<p>I am currently a undergraduate at Rugters University. I have 4.0 GPA and 61 college credits. ( 20 first semester, 21 second semester, 20 third semester) I am thinking of applying to either JHU, duke, USC, or UPenn for the spring semester in 2011. My sole reason is to boost my application for Med School. Realistic speaking, Med Schools will lean towards a person whos school has a better reputation, if two competitors have the same grade. Do I have a good chance at transferring in to these school? Do I need anything else that might increase my chances at getting in to these schools? or Should I even transfer in to these school at all? Disregard any finical problems. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>you’ll need to come up with something better than “My sole reason is to boost my application for Med School.”</p></li>
<li><p>you’ll need to chat up your favorite professors and add two extraordinary recommendations to your application</p></li>
<li><p>spellcheck your application</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Transferring might actually harm your chances for the following reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A 4.0 is a very rare number in med school admissions. If I were you, I would stay at the current college, instead of taking the risk by transferring to a college with a more competitive student population. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how well you manage time, the risk is not worth losing a coveted 4.0</p></li>
<li><p>If you’ve made an impact or contributed to your current college or were involved significantly, you will lose this by transferring. </p></li>
<li><p>You may think that more opportunity exists at Penn/Duke/JHU/etc. but in reality, you won’t reap the benefits of these opportunities unless you graduate in 5 years, not 4. </p></li>
<li><p>Your recommendation letters for medical school will be weaker, because your writers at the new school, as well as the pre-health committee if there is one, will only have known you for one year by the time you apply.</p></li>
<li><p>Almost no one gets a 4.0 at Hopkins/Penn/Duke. This is a fact, confirmed by the deans and offices of university research.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I agree with the other posters. You have a very good thing going on at Rutgers, which happens to be a tier one university. Your reason for transferring is not a very good one at all.</p>
<p>A friend of mine was accepted to Yale and Princeton out of high school. He decided to attend a fourth tier university to stay close to his family. He is graduating with one of the most incredible resumes’ I have ever seen and a 3.94 GPA.</p>
<p>He didn’t apply to a lot of out-of-state medical schools, but he did get into Duke and Hopkins in addition to everywhere else.</p>
<p>It truly is what you make of it. Transfer because you want a new challenge, a new lifestyle, anything but hopes of getting into a better graduate program because of the name on your undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>It looks to me like you are overloading a lot. 20 credits I am sure is not the regular load. If you are continuing on that pathway and can get As in all of those classes shows a lot about yourself and will reflect on your application. If you continue on your current pathway you will 1. probably graduate early and start living earlier and 2. Have a great resume for submission to med school (I am sure that you have great ECs and will have an awesome MCAT score).</p>
<p>Yes - I make a lot of assumptions and yes - they aren’t necessarily true, but I am simply trying to make a point here. You have a GOOD thing going on at Rutgers. Transferring is a HUGE pain and most people who should transfer are the people who are truly unhappy in their current universities and have given the place a try. </p>
<p>By transferring you will have to readjust to your new college, find a new circle of friends - which will be important as you will be taking upper level classes which require a lot of connections, and figure out how to get back home on occasion (I am assuming you are instate for Rutgers since most people are from NJ or at least from somewhere close). You will lose credits in the process (one of the pains) and you will won’t have as good FA (usually). </p>
<p>You probably will get accepted into all three of those schools - I have no doubt. Question you need to ask yourself is simply - is it worth the pain? Don’t make a transfer just to prestige, find out the courses are too hard, maintain a poor GPA, and regret transferring. Look around the threads, there are plenty of college kids who say - " I want to transfer back". </p>
<p>Good luck - Rutgers is a great school and I know it gets knocked a lot in NJ - as you can see from here, outside of NJ, it doesn’t. Thats all that matters.</p>
<p>I am in the same predicament as sheebanoma1! Except I am only shooting for Penn as my transfer school. To Sheebanoma1, tell me how everything goes! I would like to know what it takes to transfer from Rutgers to Penn or any other first-tier school.</p>
<p>I think you have a very solid chance of successfully being able to transfer into every one of those schools, but you really have to decide if it’s worth it. As of right now, it looks best to stay at your current school.</p>
<p>Rutgers is a great school and if you can keep your GPA high I say stay there. Many students have gone on from Rutgers to attend grad school at top 20 schools. My boss went to Rutgers and got her MBA from Columbia.</p>