<p>This decision is somewhat sudden. I have been thinking through a lot of things. There are many great things about the college I'm attending now, but there have been many things I'm not satisfied with, mostly in the social realm. The main problem is that I have been going from niche to niche and never really making any close friends. It is far from the same as high school, and most of my friends are at the Northeast for college, so I can't just visit them on a weekend (including Ivies which didn't take me last year, lol). </p>
<p>I just don't have a lot of common with many of the people at Duke, I get along with most people and can always find people to hang out with, but I don't have many close friends. I spent some time thinking that there was something wrong with me, but going back home for Thanksgiving has thankfully made me realize otherwise. </p>
<p>Another big difference is that my academic interests have changed a lot over the year, I joked with people that I would turn from chemistry/pre-med to math/pre-law because of Organic Chemistry. What do you know? That reality kind of happened! Except Math 103 (multivariable calculus) will help me decide if I like math or not. Then, who knows? I always liked economics. There is psychology, but that would give my parents grey hairs. :-p </p>
<p>Here's a problem though. I am likely to have three good classes but one not-so-good class. At this point: A, A, A, C is very likely this semester. The C will be in Organic Chemistry. The way my grades are in the class now, I can get anywhere from a C+ to a C-, unless I REALLY MESS UP the final, and do worse, haha. There is also 'uber-acing' the final and getting a grade in the B range.</p>
<p>Besides that, I will be making sure the places I choose to send transfer apps to see my high school stats and hopefully midterm grades for 2nd semester (which will be better bc there is no Orgo). My success with colleges, while good, was not great last year. However, I feel (more than ever) that a place such as Brown or Columbia would be a great fit for me. I would definitely settle for Duke, it's not like I'm hating my time there, it's just that I strongly feel that I can have an even better experience elsewhere</p>
<p>Here's where I would be applying
Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, U-Penn, Cornell, Swarthmore (Carleton? Williams?), University of Chicago, Rice, and SUNY Binghamton. </p>
<p>Also, would you recommend applying to less schools and just the ones I really want to go to? (Which would be Brown and Columbia (and Swarthmore, a place I strongly regret not applying to last year, but in this case, for many of these other schools, I would probably end up sticking with Duke in the end anyway).</p>
<p>I'm not even going to try Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, lol.</p>
<p>What would be my chances with my high school stats and the fact I'm likely to have 3 good grades and one bad one this semester? If I explain that I don't plan to be premed and am going on another track (and have all A's for midterm grades second semester), would this C still hurt my chances at many of the colleges I'm applying to? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>