This.
Take advantage of the amazing opportunities at UMich and use that to apply to grad school at the “prestigious” schools you’ve set your eyes on. You could be throwing away that option and burning bridges by applying to transfer now.
ETA: As someone else mentioned, it is also unlikely that a school that rejected your application last year would accept it this year.
It sounds like you may be falling victim to a well-known phenomenon called “The Fallacy of Sunk Costs”. It is very common, and very problematic. Here is an example of what that means, if you are not familiar with it.
The “sunk cost fallacy” is when we continue an action because of our past decisions (time, money, resources) rather than a rational choice of what will maximise our utility at this present time. (Cite: Sunk Cost Fallacy - Economics Help
Taking everything you have written at face value, PLEASE consider staying where you are and not even submitting your transfer applications. The “sunk costs” of time and energy in writing applications is just that – a sunk cost that you should ignore because it will not help you gain the future that you want. (Actually, any improved skills you developed are a benefit that will serve you well in the future, so it is not entirely a wasted endeavor).
The academic-research world is small and people will talk about what appears to be your short-sighted (and potentially self-serving) choices. Stay where you are, don’t tell anyone about your wish to leave and do really well at UMich. You will very likely NOT get these same opportunities elsewhere and you are already developing a stellar record at UMich. Ride that for a few years and then you should have a great chance anywhere at all that you want to go for grad school.
If you apply to transfer now, you will very likely not get in to your desired schools AND you will very likely significantly damage your reputation where you are, unless you are completely transparent with your current PI – and possibly do damage to yourself even if you are transparent. That’s because your success in getting the new grants has catapulted you above and beyond what is expected for a typical undergraduate, so you will very likely be judged by standards that are typically applied to grad students, and your desire to transfer for prestige will not be well-received.
I don’t think that he can. His name isn’t on it. I think OP should be very, very careful about claiming to have written something that doesn’t list him as an author.
Whippymop: I think this is the best suggestion yet. I think I’ll apply using that phrasing.
Will you be telling your professor this is what you’re doing? You don’t want them finding out from the grants’ office.
I agree with others about really thinking through what your long-term goals are before you move forward. If your plan is to attend an elite grad school then you’re in an excellent position to be competitive. Stay where you are, develop your research skills, and make contacts. Even if you’re successful in transferring it doesn’t mean you’ll have the opportunity to do research. And if you’re rejected from these schools a second time you may end up not doing research at your current university either.
He doesn’t need to have his name on it to say that he helped write the proposal (assuming that it is true).
That said, the OP should really listen to the great advice everyone is giving him and seriously reconsider transferring. They seem to have great research opportunity at UM and are clearly valued by the professor. It is rare to have such opportunities during undergrad let alone during first year.
You’re already doing undergraduate research and you might be publishing work. You have a good thing going here. Why leave? This research could seriously launch a good career. I would stay if I were you.
Also, your PI got the grant because he has educational credentials. In academics, credentials are everything. That makes it rightfully his grant because it’s his project. If you take credit for the project, the university not only won’t believe you, they will consider it a form of plagiarism, because research projects rely on a chain of command based on credentials. You’ll never be considered for undergraduate research.
On the other hand, if you stick with the project, you might be able to co-author a published paper, and the work you put in would genuinely be yours.
I think the advice here is sound. You’re not doing yourself any favors transferring out, and you’d be literally throwing away a solid opportunity right in front of your nose. This kind of research lands people good jobs out of college.