Chances of Ivy League?

Question

I am an Iraq war veteran, was in the reserves. I tried doing the college thing and stopped going which really killed my GPA. If I really do well on SAT's and get 4.0 in a community college what are my chances of transfer into an Ivy League Business school?
Any other suggestions of doing it better?

Answer 1

Ivy league colleges don't accept many transfers, so your chances are not great.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't try -- and doesn't mean you don't have a shot at getting into a great school. You might have better chances with a good state school than a good private schools, though.

As for Business School, Princeton and Brown don't have B-Schools -- so you are out of luck there. Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, Cornell and Columbia have business schools, but only for graduate students.

That just leaves The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It is the top rated undergraduate Business School in the world. I do not believe that they accept any transfer students from other schools (I taught there for three years, and don't remember having any students who transferred in).

If you do really well elsewhere, you may have a shot at their MBA programs -- but undergrad? Nope.

The good news is that several of the best undergraduate business schools are at State Universities (e.g., Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia, Maryland). You have a shot there.

Answer 2

I think you have a really interesting story to tell for your essay.

Admissions counselors are there to help you; I would suggest that you set up a meeting and talk with them about your problem and how to recover from a bad start. It happens to a lot of people.

Also, don't know your personal situation but you might try finishing that business degree at a state university. Get a good GPA, do well on your graduate admissions tests, and THEN apply for the ivy league MBA. It's cheaper, and an MBA from the ivy's is worth far more than an undergrad.

Answer 3

I'm sure that you're aware of how competitive schools like these are. Never forget that you must be constantly aware of the sometimes-arbitrary nature of college admissions. You may have read the posts in CollegeConfidential.com's discussion forums about the students who are rejected from their first-choice schools for no apparent reason. I mention this only to underscore the point that, in most cases with the top schools, and especially the Ivy League, there is no such thing as a "sure thing" when it comes to getting in. Just keep a reasonable perspective.

Last year was, without doubt, the toughest year ever for elite college admissions. Many seniors with 1550+ SAT Is and 770+ SAT IIs (etc., etc.) were either rejected or waitlisted. I find this situation almost unbelievable. I say these things not to discourage you but, rather, to prepare you for what lies ahead: a challenging admissions process. This year will be even tougher, especially among the Top-25 colleges and the Ivies.


Ivy League Admissions: You Make the Call - Who Got In?
I hope that you're getting a better or at least more realistic picture of the Ivy League challenge and hopefully adjusting your perspective away from your original misconceptions. To give you even more background, let's examine a few samples of the kind of applicants these schools judged last fall and winter. Here are the composite profiles of three Ivy aspirants for the Class of '05. See what you think of them.

First, a word about where this information came from: One of the services College Confidential offers as part of its admissions counseling division is called a Stats Evaluation. High schoolers who want a professional opinion regarding their chances at their candidate colleges can submit their Stats Evaluation form.

The form asks students to supply detailed information about their academic and extracurricular ("EC") accomplishments, awards and honors, and a writing sample. There is also a place to add any comments that may help to explain their motivations, goals, or special circumstances. From this information, we issue a written analysis of the student's chances, offering suggestions on how they might improve the likelihood of getting into their top choices. Then come the student's questions and our answers, followed by the application process and the eventual fat or thin envelopes.

The Ivy League admissions cycle is not an easy procedure. To test your current level of Ivy admissions savvy, let's see how you fare with your analysis instincts (no fair skipping ahead to see the results). Here are the data based on three actual Stats Evaluation forms we received last fall prior to the November 1 early application deadline. The students' names and other unique personal information have been altered to protect their privacy. I provide some brief introductory comments before each one for context. As you assume the role of Ivy League admissions officer, your challenge is to admit them or deny them. The actual outcomes follow the third student's stats.

Answer 4

You need to ask this directly of the school(s) you are ultimately interested in going to. Many Ivy League schools don't accept transfer credit at all. They have the rather snobish attitude that if you didn't earn the credit there, it's not worth anything. You would likely find it easier to earn a four-year degree elsewhere and then apply to an Ivy League graduate school.

Answer 5

ouch, probably not very good if you dont have the GPA from a real college. a 4.0 from community college isnt very impressive (i mean, come on). they might let you in if they are filling some quota of vets or something, but i bet you wont get in

Answer 6

sorry to break it to y'all, I dont know of Ivy League Business schools for people who do not have a BS/BA degree already. You have to get your BA/BS degree first than unless you were a total stud in school with tons of internships and recommendations than you got to have couple of years of experience in a professional business environment with records of achievement.