confused sophomore!! possible junior transferee

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hey all,
I have been thinking about transferring from my school to a more competitive school, but I'm facing a small dilemma. The reason being is that the school that I currently attend gave me a great experience (such as letting me participate in their med school's research) that I fear may not be provided by the school I might transfer to. It is a top tier school and ranked in top 5 public schools or top 30 national schools according to usnews. The only thing that is prompting me to switch schools is that I want to be considered a student not just a number (the school enrolls 40k students and its very overwhelming) I have been seriously thinking about going to UVA (close to home), UCLA (my dream school) or whatever you guys might be recommending.</p>

<p>My stats are:
-OOS student (virginia resident)
-Non-native English speaker but a U.S citizen (immigrated from a poor country in Africa)
-3.8 college gpa with 34 credits (taking primarily pre-med courses aside from philosphy and german courses)
-participated in med school's research studies for fall/spring(my name was published on pubmed.com as one of the animal neurosurgeons)
-certified as a firefighter/emt (been active in the ems since junior year in high school)
- shadowed my dad's surgeries since sophomore year in hs (about 200 hours now)
- this sophomore year I'll act as a CPR instructor for school's student EMS group
-got a 3.4 unweighted gpa in hs and 1050 on SATs ( took it 3 times before I called it quits :/ )</p>

<p>I'm just wondering if it's worth it to transfer or am I fine where I'm at.
Feel free to reply to this, all comments are welcomed.</p>

<p>EDIT: i was put on the dean's list for academic achievements</p>

2

<p>"The only thing that is prompting me to switch schools is that I want to be considered a student not just a number"</p>

<p>Just where, and how, does your current school make you feel like a number? You are already doing research. You are already in pubmed. That sure doesn't look like being "a number" to me! On the contrary, it looks like you have found a small place within the bigger place where you can learn and grow academically.</p>

<p>What do you want from a "smaller" school? Smaller classes? Look at the upper level classes at your current university, how many students are in those classes? You might find out that they are small enough for you. If so, how long before you are in those classes?</p>

<p>How important is your research to you? What other colleges and universities offer similar opportunities? Where do your current professors have contacts? They may know someone at a "smaller" school who you could work with.</p>

<p>Over the years I've studied at small schools and big schools. Both have advantages, and both have disadvantages. On paper, it looks to me like you are doing fine where you are, but only you know if you are happy there. I wish you all the best as you go through the process of sorting things out.</p>