I was wondering if it would be smart to attend my relatively inexpensive state school for a year than transfer to a school that is really jaw dropping.
Lets say i finished my first year of college and really killed it getting near perfect grades that got me a top 10 class rank spot.
Would It be possible to transfer to an Ivy of something remotely close like Stanford, UCLA, NYU, Northwestern.
Also when you do complete your first year of college how much will the school you want to transferring to look into your high school SAT, GPA…etc
Do your High School numbers really carry any weight?
If you transfer after only one year, some universities will want to see your High School record and test scores as well. Transferring after 2 years will reduce the importance of those two. Note, however that transfer admission rates are not necessarily higher than admission rates for Freshmen. Furthermore if you need merit aid to afford college, transfer students typically get much less aid.
if you intent to transfer, why not start at a Community college instead of another 4-years school. The idea is, if you don’t really want to be there for 4 years, why even start there?
Transfer rate for Stanford is around 1%. For UCLA, you are better off attending a CCC, use TAG and transfer plus UCLA only takes Junior level transfers (60 semester/90 quarter units). If you plan to transfer after 1 year, many of the schools will consider your HS record. If you were not competitive as a Freshman applicant, you may not be competitive as a Transfer. You need to do more research on your transfer target schools.