My daughter took the guaranteed transfer option to ILR after spending her freshman year at a small LAC. While she enjoyed her freshman year at the LAC (and we’d encouraged her to stay if she preferred), she’d decided early on to take the transfer option to ILR. She had a terrific experience at Cornell with some fantastic classes, and graduated with a terrific job in NYC in HR for a large company. Full disclosure, I’m a Cornell grad (but not ILR) so my daughter might have always been inclined to make the switch no matter how much she enjoyed her 1st school.