Anonymous wrote:I'll keep this short. DD is a sophomore at an Ivy. Was assaulted and stalked her freshman year for five brutal and traumatizing months. Is miserable at the current school she's at and wants to leave. Has a 3.7 as a gender studies major. Where can she transfer to? Ideally, she wants to go to another Ivy (except Cornell or Penn because she hates those schools), but I feel like her GPA might prevent her from transferring to another Ivy. Other schools on her list are Wesleyan, Vassar, Barnard, Northwestern, and Stanford (I know, long shot). I've never been through this... Help!

My son did the same was at Princeton and ended up going to Harvard from where he graduated 2 years ago (despite his dad and I attending P, and being disappointed he didn't to stay, it was the right decision to switch). I would think with Covid, it could be to your advantage to transfer to her school of choice. A 3.7 is perfectly respectable in a top ivy.

If you think she has given it a really fair shot, and she is truly that unhappy I say get your apps in asap.I would be mindful as to how you explain why she wants to transfer. You do not want to have the school look at her as someone who does not adjust well/easily. I say this from the perspective of a sister in law who is a head admissions counselor at a top university (non ivy). Good luck either way!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sophomore wants to transfer too. She loved her school until March, but they only let freshmen back on campus and after 6 months at home with no end in sight she has fallen out of love and feels zero connection to her school. I don’t think colleges realize how irrelevant they become when students are stuck at home taking classes online.

I might try to encourage her to wait before making a decision.

No school is great from home/online.


Given the hassle of transferring (and possible expense), can she hold out for this year (which is aberrant??)

a year is a third of a college education. Any student in college right now is being entirely screwed out of both an education and the best years of their life

i meant a quarter...but still

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sophomore wants to transfer too. She loved her school until March, but they only let freshmen back on campus and after 6 months at home with no end in sight she has fallen out of love and feels zero connection to her school. I don’t think colleges realize how irrelevant they become when students are stuck at home taking classes online.

I might try to encourage her to wait before making a decision.

No school is great from home/online.


Given the hassle of transferring (and possible expense), can she hold out for this year (which is aberrant??)

a year is a third of a college education. Any student in college right now is being entirely screwed out of both an education and the best years of their life

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transferring to Stanford or HYP with a 3.7 GPA? You're dreaming, even if full pay.

Northwestern might take her, if you're full pay.

OP’s kid is already at an Ivy and not full pay

0.0% chance any elite top 10 is taking an unimpressive 3.7 GPA financial aid kid, especially now with budget deficits. Her kid is a dime a dozen and costly.

Why are people trashing a 3.7 gpa from an ivy? So weird

As much as I hate saying it, I think PP is right. A 3.7 in gender studies isn't that impressive to the top schools.

Anonymous wrote:My sophomore wants to transfer too. She loved her school until March, but they only let freshmen back on campus and after 6 months at home with no end in sight she has fallen out of love and feels zero connection to her school. I don’t think colleges realize how irrelevant they become when students are stuck at home taking classes online.

I might try to encourage her to wait before making a decision.

No school is great from home/online.


Given the hassle of transferring (and possible expense), can she hold out for this year (which is aberrant??)

My sophomore wants to transfer too. She loved her school until March, but they only let freshmen back on campus and after 6 months at home with no end in sight she has fallen out of love and feels zero connection to her school. I don’t think colleges realize how irrelevant they become when students are stuck at home taking classes online.

Anonymous wrote:I find this confusing. Aren’t all ivys offering full remote for the next year? Can she not just move home and do remote for a year from home, while keeping her financial aid package?

She's doing that for this school year, which is her sophomore year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP what state are you in? Would UVa or UMD be affordable?

Different state. Her state school gave less financial aid than her current school.

As an upperclassman could she live off-campus at a state school (which might be cheaper than r&b)? I’m sorry she is going through this. I would apply widely

I find this confusing. Aren’t all ivys offering full remote for the next year? Can she not just move home and do remote for a year from home, while keeping her financial aid package?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transferring to Stanford or HYP with a 3.7 GPA? You're dreaming, even if full pay.

Northwestern might take her, if you're full pay.

OP’s kid is already at an Ivy and not full pay

0.0% chance any elite top 10 is taking an unimpressive 3.7 GPA financial aid kid, especially now with budget deficits. Her kid is a dime a dozen and costly.

Why are people trashing a 3.7 gpa from an ivy? So weird

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are very likely going to have to make a hard choice between staying put to to keep financial aid or transferring and paying a lot more. They don’t really have any incentive to offer a bunch of aid right now.

Yes, unfortunately colleges are already laying off 10 percent of staff, more layoffs coming down the pipe.

Aid will be offered less moving forward unfortunately.

That's just super painful for us to hear. Thanks for letting me know.

Op, just apply and see what happens. Who knows what sort of aid she will get.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transferring to Stanford or HYP with a 3.7 GPA? You're dreaming, even if full pay.

Northwestern might take her, if you're full pay.

OP’s kid is already at an Ivy and not full pay

0.0% chance any elite top 10 is taking an unimpressive 3.7 GPA financial aid kid, especially now with budget deficits. Her kid is a dime a dozen and costly.

I'm the parent who recommended contacting some of the schools that accepted her out of high school. The truth is most schools do not give HYP kind of aid. There's a good chance you will not be able to match the aid package she's getting now unless she gets admitted to HYP but it sounds like she really needs to transfer. I still would go back to those schools and, if she gets admitted, ask for more aid.

Another idea: Look at how much you think you can afford and how much the schools gave. Are there schools you could afford out-of-pocket? Would it be more affordable if she looked internationally? With a year of U.S. college credits, she may be able to apply as a freshman to some of the prestigious UK schools (Oxbridge) and they run cheaper.

Another thing to consider is that big, state schools tend to be more generous with AP/ IB or even CLEP credits. So if she has some of those, she might be able to shave a year off of a school like Berkeley or UMichigan, UVA or Chapel Hill and graduate in two years (assuming she's a freshman now).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are very likely going to have to make a hard choice between staying put to to keep financial aid or transferring and paying a lot more. They don’t really have any incentive to offer a bunch of aid right now.

Yes, unfortunately colleges are already laying off 10 percent of staff, more layoffs coming down the pipe.

Aid will be offered less moving forward unfortunately.

That's just super painful for us to hear. Thanks for letting me know.

Anonymous wrote:You are very likely going to have to make a hard choice between staying put to to keep financial aid or transferring and paying a lot more. They don’t really have any incentive to offer a bunch of aid right now.

Yes, unfortunately colleges are already laying off 10 percent of staff, more layoffs coming down the pipe.

Aid will be offered less moving forward unfortunately.