<p>and eventually transfer to a better university or will average high school grades kill those chances?</p>
<p>Lets say you were average high school student who didn't do spectacular because you went to a competitive magnet school, but you ended up with a 3.5 GPA during the time of college admissions (started out slow your freshman and sophomore years). Also your SAT score is a 2190. Now you end up going to a tier 3 school for the sake of money and you don't apply to any of the top schools because you know you probably won't get in, while you are at that tier 3 school you end up with a 4.0 GPA for your first two years.</p>
<p>Now you are a student there who has dreams of transferring up to a top notch university because now you have a clean slate and you have managed to get a high GPA. Will your average performance in high school kill your chances of transferring to the following colleges?</p>
<ol>
<li>Columbia University (dream school).</li>
<li>Yale University (they take transfers but I know the acceptance rate).</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania.</li>
<li>Cornell University.</li>
<li>Boston College</li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>Penn State</li>
<li>Ohio State</li>
<li>University of Michigan</li>
<li>University of Connecticut</li>
</ol>
<p>I currently attend Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. I attend this college because I really do not have to pay anything for it and currently I am a freshman here. I will probably lose my 4.0 GPA because I will most likely get an A- or B in one class so it may end up as a 3.9 or 3.8. Eitherways, a lot of the seniors at this college say that the first semester is usually the most difficult and if I can make it through there with a good GPA then chances are I will probably have a better GPA as time moves on. The professors have told me that I am a hardworker and some ask me what I am even doing at Armstrong and why I didn't go to a college like Harvard or Princeton. My parents say that after my sophomore year of college they want me to transfer and they will pay for my final two years of college. I also want this for myself.</p>
<p>The reasons for my average GPA in high school include</p>
<ol>
<li>Learning English late in life (at the age of 12).</li>
<li>Going to a high school which has courses that are honors level and up.</li>
<li>Living in a poor area in general where most of the public schools are torn down and magnet schools are the only option, also an area where opportunities are hard to come by in terms of summer work and what not.</li>
<li>Starting out slow at a magnet high school because of adjusting to a new standard and being at a conflict with myself (I really did not want to live down south).</li>
</ol>
<p>Anyways guys I want to attend a university in the northeast, one that has a good name to it. I really feel now that I have completely adjusted to life in America and now that I have a clean slate and an equal opportunity, that I will be able to compete with a lot of the kids at the top universities. My goal is to ultimately go to a top grad school like Harvard or Yale.</p>
<p>Also, life here in the south is boring (even in Savannah) and I am not much of a southern guy myself. I love life in the north and I believe going there will give me the best experience for my college years because I will be at a place I like. I am set on transferring and I have talked to a lot of people about it and they agree with my reasons for it. My biology professor has told me that he will be more than happy to write me a recommendation letter if I do plan on transferring to Columbia.</p>
<p>thanks for all help.</p>