Transfer advice from Columbia Joint BA program

I’m a freshman at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in a joint BA program. I’m taking 19 credits this semester; ifI stay here, I will complete two bachelor’s degrees in four years. While I recognize how incredible these schools and this program are, it was not one of my top choices during my original college process, and I’ve found that the elements I was less interested in are as relevant as I expected them to be. Some of my issues with my program: I live off campus, and I feel like I’m really missing out on a college community; there’s no school spirit here; I don’t want to be in a city; with the number of credits I have to take to graduate on time, I feel like I have no time for extracurriculars.

I’m considering applying for transfer admission to some of the schools I was more interested in (i.e. Harvard, Dartmouth, UChicago, Yale) and possibly some new ones (i.e. Cornell, Penn, Emory), though I’m open to suggestions. My high school GPA was 3.94 (unweighted, although I took honors classes) and my superscored SAT score was 2300. At college, my grades are looking good so far, and I think I’ll be able to pull off A’s and B’s in all of my classes. In high school, I was involved in many leadership roles, including the international board of a Jewish youth organization and leading a couple clubs in my high school, plus much more, but I haven’t yet been able to get involved with any extracurriculars at college in a significant way.

Any advice at my chances? Thank you so much for your help!

There is no way that any of us can give you an estimate of your chances. We can only encourage you to go ahead and apply.

You also should think carefully about changes that yould make your life better where you are. Can you drop one of the programs, or just drop one of your classes? 19 credits is an awful lot to carry your first semester - even at places much less demanding than your joint program. Can you move into a dorm? That might be enough to change everything.