<p>I'm soon going to take undergraduate course in physics (probably, I'm a versatile person with interests in law and politics as well), at some not-very-prestigious European University. Unfortunately, my plans about studying in the U.S. got messed up due to financial and private issues, and now I have 2 options:</p>
<p>a) to earn by B Sc here and try to pursue my further education at some Ivy League college
b) to transfer during my undergraduate course</p>
<p>Is there anything (generally) that could boost my chances of either? I mean, I'm completely aware of the difficulties of getting admitted there, but I'm willing to work hard, plus I already got 2300+ on my SAT's.</p>
<p>For your prompt reply
I say thanks in advance!</p>
Get to know a couple of your professors. I understand that education at European universities can be very anonymous, but you will need three letters of recommendation from professors who are familiar with your work and your potential. Ideally, your letters should say “This is the best student I have worked with in years!”</p>
<p>It is hard to get into the Ivy League as a transfer student because they accept very few transfer students in general. Your chances are better for graduate school. There is also much more financial aid available for international graduate students. </p>
<p>In either case, I would not restrict my attention to the Ivy League because they may not be the best place to study physics, especially at the graduate level. US News publishes a ranking of physics graduate programs in various specialties (nuclear, plasma, quantum, cosmology, condensed matter, etc). You should take these rankings with a grain of salt, but they demonstrate that the best programs in a given specialty might be at universities with less name recognition than Harvard.</p>
<p>Random question, does your university happen to have an exchange program with an American university? That might give you a bit of study abroad experience before graduate school, and it might also open opportunities for you that you may not get at your home universities.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is possible for you, but option C: take a gap year and apply to Ivy League this fall?</p>
<p>If you really want to go to the US, and if you think you’re a qualified applicant (your SAT score suggests that), then it might be worth considering. Did you do IB DP? What about your extracurriculars and SAT IIs?</p>