I see! Thank you for clarifying it for me. As I noted above, I will be entering as Junior (as I’ve only finished sophomore in Korea), so I’m hoping my chances will be a bit better. 
I’ll look for attorneys for detailed information for visa since my case is complicated. Thank you again for your help and insights! 
I should prepare my best for the transfer application for now.
Looks like you have completed 5 semesters, including the one at Stoney Brook. The total number of credits may matter more to schools than the technical number of semesters you’ve completed, especially because they may not accept all your credits. Some schools classify all transfers as freshman until their credit transfer evaluations are completed.
I’d also look into whether you need to have your Korean transcript evaluated by a third party company such as WES (world education services) as part of the transfer process.
Another school to consider is URochester. They do give transfers merit money and have a decent international student population.
Get your transfer apps in shape and see what happens. At a minimum you will be able to obtain a student visa, study in the US and complete your degree. You can deal with immigration issues relating to your gf and work at a later time. Your case isn’t complicated: You want to come to the us to study. All the rest is window dressing.
An attorney?
You should go directly to the source:
One other hurdle that you need to be aware of: CS is an impacted major in a number of US schools. That means that there are more applicants than seats.
Some schools have really small CS departments and your chances of admission will be limited.
Our son graduated with a CS degree and there were students asking him how he got into his major since it is so competitive. Our daughter received an EECS degree (Electrical engineering and Computer Science), which was a 5 year program. She was constantly asked how she got a seat. It is very competitive.
Thank you for the recommendation! I finished 4 semesters including the study abroad to SBU. Schools start in Spring semester here in Korea. Spring 2019 and Fall 2019 was in Korea, Spring 2020 in US, Fall 2020 back in Korea. I’m currently serving in military for Korea (which makes the situation worse haha 
) until June 2022, so Fall 2020 was my last semester in school.
And also, as I’ve found out from my research, I’m expecting many credits won’t be transferred. But as I’ve compared what classes I took and the curriculum they have, I’m roughly estimating that I will be somewhere in Junior level. (even though it will be decided with the school’s evaluation)
I’ll make sure whether the school requires translation of the transcript. So far I haven’t seen many schools, but I will keep that in mind.
And thank you for recommending Rochester! It seems like a good opportunity for me. 
Thank you for your words of encouragement! I gotta try and see…
The student not only wants to study, but he also wants to come to the US for his career:
If the student were to just arrive in the US to study, then that is not complicated. He would apply for admission to US universities, and, then after graduation, would be expected to return to his country for employment.
His reasoning for applying for transfer, however, appears to be to “broaden and find career opportunities” in the US. This is the complication.
If he is admitted, for undergrad, tries to apply for a job, he will be told that he has to be sponsored. He can do an OPT position, but after that time is up, he’ll be thanked for “his time” and told “good luck”.
It’s easier for him, now, to understand that there is a lengthy process and he may not find employment, as a non-citizen, without sponsorship.
My husband and my daughter both work for large CS-based employers. Both interview candidates. Both cannot not employ non-citizens. It’s on each of their company’s websites. They are getting resumes from CS candidates who do have permission to work in the US, via citizenship or graduate degrees. It’s cheaper, timely, and more streamlined when the candidate already has permission to work.
Sadly (or more like obviously maybe?) it seems CS is one of the most popular major recently, and I’m aware that it will be very competitive. 
I vaguely knew that working in US as non citizen is extremely difficult, but now I see a clearer picture. Employment is a whole another problem from just undergrad application 
It’s a risky idea.
Most of the time…after graduation those who are not citizens are required to return to their native country. Plan on doing that.
I see… I should look more into it. Thank you for your reply!
I want to give you my opinion. First, I think your college list is pretty ambitious. If you can broaden the list to include some other schools that are not as competitive then you will find your chances of getting in is much better. Look at the ABET website for accredited CS programs in your states of interest.
Let’s forget about your GF for now. You will apply as a F1 student. Coming from a developed country and paying $50K per year should make it pretty simple. There are plenty of multinational Korean companies. You wanting to seek an American CS diploma to work and advance your career is absolutely acceptable and understandable when you apply for your visa.
If you want to work in the US down the road then you have many options. You can get a OPT, go work for a university/non-profit that does not have to meet green card quotas. Even for regular employers, the line for Koreans is much shorter than that of say someone from India or China as the green cards are limited to I believe 8% per country per year. Hence, the long wait for some foreign nationals.
You can also choose to apply for the gifted and talented category green card after getting a PhD/grad degree.
IF your GF moves to the US and you get married to her down the road, then she can sponsor your green card. It takes a good lawyer, a few thousand dollars and approximately 6 months.
You are making things way more complicated than they ought to be. Focus on getting in as a transfer student. Given your qualifications, it is very doable. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing your insights! I see there are more options to work in US than I thought and it’s a bit better for me as a Korean.
I will try my best to get accepted as a transfer student first, looking for more schools with higher acceptance rate. Thank you again for the reply! 
First of all, I recommend you check the transfer rate of the school you want to go to and the number of students who are accepted by transfer.
For your information, the transfer acceptance rates of the top 50 schools in 2020 are below the link.
For your information, the 30% acceptance rate means that only 3 out of 10 students with standards such as GPA and EC required by the school will pass. So it is highly competitive.
And it should be noted that these statistics are calculated throughout all majors in the school.
In general, transferring to CS requires a standard that is much higher than the overall school standard, and the acceptance rate is much lower.
Lastly, since you are an international student and transferring to an overseas university, I think the acceptance rate will be lower again.
Therefore, it is not surprising if you are rejected from all the universities above-mentioned.
I recommend you to prepare as early as possible by organizing the list of universities that can be applied to your GPA and EC, and apply for as many universities as possible.
Good luck.
Thank you for the information! That’s a great metric that I can use to choose which schools to apply. 