I’m going to keep this short and simple. I didn’t try hard in high school for my grades. I had a 3.45 gpa in high school. I’m trying to make a difference in college, and want to get out of my state school because I hate it here.
I am a freshman biology major who is trying to transfer to other schools. I’ve been thinking of Emory, Rice, Vanderbilt, USC, JHU, and maybe Cornell or Columbia, but I’m not sure I will apply to those last two. The main thing I’m worried about is that I have a B+ in one of my classes that I’ve been trying to bring up to an A- or A but it might not be possible. If I get a B+, I will have a gpa of a ~3.83 by the first semester. If I get all A’s my second semester, my freshman year gpa would come out to around a ~3.92 gpa (this is all assuming I get a B+ in my class). Given my list of schools and my activities as follows, what are my chances of transferring?
•HS GPA: 3.45 unweighted 4.10 Weighted
•ACT score: 34
•Shadowing a professor’s research in the spring
•I am a member of the AMSA (American Medical Student Association)
•I am a member of the school’s biology honors society
•I am representing my school in varsity leagues for collegiate esports in Overwatch, Quake Champions, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive
•I teach alto saxophone privately to new students
•I am planning on getting a hospital volunteering position or internship during the winter break
Other things to note in high school was that I was a bio olympiad semi finalist, received a national merit scholarship letter of commendation, and won an NIH sponsored biology competition.
It depends. If you’re at community college, or you’re transferring for health or financial reasons, then transferring is fine. If you’re doing it for prestige and/or rankings, it’s a bad idea. The problem with transferring is that you lose credits, and you have limits on financial aid. Also, you’re paying triple or more in tuition going to these other schools. If you’re looking to go to medical school, they don’t care about prestige. It’s going to be your grades and MCAT scores that tell them what they need to know. Right now, it’s working. I would just keep doing what you’re doing. Medical school is very expensive, and it is very wise to keep the debt down.
@coolguy40 thanks for the reply. I have several reasons for transferring. One of the main reasons is that my parents are planning on moving out of state, which means 1. I would be paying out of state tuition, and 2. I would no longer be able to commute to school like I have been. Since the out of state tuition is 26k, the room and meal plan is around 20k, I would end up paying over 40k just to attend the same school but out of state. I simply don’t think that’s worth it, especially considering that I was never offered any financial aid other than federal loans, which we rejected. I will take your words into consideration.
Is your current state is one where the state universities recheck state residency each year? Some states’ state universities allow an in-state student to be considered in-state as long as s/he is enrolled, or have a provision where a student who graduated high school in the state after sufficient years of attendance is considered in-state or eligible for in-state tuition and financial aid.
Are there any state universities in your parents’ new state, particularly within commuting range of your parents’ new residence? If so, you may want to transfer to such a school, though you may need a gap year or semester (work to earn some money) until you and your parents pass the waiting period before becoming in-state for tuition purposes in the new state.
Have you determined whether the private schools will offer enough financial aid to make them less expensive than your current school or those in your parents’ new state? Check the net price calculators on their web sites.
@ucbalumnus I asked, and they said I would pay OOS tuition. These private schools would be able to supply enough financial aid, and Rice is even offering their new program where you can get either half off tuition, full tuition, or full tuition, room, and meal plan depending on your income. My state school never offered me any academic scholarships or financial aid, so I don’t think that will happen.
My transfer schools were also chosen because two of them were my top choices from my senior year of HS (Rice and Emory) and I heard that the schools I chose are generally transfer friendly. My biggest worry for me was my GPA, I’m trying my hardest to get at least an A- in bio, but I’m quite sure my other grades will be A’s. I have already talked to professors about getting letters of recommendation. If you would like me to elaborate further on why I want to transfer I can explain that as well.