So I got into and committed to a good school. It’s an excellent university, lots of research+name recognition+great for my intended major (compsci).
The problem is that this isn’t exactly the college experience I want. It’s one of the only universities known for having close to zero school spirit/campus culture, and from what I’ve heard, it’s more like living on your own than it is attending a college. I honestly want a normal college experience, and I would really prefer to go to a school that’s less… about that.
The other problem is that I’m aware that transfer rates are close to impossible. I would love to go to a school like Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc. something that’s a little closer to maintaining a normal college experience while still maintaining a level of prestige and rigor. I’ve accepted that transfer rates are nearly impossible and that I will most likely finish my degree at this university, but I’m still planning to attempt a transfer - what can I do in college to show that I want to leave here and attend somewhere different? I’m not going in with a good high school gpa (3.73 uw) but my test score’s fine and my high school ec’s weren’t too good. I didn’t apply to any ivies and I had a horrible extenuating circumstance in my application that likely shut me out of a lot of colleges I applied to (although it isn’t an issue anymore). How much will they look at this over what I do in college? What are they looking for?