Messed up my freshman year, would like to transfer to a Tier 1/2 school

Transfer Students
1

<p>A bit of background:</p>

<p>In HS, I was 6/27, 98% GPA, one AP class (The only one offered), no volunteering (worked full time). My SAT scores were 680/680/620 with no studying.</p>

<p>I only applied to a few colleges, and I ended up enrolling at the University of Maine as a computer science major. When I got there, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and didn't really care about my GPA. My cumulative GPA for my freshman year was roughly a 2.7 (28 credits). </p>

<p>However, I have some very strong extracurriculars (Investment club, cyber defense club, tutoring, etc) and became pretty close with a few of my professors. </p>

<p>Thankfully, I have found my passion: Wall Street. This summer, I am interning at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.</p>

<p>I would really like to transfer to a better school, but I know my GPA is probably too low for consideration. I plan on retaking the SAT's in the fall, and I expect to get low/mid 700's, based on my practice tests. I'm also going to be an RA. I'm confident that I'll be able to maintain a 4.0 or close to it from now on. (Switched to Economics major, changed my lifestyle)</p>

<p>My questions:</p>

<p>1) Should I bother trying to transfer after the fall semester, when my cumulative GPA will hopefully be a 3.1~ ?</p>

<p>2) If not in the fall, is transferring still possible during my junior year? (I have no problem with going to school for 5 years.)</p>

<p>3) Any thoughts on higher-level schools with loose transfer requirements, especially those with lots of alumni on Wall Street?</p>

2

<p>Don’t transfer after fall semester, especially if you are supposed to be an RA for the full year… It’ll make it really hard on your residents, especially if they are freshman. If you really want to transfer, you could still apply to schools your sophomore year and transfer in as a Junior.</p>

<p>Those don’t really exist unless you are on a community college path with automatic/high acceptance rates contingent on a minimum GPA. If it was easy to transfer to great schools, everyone would do it. </p>

<p>Personally, I don’t think where you graduate is nearly as important as what you do during college. For example, that internship will look great, especially if you can get a letter of rec from your boss. Doing nothing but studying even at the best schools will not get you your desired job. My .02, work hard in school, transfer only if you really hate the school, and get as many internships/come back to the same internship (if possible) as that gives you work experience and looks a lot better when applying for jobs. If you do an amazing job at an internship, you may even be offered a job upon college graduation. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>