<p>So any opinions would be greatly appreciated. I'm currently a soph. at an avg. large state school with the best in-state medical school right down the road (the one I hope to attend), have been doing research in a lab, and have an ER tech position at the local VA hospital right down the road. Reasons for transferring are financial however I could probably make it work if I had to.</p>
<p>I am carrying a 4.0 and figured I might benefit from a more challenging environment. I applied to transfer to a handful of top 20ish schools and already have admission at one. The reality is that my 4.0 gpa will come down should I transfer. Question is, should I sacrifice my GPA to challenge myself? Med school will be tougher and I have designs on a derm residency. I imagine sliding through undergrad at my current institution w/a 3.95+ studying maybe 10 hours a week isn't a recipe for success down the road. Am I screwing myself if I only pull a 3.5ish the last 2 years or will it make for good conversation on the interview trail that I chose to move on to a tougher environment? I'll be done w/all my pre-med requirements aside from Physics 2 this semester and am a non-science major so the high science GPA will be preserved...not sure how that'll be perceived as well as I'll only be taking 1 more science class at the new school. </p>
<p>State of residency is SC, and I'm a URM so I feel like my state schools should be pretty safe bets.</p>
<p>I think you’re glossing over the most significant parts of transferring as a pre med. Are you planning on going straight to med school? That means applying to med school after only one year at your new school. Will they write you a committee letter? Will you be able to land any leadership roles in any clubs? Will you get good LORs?</p>
<p>If school is so easy, just do more stuff outside of it.</p>
<p>Do have plenty of EC’s, year in my current marine bio lab, 100+ hours of ER tech work in the past yr…am an Air Force reservist, do some volunteer soccer coaching, & played pro soccer a few years. I am a non-trad which may be a way of explaining away some atypical circumstances.</p>
<p>Committee letter is a concern, however, in speaking w/a few adcoms the lack of one shouldn’t be a problem given the atypical background. I do have 2 strong LOR’s sewn up from science teachers here. Used them in the current transfer application cycle…more concerned w/a likely downward GPA trend vs how much the value of a potentially top 15 undergraduate education will help me in preparing for the demands of med school. I also wonder how my GPA etc will be viewed if I am carrying a 4.0 through 70ish credits then apply a year from now with a 3.5 through another 30ish at the more demanding school.</p>
<p>Based on your GPA, I’d recommend staying put. If you’ve got most, or all, of your applicaton requirement courses done, and your GPA is that awesome, you’ll get great letters from your school. With your ECs, the only piece missing is your MCAT. Stay where you are, use the time you’ve got to study hard for the MCAT, get a great score-you’ll be competitive at every medical school in the country. Your MCAT score is going to be key.<br>
Just don’t see where tranferring to a “top 20” school is going to make any difference. Also, it most likely will cost a lot more $$$, and you’re going to want to minimize debt, if possible, so you can be prepared for the massive cost of medical school.</p>
<p>This is not worth the effort. I met plenty of applicants from state schools at all the top 20 med school interviews.</p>
<p>Just maintain your 4.0, rock the MCAT, and you will do well in the application cycle.</p>
<p>I guess I don’t get why you’d want to transfer in the first place. It sounds like you’re doing quite well at your current school–you have a good GPA, you’re involved with a marine bio lab, you have a nice set up with clinical volunteering, etc etc etc. You probably have friends there and you’re probably getting more familiar with the environment etc etc etc.</p>
<p>Even if you do decide to transfer, there’s no reason your GPA would change. There’s also no guarantee that you’d like the school you transferred to or that it would make a noticeable difference in your application to med school. However, in addition to the things Brown brings up (committee letters, leadership in campus activities, LORs, etc) you also have to keep in mind the things you’d be losing if you left: a lab you’ve established yourself in, a clinical environment you seem to enjoy and have established yourself in, your friends/social circle, and the little intangible things (like knowing where good restaurants and nice apartments and fun places to go are). </p>
<p>If I were in your shoes and mildly complaining that school isn’t hard enough, I’d do some of the following: add a major in an interesting field, take more difficult classes (eg those cross-listed undergrad and grad), get a job (esp if finances are a concern), bulk up ECs (eg more work at the ER, start your own organization, volunteer with a group of people you’d like to learn more about–so if you’re interested in peds, starting up a kids soccer league makes sense), figure out a way to publish or present your research, etc. It sounds like you have it pretty good where you are now and it sure would suck to see your academic and extracurricular lives suffer should you decide to just pick up and move.</p>
<p>yolocholo,</p>
<p>just for my own edification, when these adcoms told you not to worry about committee letters as a non-trad, did you say you were currently enrolled in college earning your bachelor’s or did you just tell them “non-trad.” Most non-trads are several years out from school in which case a committee letter is not necessary but I would think anyone who is a recent graduate of a committee letter writing school (regardless of how many years elapsed between high school and college) would very much need one.</p>
<p>I also definitely think the downward trend would be bad. Better to make the adcoms WONDER if you would be incapable of maintaining your current success with a heavier workload (e.g. in medical school) than to PROVE you would be incapable.</p>
<p>You sound convinced your 4.0 won’t be maintained if you went to a new school, but that’s not necessarily going to happen. I like the fact that you want to challenge yourself. Wouldn’t it be an even better message to the adcoms that that’s why you wanted to transfer, but weren’t so sure about your gpa. But you went anyway. Then, voila! It wasn’t a problem after all.</p>
<p>I agree with limabeans. There’s no reason at all to assume your GPA will drop. Maintaing a really high GPA at a top 20 is completely manageable.</p>
<p>I also think it’s great that you’re trying to challenge yourself more (and honestly, this will serve you well in medical school). I say go for it!</p>
<p>@I<em>wanna</em>be_brown - regarding adcoms, the committee letter situation was described to them under my current circumstances…that I am an older student in my soph yr., and am exploring transfer options. I explained that in transferring, 8 of 9 core science/math requirements will have been fulfilled at my current institution during the current academic year. Also informed them that I am not a science major so I don’t intend to take any junior year, and because of this I have concerns about not getting a committee letter. They all stated it would not pose an issue so long as a compelling explanation were presented. A transfer between soph and jr year, under such circumstances, was deemed a suitable explanation for all 4 of the schools contacted. Two schools did advise that most traditional age students, experiencing a transfer at the mid point of their education, would benefit from a gap year in these circumstances. One top 15ish med school emphasized the importance of finding similar research and clinical opportunities the moment I arrive at my current school to maintain the current strength of my app.</p>
<p>The other feedback is appreciated as well and has given me some things to mull over. I think much of my motivation is simply due to my non-traditional path, and wanting to prove to myself that I can handle a rigorous academic environment. I’m a far better student today than I was as a HS senior and my current institution is one I could have easily gained admission to directly from HS.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, you gotta do you.</p>