<p>My S is talking about transferring schools. Not that he is unhappy at his school, and his school has a good program in his major, but he is suddenly ambitious and wants to attend a better school, probably an engineering focused school.</p>
<p>He did not apply himself in high school, so his options were limited. We are close to full pay and he would not be eligible for merit aid, if he was even admitted, to some schools. He has one year of great grades at college.</p>
<p>If he wants to do the work himself, he is welcome to apply, but I was wondering what the usual timeline is. He was not one of the miserable as a freshman types that was starting applications a few weeks into the first semester. Should he be looking to transfer sooner, like after the first semester of his sophomore year? Showing more good grades in college would probably better negate his mediocre high school transcript.</p>
<p>I would think only so many credits could go along with him, so I'm not sure if he should do a spring application so he could start his junior year elsewhere. </p>
<p>I'm all for him finishing out where he is, and applying to a prestigious school as a graduate student, but I want to encourage his dreams, now that he has them.</p>
<p>Finances are less of an issue than they were when he was applying last year, my ex is working again and can contribute.</p>
<p>You’d really have to look at the transfer procedures of the schools he’s interested in applying to. A January start is not always possible at all schools. If a school does accept a transfer for January, be sure that you know when the deadlines are. It could be coming up pretty soon.</p>
<p>In my experience, you want to take as many classes as you can at the new school to minimize credit loss in the transfer as well as to avoid not having the same preparation for upper division classes as the rest of your cohort. I went the CC route but I had a pretty rocky first semester because my intro to poli sci did not prepare me for 300 lvl poli sci at umich as well as umich’s intro to poli sci prepared everybody else. I also had to retake a bunch of classes I’d already taken because they didn’t accept the credits for one reason or another. That said, a January start can be iffy for getting off on the right foot socially. I started in the fall, but only because my friend started in January first and struggled. The clubs and new student programs and things were not designed for taking on newcomers in the winter.</p>
<p>My D applied to transfer after her 1st semester of CC & was admitted to start after her 3rd semester (she had applied to start in Aug but was admitted to start in Jan following). Generally, you can be admitted at any point after you have taken courses elsewhere, but it it would make sense to start looking around at schools your S wants to transfer to IF he does want to transfer. Alternatively, he could finish up where he started & then go elsewhere for grad school.</p>
<p>As posted above, each school has its own procedures & often schools require you to complete your last two years (& coursework in your major) at the U where they’ll be getting the degree from.</p>