<p>I was admitted to UC Berkeley, Boston U, and NYU as an undergrad. I will not be attending any of these because of the high cost and low financial aid. Last minute, I applied to SUNY Stony Brook and Binghamton. Since I plan on transferring anyway, I figured I'd save maximum money by staying home for a year and commuting to Stony Brook. </p>
<p>I'd like to transfer to McGill or U.Chicago for those are the two schools I regretted not applying to for freshman admissions. I have a 2170 SAT but will be re-taking it, and maybe the ACT as well, to be an even more competitive candidate. I was in the top 5% of my class and expect to get at least a 3.5 at Stony Brook (will be aiming for a 4.0 though). If I did get a 4.0, which will ideally happen, especially noting my determination to get out of a state school, how good are my chances of transferring to either of these schools? Can anyone make any suggestions or anything to improve me chances, or even recommend other colleges to apply to transfer to? My major is linguistics, so I'd like a school that has a good linguistics reputation.</p>