Tip 7:  GPA and a Strategic Course Schedule

​​

​Bound for a selective college?  Then your GPA should be getting to, at, or even better, above a 3.5.  It gets better: a 3.5 GPA with 100-level courses and few 200 level courses is weaker than a 3.5 GPA with more 200-level courses and fewer 100-level.  This means your elective courses should be 200s and above if possible.  Do not fool yourself with easy or manageable courses; you sure won't fool an admissions committee.

​​​​​Now for the cake:  Admissions officers at selective institutions believe that a rigorous academic curriculum is absolutely necessary and a prerequisite for your admission.  They want to make sure that you can handle the level of academics their school offers.  This means Honors courses in your 2-year education, people!  No Exceptions!  The more you take (and of course, ​do WELL in!), the more desirable you are to these schools.​​​​​​​​

So what courses you ask?  For EVERY major, and all walks of life: ​​​​

a.)     Mathematics: Up to and above Calculus I (& for many of us, this often means starting from college algebra and working your way up!) ​​​​

b.)     Quantitative Reasoning: Statistics ​​​​

c.)     Natural Science: Biology (2​00 or up/ or Honors) or Chemistry ​​​​

d.)     Humanities: for example, Philosophy, Art History, Music History​​​​

e.)     Literature: ENG 200 and above (in addition to your 100-level composition courses)​​​​

f.)     Social Science: for example, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Geography.  History is highly recommended.​​​​

g.)     Foreign Language (Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, etc.)​
​
Luckily for you all, most of the above courses are available as Honors sections. Make plans to rearrange your course schedule to include Honors courses now!  The best idea is to speak to the Honors Program faculty for advice on your intentions and subsequently, to set up a meeting with an Honors Program student peer to help arrange your Honors schedule for your remaining time at the college.​​​​

One last piece of advice: the semester before you submit your application (e.g., Fall 2011 for transfer in Fall 2012, or Spring 2011 for transfer in Spring 2012) is what an admissions committee will hone in on.  Your courses will reflect on your competence.  Criteria include: grades, difficulty of curriculum, and Honors courses.  Make sure that your course schedule--especially for this semester--demonstrates your commitment to academic excellence.​​​​

Tip 8:  Standardized Examinations (That's Right: Top Schools Favor Top Candidates)​

​

Ok, here it comes.  I'll give you a minute.  Yes, the SATs and the ACT are important if you desire to get into the upper stratosphere of selective colleges.  Yes, there is movement to repeal the standardized tests in higher education so as to address the socio-economic disparities in U.S. education (and around the globe).  However, the issue's controversial nature will contribute to the turtle-like speed with which this movement claws away.  This manifests itself through college policies such as at Amherst, Cornell, and Brown, which declare that SAT/ ACTs are optional for transfer students, but at schools like Williams, Harvard, and Yale, standardized tests are mandatory.

The SAT tests students in the broad academic topics of Critical Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, while the ACT tests for English, Math, Reading and Science.



Some Advice:



a.) Start by visiting these sites:



http://www.Collegeboard.org/

http://www.actstudent.org/



b.) Initial web search: Look for blogs, articles, guides, videos (YouTube), and SAT/ ACTs books (Collegeboard, Kaplan, Princeton Review, are a few good examples).  A recommendation: Purchase big practice test books (usually 10 tests inside each with answers), and look for testing sites/ organizations in the city that offer free testing services.  You want to complete between 10-15 practice tests (although I recommend 25-30 tests) and become comfortable with your scores before taking the actual test.  For the fall transfer student, your last chance to take the SAT before admission deadlines is in January of that year (for ACT, its in the month before in December).  For the spring transfer, SAT in June, and ACT in September. 

c.) Time commitment: You can spend Saturdays for a whole year studying (5-6 hours per day), or you could spend 3 months composed of 3-4 days per week studying (3-4 hours/ per day), or 1 month composed of 5-6 days per week studying (5-6 hours/ per day) prior to the test.

d.) Join a study group, or better yet, take the initiative: create your own group on campus (or general community/city area).  Consider reaching out to Test-Prep organizations like Kaplan, which may grant you course discounts for being a community college student, minority, etc.

e.) Keep the long-term goal in mind: While it may cause a headache learning half the dictionary, think about the riches you are acquiring for your future.  It is an intellectual investment. Embrace the challenge; only then can you benefit from it.

Tip 9:  Extra-Curricular Activities

(Involvement + Good Articulation= Dynamic Candidate)​

​

These qualities are what differentiate you from the pack.  The activities point to your passions, to what kind of student you will be on their campus community, and to your leadership potential. Colleges love students who take the initiative in joining/creating clubs (or organizations, committees and so on), taking leadership of volunteer projects, taking leadership of organizations, and more specifically, hearing about what challenges you overcame in these endeavors.  Were you inventive in finding solutions?  What did you discover about yourself and about others during your experience?  How will you use your refined outlook on life in future endeavors?  Also remember that you can be active with community organizations (outside of campus) as well.  A quick web search will lead you to a plethora of organizations that you can sign up to serve as a volunteer.

Tip 10:  Accomplishment Piggy Bank

​

In the midst of the many activities you have (or will be) engaged in, it is important that you keep a list of accomplishments with you (next to your Resume folder in your USB flash drive, or Big Binder).  Each activity should detail in a paragraph or two what you did (also note down any leadership work done), and if you received an award or honor, what year you participated in, and approximately how many hours you had invested.  This list will be your gold when filling in blanks in your various applications.

Tip 11:  Recommendations​

​

First things first, ask for letters at least 3 months in advance of application deadlines.  Also, you never want to just drop in on a professor, advisor, employer, administrator, etc., to ask for a letter of recommendation.  There are required steps (available elsewhere on this website).  For our purpose here, I'll say this: when your letter writer puts together the piece, what would you like him/her to say?  In fact, why not try a fun assignment: write a letter of recommendation from your ideal professor's/advisor's point of view to your dream school about what makes you unique, what you've accomplished in their course, what kind of a student you were, how you've overcome struggles, how you've proven your academic potential (with specific examples of your written work), and how specifically you've contributed to the college community.  You see all these ingenious ideas?  Put them into action. Cultivate a relationship with your writers.  All this said, you will need a recommendation packet, so that you can approach your writer with a packet of material in hand that they can use to compile your achievements into a masterpiece of non-fiction literature.

BONUS Section (Extra Credit)

This segment is for those who are willing to stop at nothing to get into their dream school.​

​

Competitions (They are the cherries and whip cream on top of your cake)
There is a section in the Common App (and in most independent applications) reserved for Honors/ Awards.  Whether you've won at a local/state/national level--be it an academic competition in debate, art, economics, science, or for other scholarly work; or for non-academic activities like athletics, chess, music etc.--you will be in good shape because colleges love winners.  Think about a competition that you can enter and have good chances at winning and get right in!  Fortunately, there thousands of these and a quick web search will yield many that you can engage in.  Since we are talking about honors, of course, don't forget to join the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society.  In addition to having the distinction of being a member of an honor society, this organization offers numerous leadership and service opprtunities, and merit and transfer scholarships (but you have to apply for these scholarships, which do not come automatically with membership).

​

Books
This is college.  Put together a solid list of literature to read before you actually transfer, and start reading!  Widen your vocabulary.  The higher we go in the education ladder, the more books students will have to read.  That is no coincidence.  Ever heard of a little thing called a Senior Thesis?  Yeah, this scholarly contribution not only requires you to digest a ton of scholarly books, but it will also epitomize your college education, and potentially open doors to new opportunities, including increased chances of getting into graduate school.  So why not get a headstart and hit the books (not just the ones required for your courses)?

Scholarly Medicine
If you have iTunes, open it up.  Check out the iTunes Store.  You'll find an iTunes U tab on the top; click on it Eureka!!  You have just accessed a large collection of FREE subscriptions to the world's most renowned universities and their courses in major academic disciplines.  You can also do a quick YouTube search (e.g. Yale courses).  In retrospect, you will have gained an understanding of the kind of education you'll receive at these universities.

Final Words
For the community college student, the high achiever, and the competent individual like yourself, the transfer process may still seem overwhelming.  Think about it like this: it is your rite of passage.  Like many of the finest students in the world who study in the United States (yes, you are one of them), this is the ultimate task presented to you that you must overcome. But fear not. If you surround yourself with individuals dreaming big like you are (befriend HSAC and PTK officers and alumni), seek out and accept guidance from advisors and professors, and implement the steps in this guide, you will greatly improve your odds of getting into your dream schools.

Transferring to a Selective College: 11 Strategies & Bonus

By Kevin Magana (Honors Student Advisory Committee Founding Member; Honors Program Concentration Graduate, LaGuardia ’11; Georgetown ‘14).