I hate the school that I’m at now for many reasons. I was accepted to BU but for personal (and rather stupid) reasons I chose to go with a smaller school.
It’s my first semester as a premed student but currently have all A’s and one B in gen chem (will probably stay that until the end of the semester/raise the B since it’s a B-). My high school grades were terrible but I have an SAT score of 1500. I worked for a plastic surgeon and gen surgeon at their offices for 4 years throughout high school, volunteered at my local hospital for four years, and volunteer at the hospital here in town as well.
I’m planning on applying to transfer for Fall 2018 to BU, BC, Tufts, Northeastern, and the University of Maryland. I know they’re all huge long shots but I need to get out of this place. Do I stand any chance or would I be most successful after a year, then applying for spring '19?
How does cost compare between the current school and the other schools? Remember that medical school is expensive.
Currently paying almost $20k per year for the school I’m at right now because I got tremendous financial aid + scholarships and took out a loan. The school is ridiculously expensive for something that feels like a community college.
Have you checked the net price calculators at those other schools?
Be aware that some schools may offer worse financial aid to transfers than frosh; they may have a disclaimer on the net price calculator that it is only for frosh (though you could still run it in this case, but assuming that the actual offer will be worse than what it shows).
Also, for sophomore level transfer admissions, your high school record will still be important, since you will not have much of a college record. Junior level transfer admissions may de-emphasize high school record (or not consider it at all at some schools) because you will have more of a college record.
Also remember that transfer can be a risk in needing to adjust to a new school, which may increase risk to your vitally important (for pre-med purposes) GPA. If you maintain a pre-med-worthy GPA at your current school, it may be safer for your GPA to stay there, compared to transferring to a school with potentially stronger competition for grades in curve-graded classes.
Thank you for the advice.
Does anyone know how withdrawals look like to colleges when transferring? I am considering dropping one course but would still be taking about 13 credits with a 4.0 GPA.
Look into the implications of withdrawal grades on your transcript for medical school, not just transfer.
Could you be a little more specific? I feel as if by saying “implications” you’re alluding to it being unfavorable. Of course I don’t think medical schools will look favorably upon it but I’ve scoured sites like studentdoctor.net and they say the same thing: one withdrawal doesn’t look that bad as long as your GPA and MCAT scores are still killer.
“How does cost compare between the current school and the other schools? Remember that medical school is expensive.”
@ucbalumnus is exactly correct. If you are considering medical school, then you need to budget for 8 years of university, not just 4. You also need to keep your debt as low as possible and save money for medical school as much as you reasonably can.
There are a LOT of universities with very good premed programs. Many public/state flagship universities have very strong premed programs (as well as some non-flagship state universities).
I might add that if you are currently working on four A’s and one B, then so far your grades are not going to stop you, although university might get harder as you get into upper years. Your volunteering experience looks good also.
Is UMD in-state for you? Everything else that you mentioned is in Massachusetts. If you are a Massachusetts resident then you definitely should consider UMass Amherst for undergrad, and maybe even UMass Lowell.
By the way, if you are currently expecting four A’s and one B, then I would not drop the course where you are running a B. You are not going to get through a premed program without at least a few B’s.
Thank you @DadTwoGirls . I am not in-state for either Mass or MD; those schools are just my “top” ideas, along with possibly some schools in NY. I was accepted into UMass Boston but would definitely rather go to Amherst than anything.
I’m mainly wondering what it /would/ look like to med schools/transferring schools if I had a “W” but still maintained a high GPA. I’ve heard many conflicting opinions. I withdrew multiple times while in high school so I know that more than one really isn’t good at all but I want to know what college admission’s people think about it.
One W on your record will not be fatal to your med school chances. Med schools would probably shrug at it, especially a freshman course.
More importantly is the economics. Med school is crazy expensive. Besides high GPAs, MCAT, one of any college premeds goals should be something to graduate with as little debt as possible as most med students have to borrow their way through med school.
You seem to be doing well academically in your current school (a known); it’s not always greener on the other side of the fence (an unknown). Good luck.
@Jugulator20 yeah I figured one won’t but it’s a prereq core class. I’m still planning on taking it next semester if I withdraw. The reason being is that I’m very, very paranoid my B- will turn into a C+ and knowing my luck, that might just happen.
@DadTwoGirls I’m originally from Florida. UF and UM are both really great pre-med schools but I absolutely 100% do not want to transfer to either of those.
I agree with the other posters; you need to be mindful of your finances and your grades. Remember, you’re a pre-med, first and foremost. If you’re academically excelling in your classes, and your ultimate goal is medical school, I don’t see the use in potentially tanking your GPA by going to a more academically rigorous institution. And medical schools WILL notice this, and in some cases, may ask why your academic performance dipped after transferring.
@catirraa if it offers some hope, although S had no Ws, he did finish first year with GPAs below 3.2, He’s an MD. In the interest of full disclosure, he did have to wait until he graduated to apply in order to repair his GPAs.
“UF and UM are both really great pre-med schools but I absolutely 100% do not want to transfer to either of those.”
So I googled “university of florida in-state tuition and fees”. It looks like the total price would be about $20,000 per year which is a very good deal. Figuring that you transfer after one year you would need three more years or $60,000 through your Bachelors. I think that there is a pretty good chance that you would be full pay for the schools that you have listed in Massachusetts. We might figure $70,000 per year or about $210,000 for three years. That is a big difference.
Of course there would also be a significant difference between the cost of medical school in-state in Florida versus out of state up here in New England.
Personally, I would rather live in Massachusetts than Florida also. Right now we are having a “crisp” (slightly cool but nice) day with full sun and a few of the trees still in their fall colors. However, I wouldn’t spend more than $200,000 extra over seven years to go to school up here. it looks to me as if you should very seriously consider transferring to UF, finishing your Bachelor’s and also doing your MD there, then look to come back up here to New England to do your residence. We will still have good hospitals up here when you get to that point.
@TransferStalker yeah it’s something to keep in mind. I have heard that the weed out classes at BU for pre-med are insanely crazy or something but that’s just what I heard from a friend who has a friend kind of thing. I think wherever I go I will be able to adjust well to the classes, however, but it does make me consider not transferring.
@Jugulator20 I see, hm. I definitely don’t want that to be my situation but it is hopeful, thank you.
@DadTwoGirls I guess I should consider UF so I may apply to transfer there. I’m also going to look into financial aid offered to transfer students, which I’ve seen from this thread and another one that many universities don’t really give that much to transfer students. Thank you for the advice!
However, my main question – do I have a solid chance at transferring to these schools? Given my GPA, my volunteering, test scores, ethnicity (hispanic - not sure if this even factors in anymore) - do I stand any chance of transferring for the semesters that I’d like to transfer in?
One W in frosh year may not be much of a problem. But if you make it a habit of late-dropping any course where you are earning lower than an A-, causing your record to be littered with Ws, then it will look too obvious as grade-grubbing. Also, you typically need to average 15-16 credits to graduate in 8 semesters. Taking Ws means that you have to overload in other semesters, which may be worse for your GPA than if you took a B+ in the course that you took a W in.
“However, my main question – do I have a solid chance at transferring to these schools?”
At this point your high school GPA will still matter in terms of whether you will be accepted. Over time, as you spend more time in university, your high school GPA will matter less and less. Thus as long as you maintain a high GPA in university the question is really “when will you be able to transfer and to where” rather than “will be you be able to transfer”.
Also, there is no harm in applying to transfer for Fall 2018, and if you don’t get in then apply again to transfer one or two semesters later.
Also, of course when you get to the point of applying to medical school your high school GPA won’t matter at all.
True, but if you took any actual college courses (not AP/IB courses) while in high school, those courses and grades will be included in your college record for applying to medical school.