<p>I am currently a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) with a 4.0 GPA in third year studies (I'm a second year student). However, I was considering transferring because I do not like the university (I came here for financial reasons) and I wanted to go more into environmental engineering of which there is no undergraduate program (I currently am in ChemE, but it is not what I had thought it would be). I was looking into a university like Cornell to transfer into for both more challenging coursework and an undergraduate program in EnvE. However, I realize that I probably won't be able to maintain a 4.0 and I want to go to graduate school after. What would be the wiser choice? Stay with a school like IIT and maybe have a 4.0 by the time I graduate, or transfer to a school like Cornell but have a lower GPA (I would probably end up just getting a master's at Cornell if I transferred, otherwise I would go somewhere else for a higher degree if I stayed at IIT).</p>
<p>Why don’t you post in the thread you already made? </p>
<p>I think you’ll be competitive for top engineering grad schools either way… but if you go transfer to Cornell you’re going to spend more time before getting to grad school. Time is money, an extra year in school will cost you probably upwards of $100,000 (tuition + income opportunity cost). To me going to Cornell would be dumb. If you go to a top grad school from IIT, nobody’s going to care that you didn’t go to a top undergrad.</p>
<p>Do you have opportunities for research at your school? If not, I’d recommend applying for REUs this fall since research experience can easily trump a high GPA.</p>
<p>There are research opportunities. Actually I’ve been involved in research projects since the summer after my senior year of high school. Two of which were with professors at the university and one that I’m still involved with now.</p>