<p>Hi there, I'm an international student from China and I'm currently studying at a top 70 public university.</p>
<p>Here is the thing. I transferred to US after Fall 2012, which is the first semester of my junior year in China. I started at my current college with 33 credit hours (makes me a sophomore) although none of them count for gpa. My GPA of Spring 2013 is 3.93, and I probably could pull off a 4.0 this semester with 18 credit hours. Recently I've been thinking about transferring again because I really want to be academically challenged and to be surrounded by people who care more about knowledge (I hate big classes as well). However, my gpa in the first college is horrendous (different grading system but approximately 2.6-3.0), and I also want to pursue a PhD in the future.</p>
<p>So my question is, will my previous gpa reduce my chances of getting into colleges like U Michigan or Cornell, and is it a bad thing to have 3 transcripts when applying to grad school?</p>
<p>PS: I could get 2 strong R of L, but I barely have ECs. I don't have SAT as well but planning on taking one.</p>
<p>Plus, my high school gpa is 3.3-3.5, and I’m not applying for aid. Guess my main concern is whether my previous GPA would affect my transfer result. If it would, I’ll probably just stick with my current college (although I’m socially unhappy because I don’t like party or drinking, call me nerd but studying is really what i want to do now).</p>
<p>If you want to pursue a PhD you need to build relationships with faculty members who can act as research advisors and write your letters of recommendation. You also need to start building up a track record of scholarship and research.</p>
<p>Both of those things are going to be difficult if you’re transferring all over the place.</p>
<p>It can be frustrating to be in a place with large classes and many unintellectual peers. On the other hand, you will have many small classes and intellectual peers at a PhD program. And Michigan and Cornell have a lot of large classes (and partying) as well. And if many of your peers don’t care much about knowledge, it will be easier to stand out as a budding researcher to the faculty.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice.
I know that stability is an important factor. However, I’m really unhappy right now, and I feel like there are still a lot of things to learn. I know that U Mich is also a big university and the reason why I want to apply is that U Mich is top 5 in psychology, which is my major. If I transfer to U Mich and stay at least 2 years (or 6 semesters given Umich’s trimester calendar), would it be easier for me to get into U Mich’s grad school?</p>