Really need help deciding for Transfers - International Freshman Transfer Applicant

Transfer Students
1

Here’s my current situation: unfortunately I feel like I botched my freshman applications and it was probably the biggest failure I’ve come across in my life.

Given the case, I really hope to redeem myself, and I hope to get some advice on giving me the highest chance possible of transferring to an ivy league or a top 20 US school. I don’t mean to sound condescending or pretentious in any way, but these are my genuine feelings. I’m considering to possibly drop out and apply again as a freshman.

I’ll provide my current statistics and I hope for you guys to give me suggestions as to which colleges to apply to, and what else I should do to maximize my chances. I deeply appreciate all the help that I can get!

Current college: University of Toronto - Scarborough
Entering as (soph/jr): Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
High School GPA: 3.9
SAT/ACT Scores: 2300 Superscore
SAT II Scores: 800 Math
College GPA: (Confident I’ll get 4.0)
Hooks: I’ve made several web applications with a considerable amount of users
US/Intl: Canadian Citizen
ECs: Swimming, Programming, Video Editing, Design
(Ethnicity: Chinese)

2

The only transfers the Ivy’s / top 20 accept are to fill the places for the people who drop out. As you can guess, that is a very very small number. Yes, you have great stats, but nobody can suggest any top-20 schools based on what you have given.

For a start, besides prestige, why do you want to leave your current uni? For any of the top-20 you will need to write a compelling essay as to why you want to transfer from your school to theirs- and it can’t be “b/c I feel my current school is beneath me” or “I want a better name on my diploma”. It can’t even be “I want to be in the US”. For example, Harvard lists “A clearly defined academic need to transfer” as the first evaluation criteria.

Be careful about dropping out and trying to pass as a freshman not a transfer. I would guess that it is too late for you to withdraw, but check and see. If you drop out, you will simply fail all your courses, and when you apply as a freshman you will have to acknowledge that you took them (or risk lying, which is a stunningly bad idea).