From a SUNY to a top-50?

<p>Hi</p>

<p>My oldest daughter who is currently a freshman studying in SUNY Geneseo is doing quite well (3.81 GPA freshman year for first semester).
However, she told me she wants to look for chances to transfer after the freshman year, since some of her fellow classmates are also transferring out (mostly to Cornell or U of Rochester)
She implies that Geneseo is a boring place, and she can't stand the NY weather.
We're from Hawaii, but she told me that the University of Hawaii at Manoa, which we considered as our best state university, is not much of a good fit for her and she wants to study in the continent.
She was accepted by U of Miami, Penn State and Reed College as a freshman, but she rejected them because of the expensive price tags.
She was rejected by her dream schools (UVa and W&M) and she was devastated, so she chose the cheapest option out of all, which is Geneseo. (considered she still has a pair of twin brothers going to college 2 years later)</p>

<p>Her HS result is not that great-
GPA: 3.35UW, (88 in number grade)
Competitive private high school, top 20%
SAT: 1580 out of 2400 (English is not her first language)
TOEFL: 94
3APs -World History 4, Env Sci 5, Chinese 5
tons of ECs and first generation college student (we're proud of her!)
ethnicity- Asian: 2/4 Chinese, 1/4 Japanese, 1/4 Filipino</p>

<p>She's looking for a top 50 school to transfer to, however, she's afraid that nobody has ever heard of SUNY Geneseo out of the NY state and she doesn't like that most people treat all SUNY schools the same, because Geneseo is supposed to be considered as the most competitive and rigorous SUNY among all.</p>

<p>Probably schools in the south/west, such as Emory, Vanderbilt, or UCs would be the best for her.</p>

<p>Any chances?</p>

<p>(Later on I'll let my daughter to talk on here using my account, right now she's busy with her school work, so I help her to post on the forum)</p>

<p>well, i mean transfer after the SOPHOMORE year
since she can’t do transfer now</p>

<p>Unless she wants to leave Geneseo and attend a CC for a year, she will have to stick it out at least through fall semester, and probably next spring as well. After that, depending on her college GPA (which will have much more influence on admissions decisions), she will be able to apply to whatever type of school interests her. Make sure she knows what kind of school that is–look at size, location, weather (of course!).</p>

<p>Keep in mind that schools do not typically offer much in the way of financial aid for transfers, so if she does transfer, she may be looking at student loans.</p>

<p>If she’s worried about people not knowing her school, she shouldn’t. I’m semi-familiar with SUNY Geneseo and I am a VA resident with no connections to New York at all.</p>

<p>in my opinion it is better to transfer after two years at a college. I’m going through the process now and have found that since im a sophomore transferring to be a junior my high school record is not weighted as heavily as my college record.
If your daughter transfers for next year, her high school record will still be a large component of an admissions decision since she would have only a year of college, and like myself her college gpa is more impressive than her high school gpa.
For the Fall of 2011, I’m almost positive Vanderbilt’s deadline has passed…i can’t speak on the other schools.
And by the way, although I’m a NY State Resident and naturally know of Geneseo; in terms of name recognition she has nothing to know about. Your everyday citizen may not know a whole lot about Geneseo but the people that need to know (admissions staff, college employees) all are aware of Geneseo…its a fine liberal arts school and a tremendous value.</p>

<p>Yes, I second or third that sticking it out another year is the best option. Have her continue to do well at Geneseo and keep her GPA up, she will be able to transfer where ever she wants after if she still chooses. Moving from Hawaii to NY is a HUGE culture shock, I can definitely see why she doesn’t like the weather, but try and convince her to stick it out another year, and if she still feels the same to transfer. She can also reapply to those dream schools of her’s if she sticks it out.</p>