Transferring to an Ivy League FAQ: answering all YOUR questions

so six months ago i posted the first official  video to this channel which was about transferring   and talking about advice and tips that i got after  doing the nyu to harvard transfer turns out that   was the most popular video on my channel so far so  that's probably how most of you found me thank you   for sticking around and since then i've gotten  tons of comments about the intricacies of   transferring based on you know my comment section  and people would instagram me and all sorts of   things and so i thought i would finally do  a part two which is a roundup and an faq   of all of those questions disclaimer obviously  i am not related in any way to admissions to   any ivy league and so this is not proprietary  information this is just what i experienced and   what i observed also this is from a few years  back and things could totally have changed and   so you should google any hard questions you have  about requirements for transferring okay question   number one were any transfers able to graduate on  time in the traditional sense of completing only   eight semesters also it's too hot with the lights  here um so the answer is it depends and it depends   on how many of the credits from your previous  school are going to transfer you also get that   information at different times so i was admitted  to yale at harvard yale told me what courses would   transfer prior to the admissions date like when  you have to choose what school you go to harvard   actually told me afterwards i fell in the category  of people who lost a ton of credits i actually   lost a year's worth of credits an average semester  has four classes if three of those classes didn't   count they actually round you down to the nearest  semester so for me i think seven of my classes   didn't count so i lost two years worth of credits  i would say the middle category is people who   lost some credits like maybe down to a semester  but didn't lose a ton of credits and then there's   a category of people very few of them but there  were still people in this category who all of   their credits transferred in terms of what's going  to influence what transfers i would say one thing   that someone influences it is like what type of  school you came from so i came from a vocational   school because it was a business school and so  harvard being a liberal arts college whatever   did not accept a lot of those classes like for  example they didn't accept stats for business   because it had the four business part but they had  an equivalent stats requirement that i didn't meet   the easiest way to finish on time i found is  people who were transferring from the same major   into this same major at their new school partially  because you probably have similar requirements   implements for like mechanical engineering at  the school and mechanical engineering at your new   school but also partially because you can go to  the department heads and then argue that classes   that didn't transfer deserve to transfer because  you can show them the syllabus and challenge that   in my case i was like brand new type of school and  also brand new you know majors and all of that and   so there was nothing i could do other than try  to overload to minimize the amount of time that   i would spend so by the way like let's say you  lost one semester but you decide to overload   your classes every semester you could still finish  in eight semesters also harvard used to have this   thing or maybe still does i haven't checked where  they have a requirement of essentially doing eight   semesters worth of credits uh but transfer  students could actually do an extra semester   because they know that it's hard to like fit into  a new place okay we gotta we gotta be faster than   that answer so question number two what major do  i need to study to transfer the good news is it   doesn't matter what you study if you're trying  to transfer to a liberal arts college um be   like all of the ivy leagues are because they just  don't care they need you to slot into their system   they don't really care like what major you came  in with three do you transfer into a specific   program or major so what's actually cool is when  i got admitted i was like i know exactly what i   want to study and the person who was talking to  me who was counseling me was like actually you   can choose whatever you want we don't care at all  so by and large you don't need to transfer because   you did business before into something business  related or because you did economics before   into economics for most liberal arts colleges  the requirements needed to fulfill any major   is such that you can change your mind quite a bit  and still be able to graduate with a degree in   that major there's minor exceptions to this so for  example yale's ppe program is very competitive and   freshmen actually i think have to apply into it  and get into it and start studying its sophomore   year and so if you want to transfer to that  program and that's very specific i think there   are specific requirements and you may not be able  to do it unless you like meet those requirements   but by and large you can transfer into anything  and still have time to change your mind and still   graduate with whatever degree you want that's one  of the beauties of liberal arts education question   four how many colleges did i apply to transfer to  i applied to transfer to five colleges and the way   i thought about that was i want to enjoy the  experience that i'm having at nyu i also have like   my own crap that i'm trying to figure out like my  grades and my friends and extracurriculars and so   i didn't want to spend all of my life just writing  these transfer applications so i only wrote and   applied to schools that i would rather go to and  that list was very short okay question five can   i transfer from another country is it harder to  transfer as an international student so yes you   can transfer from another country i had friends  who transferred from colleges in the uk colleges   in south africa colleges in canada etc and yes  you can transfer as an international student   and i don't think it's harder in the sense that  one of the nice things about the ivies is that   they don't have preference for taking students  from for example their state or even from their   country and so technically you have like an equal  chance as anyone else uh obviously acknowledging   the fact that you probably understand the system  less as an international student so it's like   trickier practically but it's not trickier in  terms of them preferencing other groups over you   question six what extracurriculars did i do  prior to transferring people love this question   of like can i compare myself to you so that it  makes me feel better or worse about my chances   i know it's so human it's like not a good  question but i will say during my freshman   and sophomore year at nyu my extracurriculars were  a lot more more cohesive than my extracurriculars   were in high school in the sense that in  high school i did a lot of a lot of things   but in nyu i started developing an interest in a  very specific field which was around technology   and also specifically within technology like  technology for social good so i was part of like   a tech social impact club i was part of tech  at nyu i was working for this female vc i was   um you know part of like multiple startups i  started really developing a narrative around my   extracurriculars and that's probably one of  the things that made my transfer application   stronger than had i applied you know out of  high school question seven can i transfer from   x worse ranked school to an ivy league just fill  in the blank here can i transfer from a community   college to brown can i transfer from nyu to leila  um you know i get that type of question a lot the   answer is a resounding yes one of the things i've  said is that the transfer class i find is often   it's not weirder but it's a little bit weirder  than the even entire like class because they're   looking for diversity they've already filled out  a class they want to add interesting you know   members to the community and so you will find  so many people who come from all sorts of like   interesting backgrounds that are not like the  typical snooty ivy league background for example   lots of people from community college every year  from people who were ex-military people who came   from other ivs people who came from um not ivs  like really you can transfer from any school   to any school period eight is my sat act score  high enough slash is my gpa competitive slash   are my extracurriculars competitive i know you  hate this question and answer but the answer is   i don't know just like you don't know because  the process for admissions to an ivy league is   genuinely holistic they do have i think what not  minimum bars but they do have like median scores   that you can literally google and find to see  do you fit into what percentile of the students   that have previously been admitted but from there  on out they take each section of your application   grades extracurriculars you know uh letters  of recommendation essays holistically to   admit people i hate to say that i wish i could  give you an answer whether your score was high   enough trust me i was in that boat i totally  know what it feels like but the answer is once   you've met some minimum requirement from there  it's holistic and all you have to do is apply   because if you don't apply you will never know  question nine you observed me that your transfer   class was weirder do you have examples of that and  like is there reasoning for that um yes and i'll   share an example of someone who i'm really good  friends with so i hope they don't get mad but   essentially you know they were in the military  for nine years they were at a community college   had a very low gpa did the military thing super  super smart and ended up in my transfer class   um and i think a lot of people that uh fit into  sort of um really really interesting backgrounds   and i do think the reasoning for that it's not  to say that if you don't have an interesting   background you're not going to get admitted  because lots of people who were just like   great students super smart like whatever were  admitted as you would expect i do think like i   said that because the transfer class is after the  vast majority of the class has already been made   they're trying to see who will add to the  community and who not necessarily just the   person who will be the 20th person who fits this  profile but rather the one unique you that you are   okay next question did you have an interview this  is actually one of the most common questions i get   asked and the answer is yes for some schools  so they explicitly say at least when i applied   that transfers don't usually get an interview so  i did get admitted to yale for example without an   interview but i also got admitted to harvard with  an interview even though they said that they don't   usually interview people or transfer students  so i think the answers depends i think if you   get an interview it probably is like a good sign  but if you don't get an interview it also doesn't   necessarily mean it's a bad sign how did you  practice for the interview so like all interviews   which i've talked a lot about interviews on  this channel actually what i do is i write   down a list of commonly asked questions and  i practice them in front of a mirror so that   you can see all of the weird things you do with  your face the weird things you do with your arms   i'm not at all saying you should memorize answers  for any interview i'm just saying that quite   frankly they're going to ask you certain questions  like tell me about yourself tell me about this   experience on your resume or tell me about this  experience on your extracurricular list like   it's just pretty obvious that they're going to  ask those questions and so you should have a vague   sense of where you're going so that your answers  are complete and also a proper representation   of what you want to say okay next did you  mention financial aid in your application   this is an interesting question because i think  it's hinting at like can you talk about finances   or is that like a really uncomfortable topic that  you're not supposed to write about so technically   all of your financial aid considerations are  sent separately like you have your admissions   essay and then you have like a financial package  that you send them and actually even when you get   admitted you get an admissions package and then  you have like a financial aid package very very   separately i think though if you want to mention  finances in your essay and that's very authentic   to your story then of course that's something to  include that's something i did briefly mention as   one of the reasons i want to transfer and also  if finances um influence like we're a really   really big part of your story there's also an  additional essay section where you can write   about anything and i think it's appropriate to  mention finances if finances is something that's   like been really influential in your life okay  how did you know when your essays were complete   this is an interesting question um i actually  have a weird story where i wrote all of my   applications for all five colleges in one week  and i just took one day per application during   winter break and then every sunday up until when  the deadline was which i think was early march   i would spend time editing it now actually by the  time the application deadline rolled around i was   like oh my god i haven't edited this in a while so  i just sort of last minute did it on a sunday and   then i was up against the deadline so i submitted  it i know some people who like systematically   drafted their essay like 20 times so it really  depends on you um at some point you just have   to submit and as soon as you press submit you  need to be like i tried the best that i can and   i would be super happy if i stayed and i'm glad  i took a shot and i'm proud of myself for that   you can't freak out about it essentially so next  question is did you use the entire word count for   all the essays this is actually an interesting  question because i almost didn't and then i ended   up using the word count for all of them there  was a question that was like what would you do   if you stayed at your school or something and  i almost submitted like one sentence because i   was like this is a silly question like i would  stay at my school like what else do you want   from me but then i thought about it and i decided  that every piece of the application is the only   chance for you to try and you know make your  case essentially and so you want to use it to   the fullest of your abilities so i decided to use  that essay to say something about myself and say   something about like the philosophy i had towards  life towards staying towards going et cetera um so   yes i actually would recommend using all the parts  of your the application they give you if they give   it to you how do you balance writing transparent  applications while still doing school so for   myself i would say it's very important if you  can to try and focus on where you are and being   happy where you are because if you always live for  the future you're going to be one very sad person   and so for me what i did with transferring is just  time boxing my application so i spent one day like   eight hours per application just writing like  this school so every day i would convince myself   i really want to go to yale i'm gonna write the  yale application and the next day i'd be like   i really want to go to harvard and then i would  write the harvard application i did that for five   days and then every sunday afternoon i would  spend you know between blah and blah between   like two and five o'clock or something or two and  four o'clock or whatever uh writing the transfer   application i also love writing on trains like i  love writing when i'm traveling so during a long   train ride i was like i'm just going to edit all  of my essays and submit after this so time boxing   is my answer can you transfer after freshman  year how does that affect your application so i   transferred up to sophomore year but i also know a  lot of people who transferred after freshman year   i would say the big difference i imagine is that  if you want to apply freshman year you've only   had like max a few months at your college to have  decided that you want to transfer and then to have   you know prepared your application and whatnot  which means that i bet your application heavily   depends on what you did in high school versus for  me for example by sophomore year my application   was almost entirely what i did in college which  i think is to my advantage because i think i   just like learned a lot more about myself and  i had a much more cohesive narrative in college   than i perhaps did in high school so it does  affect your application perhaps in that way but   people get admitted out of both like classes all  the time going along with that how much emphasis   is put on your high school application again like  i said it really depends on when you apply for me   i've actually compared my nyu application with  my harvard application in terms of the common   app which is the piece that's the same that's  submitted to all the schools and they were almost   completely different except for maybe one activity  so for me um my application didn't rely on my high   school application almost at all for other people  that might be different also note that i actually   didn't apply to any of these schools during high  school because i was doing early decision at nyu   um so they didn't have my name in the system or  anything i don't know if that makes a difference   on your application or not but for me like my high  school application and my transfer application   were nothing alike does having one low  grade affect the rest of your application   again i'm not an admissions officer and again i  hate that the answer is is holistic so i don't   know but what i will say is that there are pieces  of your section in which you can justify free form   write anything that you want so for example if  you have like a random b when you only got a's   i swear it's gonna be okay like it's gonna be  okay i know it's hard to believe it's gonna be   okay but it's gonna be okay but let's say you  have something that you feel really bad about   and you want to justify it uh like for example  something that happened and you did really crappy   um like you did really really crappy in the class  or you did really really crappy in a semester   you can justify that in certain parts of  your application under additional information   i actually did that about my grades at one point  so i mean i think it's something that you should   be aware of okay question is i don't have grades  for this year yet the year that i'm currently in   how do i apply so when you apply by the time  you submit the application i think you get one   semester's worth of grades but you won't have  obviously the grades from your current semester   so there is actually a form at least for harvard  called the mid-year reporting form in which for   example during my official application i submitted  my fall semester grades and then this mid-year   report is the mid-year of my spring semester and  i asked all my teachers to predict what my grade   will be so that's actually how you submit extra  grades as the year is progressing how did you form   a bond with your letters of recommendations  and was it weird asking them for a lot of   recommendations since you're asking to transfer  so i'll answer this in two parts the first is   actually one of the greatest things about  college is if you make friends with some of   your teachers i know it sounds silly but  it's true and i think you can do that in   a lot of ways i'd say the simplest way is by  being a great student like someone who really   talks up in class so the teacher knows your  name they rely on you being a great student   a little upped up amped up version of that is  someone who goes to office hours and spends   that extra time um talking to that professor and  knowing more about the subject and knowing more   about them personally and then you can even amp  it up more i didn't reach this with my lettuce   recommendation but you can amp it up more by  choosing a professor who you've worked with   so maybe you did a research project together with  them or you're helping out with their work in some   way obviously that would be like the best letter  of recommendation but i think those are the levels   that you can achieve with getting a good letter of  recommendation second part i wish the answer was   that it was never weird but honestly sometimes  it is it depends so for example one of the   teachers that i actually wanted to ask for a lot  of recommendation for also was pretty high up at   the school in terms of administration and when  i broached the subject of wanting to transfer   they were like pretty not happy about it and so  i ended up not asking them because i thought that   they might write like a non-amazing recommendation  versus um when i asked just teachers who were like   super uninvolved with the administration they were  super happy to so i would say by and large it's   not going to be weird if it is weird you can just  pick someone else we're almost done here should i   submit extra materials i would say if they have  room for extra materials so for example when i   was applying they said you can but don't have to  submit an extra letter recommendation i think it   was you can but don't have to submit a menu report  if they give you the space to like that then yes   you can do so if you think it'll happen help your  application so they said you can but you don't   have to submit an arts portfolio i didn't have  an arts portfolio so i didn't submit one but i   did submit an extra letter of recommendation from  an extracurricular that was really important to   me and i thought could speak well to myself but i  wouldn't recommend sending random extra material   that they did not ask for so sending like four  extra letters of recommendation or sending over   something that is that like they completely can't  receive is probably not a great idea is it harder   to make friends as a transfer student yeah like i  would say so in the sense that other people have   already had one or two years on you in order to  solidify their friendships with their roommates   with people in their classes with extracurriculars  with uh you know greek or life or whatever like   that's just the reality of things i think what  that means is you as a transfer student need   to put extra time into making friendships and  giving to community if you want to make up for   those previous years that you missed this is a  funny question um does attending an ivy league   mean that you just study all the time and don't  have any fun yes no i'm kidding the answer is no   yeah like i really students are literally  the same as everyone else they actually okay   that's probably not quite true depending  on school they might go out more or less   depending on the school they might more have  have a study all the time culture or not but   if you want to go out you will find a chance to  go out if you want to study all the time you can   study all the time just like anywhere else you can  be yourself and find your people what did you do   wrong as a transfer so i no one's actually asking  this but i just want to answer this which is that   i think i focus too much on the fact that i  changed majors and was changing careers and so   i felt super anxious about that and so i changed  my whole life at harvard to be around this person   that i wanted to be i changed my extracurriculars  i academically overloaded i essentially my whole   social life like all of these things were around  computer science and switching into text something   i was feeling very insecure about because i felt  that other people had two years on me to be good   at this field and i wasn't good at this field the  reason why it's definitely my biggest mistake is   because the time you put into those things is  the time that you don't put into friendships and   into social relationships which at the end of  everything is literally all you have it's funny   because i thought that what you took from like  a fancy harvard degree was the fact that you   have the fancy harvard name and that's somewhat  true but really what makes any of these schools   amazing is the people you meet they will they will  be a huge important part of your life forever and   so i actually made a whole video about this that i  will link above okay so this is probably going to   be a long video and i think that's got to be like  most of the questions people have right but if you   do have more questions feel free to leave them  down below subscribe comment like whatever and   i will respond to you quickly maybe even make  another video so yeah see you in the future

Channel: MaryXG

Views: 22,240

Keywords: college application, ivy league, sat prep, common app, ivy league vs community college, college admissions process, college admissions 2022, ivy league stats, common app personal essay, college advice

Id: QzC3fRgJz9k

Length: 23min 31sec (1411 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 15 2022