Transfer chances and suggestions...?

I’m a current sophomore, history and political science double major, planning on transferring, wondering about my chances. The university I attend now is a top-50 public, and I’m here as an instate student (but money is not an issue if I were to get into any school).

Reasons for wanting to transfer are many but mainly I had applied to one of the Oxbridge universities, and was invited for interview, two years in a row (they check your AP scores rather the HS GPA and I have good AP scores but not a very good GPA, which was why I didn’t get into selective American schools). The atmosphere at the university, when I went for interviews, was wonderful. For the first time, I felt like I fit in and was being intellectually challenged. The discussions I’d had during those two weeks (I applied last year and this year) were unlike any I’ve had before, and frankly, I don’t feel that at my current university, a known party school, despite primarily taking 300+ level classes. So many people there were super passionate about the subject they applied for and I can’t find the same enthusiasm for learning at my current school. Anyways, here are my stats:

College GPA: 3.87 (Mid year report will show a 4.0); I had a rough first semester where I got 2 B+s and a C+, but I really turned myself around and got all As following, taking 20 credits second semester of freshman year, and 21 credits first semester of sophomore year, as well as 2 three credit summer classes, and a 3 credit winter class. Most of these classes are upper level, 300+ courses (I would say more than 80%), as I AP-d out of a lot of the intro classes.

HS GPA (very competitive, top ranked, traditional public high school): 3.0-3.2 UW(I don’t remember exactly, but it was really bad, I got a bad case of senioritis, so when actually applying to univeristies it was a 3.4); 4.0 W (it was a 4.2W before the bad case of senioritis hit)

ACT: 35 first sitting; 36 R, 35 E, 34 M&S

APs: 5 5s, 2 3s

SAT Subject Tests: 740 World History, 740 US History, 750 Literature

Extracurriculars: I had a year long internship at a museum freshman year; it’s not super prestigious, but is decently known for specifically it’s collection, which is fairly niche. It does connect to my interests in that it’s a history museum. I also had an internship over the summer that I don’t want to specify, but it connects to my political science major (think: think tank, presidential candidate, along those lines). Additionally, I am an active member in my university’s Quiz Bowl team, and an officer in the two arts and literary magazines here. I volunteer with my university’s chapters of the Big Brother and Big Sister organization, and Petey Greene program, where I tutor those in prison. Planning on getting a research position with a political science professor, but I think it’ll be after the application is due, so I doubt I’ll be able to include that. My HS extracurriculars are laughable; I participated in club that’s a bit like Quiz Bowl, where I received a few gold, silver, and bronze medals, and was a member of the arts and literary magazine, but that was essentially it.

My LORs will be great, I’ve built a really good relationship with two of my professors, both with PhDs from Princeton, whose classes I took last year and this year too, by going to their office hours as well as participating in class. I’ve received As in all the classes I took with them as well.

Finally these are the schools I’m considering: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford as complete Hail Marys; I know how few students they accept every year, but thought nothing bad came out of trying; Columbia, Penn, Brown, and UChicago as very very high reaches; Northwestern (which would be a very high reach, but they do seem to accept a decent amount of transfers, comparatively?), Vanderbilt, Rice, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Emory, USC, Georgetown, and UMich as reaches/high matches. If there are any other universities I should consider, please recommend them; I’m primarily looking for an urban environment, but a core curriculum vs open curriculum does not really matter; I would enjoy taking the breadth of classes offered at schools with a core, and would probably take a similar breadth at those that don’t have a core. If I don’t get accepted as a transfer to any of the schools I apply to, I’d still be ok with attending my current school, where I am taking full advantage of the opportunities offered, and it wouldn’t impact my future career choice, law, at all, as law schools don’t really take into account the college you attended. A huge thanks in advance and I’m sorry for the word vomit!

I am also a part of the university’s honors program if that makes a difference!

If you’re in a school where you have a high GPA, and you’re planning on attending law school, that, right there, is enough to stay, especially when you’re in the honors program.

@coolguy40 I understand that, but I’m not really feeling challenged enough, and isn’t the point of college to expand your mind? I go to class often enough, do the readings, and write the 5-10 page paper the day before it’s due, and I’m able to get an A fairly easily. It’s basically making me bored with school.

Plus, the environment of the school is pretty stifling and while I do enjoy going to parties, there isn’t really much intellectual stimulation. While I know that transferring might make it harder to maintain my GPA, I really do care more about learning and stretching my mind while maybe getting slightly lower grades, rather than being intellectually complacent to keep my high GPA.

The goal is to get into law school. The higher your grades, the better law school you can get into. Another term for “intellectually stimulating and challenging” is “grade deflator.” That puts you at risk of a lower GPA. The question is, do you want to get into a top tier bachelors program or a top tier law school?

Law school is plenty challenging.

@coolguy40 Would I not be able to do both? I don’t plan on going to law school directly after university, and personally, I feel like I’m capable enough to be able to maintain my GPA at a more competitive college. That’s the reason why I want to transfer in the first place.

Also, the question wasn’t whether or not I should transfer, but whether I have a good chance of transferring to one of the schools mentioned above, and if there are any other schools I should consider transferring to that fit my criteria, that I haven’t mentioned.

It’s an advice thread. I’m not going to advise how to do anything if I don’t think it’s a good idea in the first place. Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken, otherwise you might break it more.

@coolguy40 I’m sorry. My above reply was a bit rude and I can see that now. But, I am unhappy with my current school and its culture. The idea of “fit” is emphasized here on CC, and despite me getting a high GPA, I don’t feel like the university I am attending is correct for me.

The advice you gave is yours to give, and I will take it into account. However, at this time, I would more appreciate others’ take on my chances of admission versus whether or not I should even transfer in the first place. If I end up getting admitted to any one of my choices, then I feel like I’ll have plenty of time to deliberate on the latter.

Your list is university-heavy. Are they chosen because of specific courses available in your major, or do you just favor bigger institutions? There are a whole bunch of excellent LACs out there that might be worth adding to your list. Some like Haverford & Swarthmore participate in cross-registration programs with other nearby institutions which greatly expands the course selection.

What is your back-up plan if your applications don’t yield any admissions offers? Would you consider a junior year abroad? Does your current university have an exchange like that with Oxford/Cambridge/McGill/another English-language university? Another option would simply be to power through your last two years where you are, and then find a BPhil or MPhil program in the UK so you can have the intense, small group experience you are looking for.

Of course you can fill out transfer applications and see what happens. Many privates lean heavily towards incoming sophomores over juniors, so read up on individual universities. Incoming junior acceptance is more likely at public universities, because of community college and other state feeders in their state system e.g. UCs.

@happymomof1 I do prefer mid-size to larger universities; I find the rural setting of most LACs kind of isolating, and am not really a fan of small schools. Both Oxford and Cambridge University for example have ~12,000 undergrads, and I really enjoyed the diversity when I went for interview, even though I obviously didn’t meet everyone. If I don’t end up getting into any universities, then yes, I would probably do a junior year abroad – I’m not really sure about the location yet, but I was considering Morocco, or another Middle Eastern country, as I take Arabic – and then take a light course load senior year and take the LSAT, and either apply for a one year masters at Oxford/Cambridge and work for a year or just work for two years before applying/attending law school.

@bloomfield88 Thanks for your advice.