Hello. I’m currently a freshman at a state school I’ve been attending since August, and I’ve decided to apply to transfer to a few schools (Barnard, GW, BC and BU, NYU, Cornell and maybe a few more) and was wondering if I could get some advice in how I can be a successful transfer student. (I also want to put out there that financials aren’t a big problem for me either). I apologize for this being a long post.
I’ll start with some backstory and a few reasons I want to transfer. The reason I originally chose to go to this school was because it was close to home and I needed to be close to my parents, as my father had cancer (he’s cancer free as of October) and because my mother doesn’t drive and my father was too tired to drive, I had to drive my father to and from his chemo and radiation appointments which were two hours from where we live. I also chose to go here because my brother goes here as well and he seemed to enjoy it. However, my parents no longer need this assistance and, seeing how unhappy I am, they are pushing for me to transfer to a place where I can be happier.
The reason I want to transfer is primarily due to the lack of emphasis and opportunities involved political science (my major) and other related pre-law majors (it’s a heavy computer science and engineering school). There are a limited number of classes I can take as well as a limited amount of research opportunities and organizations I can join related to my major. Because so many of the students here are engineering and STEM related majors, I also have a hard time connecting with the students and have had a hard time finding common interests. I’ve tried very hard to find people to call friends here, but as the weeks progressed I’ve realized that this is the only situation I’ve ever been in where I’ve felt truly alone.
Stats wise, my midterm GPA for this semester was a 4.0 and I’m trying my hardest to maintain it to finish out the semester in four weeks. I have a lot of EC’s including a lot of work and volunteer experience in school (I’m in Model UN, Student Government, the Pre-Law Society, American Red Cross, the Freshman Council for Volunteerism and Activism, and a few more) and out of school, but my biggest concern is my HS GPA (3.1). I struggled with a lot of issues in high school and as a result my grades took a toll. Because I’m concerned about my HS GPA when transferring, I’m considering retaking the ACT (my score was a 31).
Based on the info, is there anything I can additionally do to be a successful transfer student and will retaking the ACT be to my advantage? Thank you so much for your time, I greatly appreciate it 