Stay or Transfer?

Transfer Students
1

Hey College Confidential Community! This is going to be a lengthy post, so I apologize in advance.

I am currently an upcoming second year at a top 50 US News school. I have exhausted pretty much every chemistry course in my school’s undergrad curriculum. In fact, I can also finish the graduate physical chemistry course sequence by the beginning of my third year. I am currently in a ultrafast spectroscopy lab that I plan on leaving at the end of the summer for a computational chemistry group. I did not get any posters or pubs, but I gained a lot of time management skills and had to provide thorough weekly reports of my work so far (which I am thankful for).

However, I began to develop another passion: dark matter and dark energy physics. I am nowhere near as decent in physics as I am in chemistry right now, but I would love to work hard to discover what this field is all about, as well. Is this a bad idea? Additionally, no one in my university researches in this area.

I was considering transferring to an institution where I can explore theoretical chemistry and astrophysics more thoroughly together. I am torn on doing this because I do not know if it is worth leaving my current school. I was looking at Berkeley, Cornell, and UIUC. Could anyone provide other good or better options?

My Highschool Stats:

UW GPA: 3.55ish while being somewhere in the top 20% of my class; Took ODE (A), Physical Chemistry 1 (A-), Orgo 1 (A), UNIX (B+), A graduate level materials course (B), and Genetics (B) during my senior year at a top 100 US News School

ACT: 35 after three tries (I got a 29 the first time and then a 32 second time). Honestly, the only reason I improved was because I got my health and family stability under control. (36 Math, 36 English, 34 Science, 34 Reading, and a bad 8/12 on the essay)

SAT: 1470 (710 reading and 760 math) with an abysmal 5/3/5 essay score. I don’t know what happened with the essays. I did well in AP Lang, Lit, and the Histories, but I guess I just wrote bad essays for my SAT and ACT sittings.

Subject Tests:
Chemistry: 760
Math 2: 780

Reflection: I was by no means the best student in high school. I lost motivation and became depressed after calling the police on my father in seventh grade because of a very volatile argument between him and my mom. This made our relationship terrible. At one point I was suicidal, but I did not want to tell anyone at the time because I wanted my family to remain intact. Seeing my brother develop well gave me the relief over this feeling. I also suffered from bad GERD in the mornings, so it took a while to get that treated. I couldn’t get referred to a GI until my senior year of high school because my pediatrician and parents did not think it was that bad for a long time. I regret not being more vocal about it earlier. I am glad to improve in the last two years of high school by maintaining a 3.8+ GPA there. This gave me hope going in college.

College:

UW GPA: Currently a 3.88; Probably going to be a 3.91 by the end of the fall

Coursework:
Semester 1: Honors Electromagnetism (B), Upper Level Moral Philosophy (B), Analytical Chemistry (A-), Bio 1 with Lab (A/A), Honors Multivariable Calculus (A)

Semester 2: Proof Writing, Logic, and Set Theory (A), Physical Chemistry 2: Quantum Chemistry and Applications (A), Mandatory Freshman Humanities Course (A), History of Jazz (A), Bio 2 with Lab (A/A), Physics 2 Lab (A)

Summer (right now):
Research for Credit towards Mandatory Thesis for Major (A), Organic Chemistry 2 with Lab (A/A), Graduate Molecular Genetics (A), Mandatory State Requirement: Art Diversity (A), Wildlife Biodiversity (A)

Semester 3:
Inorganic Chem, Intermediate Mechanics 1, Graduate Level Quantum Chemistry, Theoretical Linear Algebra or Computational Linear Algebra, Modern Physics, Analytical Chemistry Lab, Organic 2 TA

Semester 4:
Mechanistic Biochemistry, Intermediate Electromagnetism 1, A Creative Writing Course or Disciplinary Writing Course, Spin Dynamics and NMR, Physical Chemistry Lab, Physical Chemistry 2 TA, Organic Chemistry TA

EC’s:
Research: 15-20 hours a week for seven months now in a spectroscopy lab; I am going to switch into a computational chemistry lab starting this fall

Volunteer at Hospital for 3 hours a week (for seven months now) where I comfort elder patients who cannot be near family/friends by talking to them and playing games with them

Tutor in Gen Chem, Calc 1, Calc 2, and Calc 3 for free in my spare time

TA in Organic 2 starting in the fall

TA in Organic 2 and Physical Chemistry 2 in the Spring

Improv Club Member: Honestly, this has been one of my favorite things ever. I was an introvert before coming to college. This club has completely helped me come out of that shell.

Solar Car Design Team Member in the Materials Assembly Section

Learning how to make synthetic pop and EDM soundtracks in my free time

Intramural Competitive Soccer

My friends and I are also working on establishing a startup in a public health topic.

Reflection: Although it may seem like I’m padding my resume, I am sincerely passionate about everything I am doing right now. I learned from my mistakes, and I learned how to manage my time quite efficiently now. I am quite happy and thankful to gain this skill.

Thank you so much for your time!!!

2

Wow! What a unique situation.

It seems that you are doing quite well right now, aside from exhausting the curriculum at your current college. Have you considered spending perhaps a semester or summer doing research at another institution doing research instead of transferring altogether? You may still be able to get involved in research projects without necessarily transferring to an entirely different institution.

3

Applying for transfer is just the first step. If you are admitted, and if the financial aspect works, that would be the time to decide if you do want to change institutions.

4

I agree with @happymomof1 because that’s what I did. I knew what institution I wanted to attend, and I just applied. I didn’t withdraw from my college at the time, and I waited for financial decisions before I decided to transfer.

5

Apply! The best reason to transfer is that your current institution cannot meet your academic needs and that you have shown that you are a very capable student who would handle more with ease. Your list looks good.

I am not so familiar with your area of study, but it might be worth your while to consider some others before applying. RPI? Stanford (long shot for sure)? Virginia Tech? Not sure if these have what you want, but it sounds to me like you should be somewhere else, so the advice given to high school seniors applies - make sure your list has some achievable options (beyond where you are now.)

6

Apply

7

Speaking from my experience as a long-time physics faculty member at a research university who also got both a chemistry and physics degree many years ago in college, I would suggest that you simply stay and get a physics degree if that is what interests you. You are far enough along that you could get both degrees in 4 years. The fact that your school does not have any faculty doing research in the specific field you like is more or less irrelevant. You can do that kind of research in graduate school if you choose to. The physics curriculum at every PhD granting university is fundamentally the same and will prepare you well for graduate school. If you want to try to get a taste of research in your field of interest, apply for an REU program at the universities which do that kind of work.

Target those institutions you mention for a graduate program instead.