sections. So the SAT is out 2400. Link to comment
ManAbout Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 First of all, why are you transferring? If you are transferring to an ivy league, maybe i can understand the reasoning, but if it is just a US college, why bother? Link to comment
kaoticbaby Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 And could you define junior, sophomore, etc? We go my first year, second year, and so forth, and I'm not understanding the college terminology What's the math section of the SATs like? It's not my forte and I'm just wondering if I should brush up on calculus! Thanks so much. KEEP ON RAMBLING. you're a great help! Freshman is first year Sophomore is second year Junior is third year Senior is fourth year I'm horrible at math, I only got in the 500's which is average, but it is your basic math. Fractions and such. A lot of word problems. Can't really remember much about it though, sorry. Link to comment
Bkoguy07 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 link removed thats a good site that gives good statistics about each school just go there and look around Link to comment
Bkoguy07 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 The math only goes up to Algebra 2 on the SAT. too i believe.. Link to comment
ohyikkes Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 First of all, why are you transferring? If you are transferring to an ivy league, maybe i can understand the reasoning, but if it is just a US college, why bother? Columbia has a dual degree program that I'm interested in. Honestly, I never thought about going to an American college - but when I did find about this particular program, I had already been accepted to my university's international program so...yeah! haha and as for a US college - if I can't get into Columbia, I was thinking of Berkeley. I loved the atmosphere of the college when I visited California. I don't think I'll be able to apply this year though =( I need to network and do some extracurricular activities on campus and pump up my grades from slacking off last year *sigh. Link to comment
ohyikkes Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 The math only goes up to Algebra 2 on the SAT. too i believe.. haha sorry, I'm Canadian. We go by Math 11, 12 etc. What does Algebra 2 cover? But thanks so much for the website! Aw you guys are so helpful! Link to comment
Cognitive_Canine Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 The math only goes up to Algebra 2 on the SAT. too i believe.. No, I got the general theory of calculus on mine! So, be careful! Also, I do remember a trig question on there. It involved finding the angle through the cosines law. Link to comment
Cognitive_Canine Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 haha sorry, I'm Canadian. We go by Math 11, 12 etc. What does Algebra 2 cover? But thanks so much for the website! Aw you guys are so helpful! algebra is your general laws, proofs, matrices, variables.... you need some trig which is a bunch of proofs finding angles using triangles, Sine, cosine, tangent, the logs, negative exponents, etc. Calculus is the math of change. Link to comment
ohyikkes Posted July 20, 2008 Author Share Posted July 20, 2008 HA, sorry to bump this post, but this was so ridiculous, I just wanted to ask. So I found an agency that helps students get into top schools (which is pretty intense) and they informed me that top schools don't accept students after sophmore year...IS THAT TRUE? Because that is just SO ridiculous, it leaves me SPEECHLESS. As the french would say, quoi le fuc? Link to comment
sophie274 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 It isn't necessarily true that top schools don't accept students after sophomore year, although I do think in general to transfer you have to be at the school for at least two years. This is very school-specific, so get yourself onto Columbia's website and read what they have to say about it. Transferring into an Ivy-league school is extremely difficult: because they have a very high freshman retention rate (close to 100%), there are very few spots available and plenty of qualified applicants. Good luck! Link to comment
Cognitive_Canine Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 HA, sorry to bump this post, but this was so ridiculous, I just wanted to ask. So I found an agency that helps students get into top schools (which is pretty intense) and they informed me that top schools don't accept students after sophmore year...IS THAT TRUE? Because that is just SO ridiculous, it leaves me SPEECHLESS. As the french would say, quoi le fuc? well, university of michigan prefers people to transfer as juniors. So, not all true. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.