merc81: Yes, I agree. And between my prospective choices, there is certainly a range of friendliness to transfers–from Bowdoin and Chicago at the lower end of things, to St. John’s and Kentucky at the higher end of the spectrum. Though, St. John’s is a bit different insofar as you aren’t transferring into the college as much as you are beginning again. Reed College is rather friendly to transfers, accepting around 30% of applicants, and the rest of the schools are somewhere between 10% and 15%. Part of the reason why I have so many prospective schools is because I am well aware of the fact that, in general, and certainly for these sorts of schools, the chances of being admitted as a transfer is slimmer than being admitted as a first year, and I am hopeful that the greater number of schools applied to will result in (somewhat) better chances of being admitted to at least one.
AGoodFloridian: I am making good progress on the essay portion of the application, and only have a few essays to finish. So it isn’t as daunting as it may otherwise be. I do have financial need; the last few years has seen some relatively serious tumult in my family. That the school would be 100% of demonstrated need was one of my criteria in the college search.
I should also mention that one of my letters of recommendation is from a professor who is currently on-staff at Brown, which will presumably be of some benefit, however small.