Transfer after one or two years from a 4-year college

Hello, I’m currently a freshman at a CUNY and was thinking about transferring colleges after being rejected from my reach schools. Ideally, I would want to transfer after one year and start as a sophomore but my HS grades were not the best. I went to a well known high school in NYC but fooled around too much so my gpa was around a 88/100 unweighted (h.s. doesn’t have weighted gpa). My sat was a 1470, did not take the ACT, but had a 800 in MATH II and 730 in physics. I was not allowed to choose my courses for the first semester, so I’m taking core courses (psychology, theatre, etc) that do not relate to my major. Assuming that I have a 4.0 gpa my first semester, and enroll in more rigorous courses my second semester, would it hurt if I apply as a sophomore transfer? If I am rejected for transfer as a sophomore, would I still be able to apply to the same schools as a junior transfer next year? I’m mainly looking at schools like vandy, nyu, northwestern, cornell, uva, georgetown. Also, what else could I do to improve my application outside of clubs related to my major?

Thanks!

You have reach schools on your list. Select match schools and a few safety schools. Submit your applications and then make decisions based on acceptances. Playing the “what if” game is a waste of time. Work hard, do your best and see where the chips fall.

One semester of a light course load won’t off-set a 4 year GPA and an SAT that isn’t strong for any of those schools. Right now you only have 2 clues that you are more able than your stats suggest- your subject test scores. The schools like the ones you are interested expect to see evidence of an ability to work at a high level over time. Aim a good bit lower or apply in another year- and put your back into the year.

Thank you for the replies – I was planning on applying for both this year and next year, but I’m wondering if submitting an application to a college two - three times would hurt my admission chances. Would the safer route be to try my hardest during my first three semesters and seeing how things go, or is applying both years fine?

I’m only planning on applying for reach schools because I currently do not need to pay any tuition at my CUNY, so unless I can get into somewhere a lot better, I don’t think it would be worth transferring to a safety or match school.
Also, as regards to the SAT, would it be helpful for me to take it again, as I had only taken it once and would have the ability to superscore after taking it again.

Thank you!