<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I know it's really premature in the process but I'm trying to act early on starting the fall 2012 semester. Long story short, I am about to attend a school as a freshman that was.. to say the least.. not my first choice. I was admitted to a number of schools and ended up choosing UMass for financial reasons. Tulane was and still is my dream school, and after letters and emails with admissions counselors, fin. aid counselors, and the deans, I'm not giving up on making this happen.</p>
<p>I'm curious about applying as a transfer student to a bunch of new schools, and even some of the same (Tulane, in particular). I was wondering if I could get some input on re-applying as a transfer--even if I was already admitted--and the chances if I do well at school this year.</p>
<p>The clincher this time would be money, obviously. So if I work really hard my first (and second?) semester, hopefully I would be admitted to Tulane yet again and offered some merit aid. I don't know much about transferring, but any input would be really appreciated.</p>
<p>I could really use your help on this, thank you so much in advance!!</p>
<p>Unfortunately for you, Tulane does not offer the same level of merit awards to transfer students as they do to incoming freshmen. At least as far as I can tell and to the best of my memory. So if they offered you, say, $20,000 when they accepted you the first time that will no longer hold true. I think the best you can do is the following: [Tulane</a> University - Tulane Collegiate Achievement Award](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/caa.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/caa.cfm) which is $10,000 per year.</p>
<p>Now on the positive side Tulane has a lot of discretion in how much grant money they would offer you as part of a need based financial aid package. It would just depend on your family’s financial resources and how much they want you to attend, i.e. how well you did your year at UMass. Very hard to predict this kind of thing, but in general it is unlikely you will get as good a guaranteed package as a transfer as they would have offered you as a freshman. But who knows. If you totally ace UMass it might result in a nice offer.</p>
<p>The other big factor, of course, is how much space there is for transfer students. Given the huge size of the incoming class this year, that also works against you somewhat. But you cannot really know that factor until Tulane sees the retention rate of these incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>Sorry to be such a buzz kill, but that is the situation as I see it. Still, definitely do your best at UMass so your options are as open as possible. And who knows, you might end up really liking UMass. It has been known to happen.</p>
<p>Thanks for your honest answer, fallenchemist. You were a huge help the first time around too! That’s tough to hear but you’re probably right. I’ll most likely apply as a transfer to a few places–just to have options–but there’s a good chance I’ll end up loving UMass as I’ve heard most people do. It’ll be interesting to see what happens!</p>
<p>FWIW, living in RI a lot of the kids from here go to UMass, and they almost all stay there the 4-5 years of their undergrad, and seem to like it pretty well. Pretty much on par with most schools, I would say. I guess to be honest I don’t hear the passion for the school that I hear from kids at places like Brown, WUSTL, UChicago, and (of course) Tulane, but I definitely get a better vibe from them than the ones I know that have gone to UConn, for example. Overall it is a definitely positive review. I wish you the very best of luck. I suspect you will do spectacularly.</p>