I’m a first-year international student at Mount Holyoke College. I have a good GPA (3.5+) and decent extracurriculars. The problem is that I need a lot of financial aid (which MHC has given me) and am not sure if any other big-name college (think HYPSA) can match that. Should I consider transfering to an Ivy League/big-name college? Or try and do my best at MHC?
Why would you want to transfer?
You are at a very good college. You have very good financial aid. You are finding your current college quite challenging (based on your 3.5 GPA).
If you had a 4.0 university GPA, your chances of being accepted as a transfer student to an Ivy League university would be low. With a 3.5 university GPA, your chances of being accepted as a transfer student are even lower. In the wildly unlikely chance that you were to be able to transfer, your would find classes at MIT, Stanford, or Harvard to be more difficult than what you are dealing with now.
My suggestion is that you work hard where you are, and try to improve your grades.
Obviously–at least to me–is that you want to transfer to Amherst College. Since you have substantial financial aid at your current school & can enroll in courses at Amherst as part of the 5 college consortium, there is no need to transfer.
With respect to Harvard, Yale & Stanford–as well as highly unlikely Princeton–it would be worthwhile to transfer as those degrees are among the most valued in the world. Also, if accepted, then financial aid should be available. But you need a convincing reason for wanting to transfer along with stellar qualifications. Without more information as to your qualifications, your college GPA of 3.5 makes transferring an uphill battle.
What a beauty of a school you have had the opportunity to attend. I agree with the others, stay put and do your best. Take classes at Amherst and maybe even Smith to challenge yourself. Consider some of the schools you mention for grad school, but even then you want to make sure the work you are doing while at MH is producing excellent marks.
Mt. Holyoke has given you an incredible opportunity. I’d forget the idea of transferring and embrace everything the college has to offer.