<p>I'm starting college next fall as an undecided engineering major, the first year is the same for all engineering majors at this college, so I wanted to transfer out as soon as I finish freshman year, to start in another college as a sophomore. The reason being that there is not a major at this college for the field of engineering that I recently decided to follow. </p>
<p>As I read on another post, the time for transfer admissions vary, but are within late November to May.
So, my question is: When should I apply? I am a bit confused, because if I apply to a school on late November I will only have the grades of the first semester of college and I think that would hurt my chances a bit, because my HS record would weigh more on their decision, and it's not outstanding (3.0 GPA - 1800 SAT), of course I plan on doing my best at college. </p>
<p>Most schools transfer deadline are around end of March, so by that time you should have one semester’s grades, and the mid-term report of your second semester. Show an upward trend in these, get as close to a 4.0 as possible, have good extracurriculars, write a good essay and you should have a great shot.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you are really worried about your high school record, apply for entry in junior year. Most schools do not even require you to submit SAT if you have more than 30 credits, and your high school record doesn’t hold as much weight.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this applies to you, since I had strong HS records, but if you do spankingly well in your first term of college, there’s a good chance you’ll be successful.</p>
<p>I got a 4.0 my first term into college, and got accepted to ALL of my schools. It was like a slam dunk. If you just nail a perfect GPA, plus get good recs and ecs and write good essays, I think you’ll be all right regardless of your HS GPA. </p>
<p>I’m sure they’ll be impressed that a seemingly average student with a 3.0 HS GPA hits the ground running with 4.0 in college : ) It shows you’re motivated.</p>