Transfer

I would like to transfer to Columbia or Yale for my sophomore year in college. What would help my chances?
Would it look better if I went to the University of Pittsburgh or Uchicago for my freshman year and applied as a transfer? I am debating whether attending those two. (I know my chances would be slim but if anyone could help :/)

You will need all A’s. You won’t get those at UChicago.

@mmmmeliii56 you need to have tippy top freshman GPA (3.8+) to have a decent chance, and even then it is a crapshoot. You are more likely to get a high GPA at Pitt. Also another thing transfer admissions officers care about is why you want to transfer. Are you doing it just for prestige or is there something that the transfer school offers in terms of academics/opportunities etc that your current school does not? You will have a much easier time convincing yale and columbia transfer adcoms that you aren’t looking to transfer just for prestige if you are at Pitt as opposed to uchicago.

Tat said transferring at paces like yale and columbia is risky and the odds are against you, so going to pitt is riskier if none of your transfer options work out.

Thank you so much! You’ve been the most helpful post. I’ve heard it’s very hard to get a great GPA at Uchicago. I really regret not applying to Yale or Columbia so I wanted to give it a shot.