Should I transfer as a sophomore or a junior?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I’m a freshman majoring in English at a large state university (ranked around #50 by US News in “National Universities”) on a scholarship, and I’m thinking of transferring to a smaller, preferably higher ranked school.</p>

<p>The thing is, I have a horrible HS GPA (2.6... I’m not proud of it) and I’m afraid it will hold me back if I apply for Fall 2012 transfer. I have okay SAT scores (2360/2400, R:800 W:790 M:770), pretty good SAT II scores and ECs (nothing really spectacular though), but obviously these were not enough to make up for my HS GPA.</p>

<p>I currently have a 4.0, but it’s only been one semester. I’ve read on older posts that there tends to be a better rate of acceptance for transfers for junior year rather than those for sophomore year, and that your college transcript is prioritized over your high school one if you apply for junior year.</p>

<p>Should I just wait another year before I apply for a transfer? My current school isn’t bad, but I don’t think it is a good fit either- it’s huge, impersonal, very sports-oriented (I have no interest in sports) and has a lot of school spirit that I feel is rather forced. Would I have a better chance of getting accepted to Columbia, Penn, Brown, Northwestern and some of my other dream schools if I kept my college GPA up, applied and got accepted to the Honors program, and applied for transfer as a sophomore? On a side note, is it harder to get good grades if you take Honors classes? And are college ECs very influential in transfer admissions?</p>

2

<p>Always transfer sooner than later he longer you wait to transfer the longer you’ll be stuck in college</p>

3

<p>It’s good that you have a 4.0 in college (coupled with a very high SAT), but that hs gpa is still very heavily weighted. You don’t lose anything in applying, so go for it. Who knows, maybe they’ll be so impressed by your uptick in gpa that they’ll accept you.</p>

4

<p>So you guys think I should apply this year? Anyone else?</p>