High GPA transfer looking for a top 30

Transfer Students
1

Hi, I’m a Business Analytics/Finance major who’s looking to transfer schools.

I was wondering what my odds were at transfer acceptance to the listed schools and other comparable ones

2nd sem sophomore. I gained sophomore status as a result of AP credit so I have no grade tied to my first 30 credits.

Purdue satellite school (supposed to have the same course rigor as the main campus). I chose this school because it was within commuting distance to home which was important to me bc I didn’t feel comfortable leaving home yet and personal issues. However, things have changed since then.

Looking for a top 30-40 school

The good:

3.94 GPA in my first actual semester of college and I fully expect a 3.9-4.0 for this upcoming semester

10 AP’s

Strong upward GPA trend from the end of HS to the beginning of college

1480 SAT (Didn’t study, so I’m willing to retake if I need a better score) (I know some schools don’t require it, but worth mentioning, I suppose)

I’m a good writer with an interesting story to tell in my essays

The bad:

For reasons I’d rather not get into, my GPA for my first 3 years of HS was bad (2.7 UW and 3.2 W), but I showed improvement after that: 3.4 - 3.7 - 3.94 - 4.0 (UW and incl college)

Below avg EC’s

Colleges I’m Considering

Safety: Purdue Main Campus (West Lafayette)

Fit?: USC, Northeastern, Stevens IT, UC Irvine, UNC-Chapel Hill, UT Austin

Reach?: Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, NYU, Cornell, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, UCLA

I decided it wouldn’t benefit me much to transfer to schools that aren’t significantly better than Purdue, so I’m aiming for the top 30-40 schools. I think this is reasonable, but info on transfers like mine is scarce. Please respond honestly as I’m certainly not looking to be patronized. I’ve researched plenty, but have yet to find a case comparable to mine, so I figure this will be a good way to testing the waters. Also, any recommendations for schools that would be a good fit would be much appreciated.

2

First question: can you afford to transfer to these schools. You are a nonresident for a number of these schools and won’t qualify for instate funding and tuition.

3

“it wouldn’t benefit me much to transfer to schools that aren’t significantly better than Purdue”

I think that this is very sound thinking. Purdue is quite a good university.

I agree with @“aunt bea”'s question, can you afford these schools? You have some expensive schools on your list. I guess that the good news is that it would hopefully be for less than four years.

Other than this issue, I think that you have a good list and a good plan. I would think of Purdue’s main campus as your most likely destination, and the other’s as possibilities.

4

I agree with the above advice. All these schools are high reaches, not only because of the admission rate, but also because of cost. You’ll likely get in to at least one of them, and find out you can’t afford it. Not only that, you may find that a lot of your credits don’t transfer either.

You’re WAY better off going to Purdue. It’s affordable and your credits are guaranteed to transfer

5

Finances shouldn’t be too big of a problem for me considering I can probably afford it considering mine and my family’s current financial situation and the fact that I’ll be applying as a Junior with no debt. By my estimation, it’ll be worth it if I can get into one of my reach schools, but I would be better off at Purdue if I don’t.

Do you think I could receive admission into at least one of the reach schools? Thanks for the advice, regardless.

6

Even if you haven’t borrowed for freshman and sophomore year, the federal loans won’t be retroactive, i.e. you can’t borrow more than the limit by dipping backwards into the money you didn’t borrow for last year.

Don’t operate on “probably afford it”. Get a real, granular number from your parents as to what they can give you for the next two years. Then sit down and figure out how big the gap is.