I am 1st year undergraduate at the University of Florida from Raleigh, NC, and have realized I have made a mistake. My reasons to transfer follow three main problems 1) my family has fallen hard financially, and even with scholarships I would need to transfer 2) UF is much more into partying than I though I was and 3) I feel academically alone. My intended major is Physics or Math with a minor in Philosophy, and everyone here hates all three of those things I am constantly reminded about how boring my interests are or that its useless. even at the Physics club most kids are engineers or not very friendly. I originally came to UF because I was wowed by my tour of their Phys dept., but being here I can tell getting research is a struggle. I would wait to transfer if not for (1), so here are my stats
High School:
GPA:3.6 4.5w
SAT M:750 W:560 R:540
ACT: M:35 E(comp):23 S:29
AP: Calc 1&2:A PHY 1:A Chem:B Stat:A Psych:B USHIS:B EnviSci:B USGOPO:B
College: (current grades)
Honors Physics: A Physics lab:A
Differential Equations: A
General Chemistry: A lab:A
Horticulture:A
next semester I will take Calc 3, honors physics 2 w/ lab, Chem 2 w/lab, and English 1
I am an eagle scout with experience of running events with 1800 in attendance, I volunteer at low income schools to teach science, I’m involved in residential government, an active member of the philosophy club, frequently talkt to professors about current physics news, and managed to over come drug addiction (weed, shrooms, Xanax) after graduating
I’m looking at UNC, NCSU (I’m from NC), Caltech, Reed, and Brown.
any thoughts or advice
I know 3 of those schools are pricey, but my parents aren’t broke it just doesn’t make sense to go to an out of state school for the price of an ivy education
I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but you have a very very small chance of obtaining admission to the listed schools.
Here is what you should know-- the seats at Ivy-plus schools that are available for transfers is largely tied to attrition. Since attrition is almost non-existent in the top Ivy schools, so are the seats available. By way of example, recently, Harvard had over 1500 applicants and admitted about 15, and Yale had over a 1000 applicants in which about 2 dozen were offered seats. Brown is close to 5%.So, while being qualified is certainly a criteria, the other portion must convey why these schools; typical reasons are that these schools offer programs and/or degrees not offered at your existing institution. Transferring because of the desire to attend a more elite institution is NOT consider a valid reason for transfer.
Second, that you could have obtained admission as a freshmen applicant. Third, that you have perfect scores at your current institution. Long story short…it is much more difficult to obtain admission as a transfer than as applying for a freshmen seat…
Sorry, my bad, but you do have a chance at your first two schools.
thank you, and yeah I do realize that my chances of getting into the upper tier schools, I was just going to apply b/c I feel very alone academically at UF, I like the pace of honors physics(which is similar to Caltech’s physics 1), and Caltech, Reed, and Brown have more research opportunities/paths that lead to grad school. I am more than ok with being a Tar heel though 
I know Reed well, I would say, if you keep your current grades up, around 50%.
You can get an excellent physics education at just about any school. Go to a place that costs you less and be aggressive in looking for research opportunities. Frankly, I think you have a much better selection of research opportunities at a major research university like UNC or NCSU than you would at a LAC. Furthermore, a bigger program will have all the elective courses that you want to take in addition to a full core curriculum (1 year of QM, 1 year of E&M, etc.) which are sometimes missing in a smaller program.