Is transferring as a freshman really going to be impossible?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I understand that typically, transfer applicants who are looking to transfer to a new school are seen as stronger candidates when applying for the fall of their junior (not sophomore) year. The earlier you apply, (IE as a freshman for sophomore transfer), the greater the weight on your high school grades. From my point of view, the main reason to transfer from one college to another is because you didn't perform to the best of your ability in high school, but got your act together in college.</p>

<p>So is an exceptionally strong freshman college GPA and solid extracurriculars enough to negate a lackluster high school performance? If one's test scores (any test scores- SAT, ACT, AP...) were within ranges for schools that one's high school GPA never matched, could going on to do college work that clearly outperforms earlier transcripts be enough for admission as a sophomore?</p>

<p>Because the way I see it, if I'm transferring, I'd want to get to the next place as soon as possible in order to obtain the greatest experience and most time on campus.</p>

2

<p>I’m in a very similar situation as you. Bad highschool gpa+sat/act and good college gpa(well at least assuming…).</p>

<p>For ppl like us, there are both pros and cons of applying as sophomore transfer and junior transfer. Of course, assuming we get amazing gpa in college. And it really also depends on HOW BAD the highschool GPA + sat/act score is.</p>

<p>**Sophomore Transfer<a href=“depends%20a%20lot%20on%20high%20school%20record%20IMO”>/B</a></p>

<p>Pros: applying early is good cuz colleges want transfers to come earlier. If possible, they want transfers to take their classes as soon as possible and take credits from their school and make school fee payments for 3 years. You might get accepted as a transfer if your highschool record is a little below the average incoming freshmen of that college.</p>

<p>Cons: you compete against incoming freshman with good highschool record and test scores. You might have no chance at all if your highschool GPA and test scores are TOO low compared to the incoming freshmen at that school.
For ex: someone with 2.5 gpa highschool+1700 SAT score will never get into Yale even with 4.0 college gpa as a sophomore transfer</p>

<p>And colleges dont have enough evidence that you are a good candidate. Unfortunately, as a sophomore transfer, you Only show 1 semester of freshmen year…</p>

<p>Junior Transfer
Pros: you can prove colleges for sure that you are a good candidate. You are going to take specific advanced classes of your particular major, so theres less need to worry about competing for class spaces along with incoming freshmen(most freshmen take general math+english classes since they usually dont decide a major their first year)</p>

<p>Cons: but there might not be spaces available for you if there are too many outstanding and excelling people doing the same major or at the particular college. This might happen at schools that are popular for ex: upenn’s wharton school, nyu’s stern business school, etc…
(Fortunately, this only applies to very few top schools and this also belongs to the “Cons” section for sophomore transfers)</p>

<p>So generally for transfers with bad high school record and good college gpa, it is better to transfer as a junior.
But as I showed above, it all depends on how hard it is to get into the school you are applying and how bad/good your highschool record is.
If your highschool record is not too bad compared to the incoming freshman of that school, it is worth giving a shot as a sophomore transfer.</p>