<p>I currently attend a relatively average/slightly above average University. It is in the South and enrolls about 30,000 people. It is by no means liberal nor focused on any kind of artistic development. Going into the college application and selection process, I wanted to go to a smaller, more liberal college with high academic rigor- Emory University in particular. I tested very well- 34 on my ACT and 1480 SAT. However, due to a veer in focus my junior year of high school, my GPA bordered around a 3.6 on a possible 4.5 (weighted) scale. My senior year of high school was my most academically rigorous, and I made straight A's besides C+'s in AP Calculus.
I came to this school because it was the best overall deal- The best caliber of school with the most amount of scholarship granted to me. I did not get any money to Emory, in fact I was waitlisted but later admitted. Honestly I came here out of an act of selflessness and have never regretted anything so much in my life.
I am having a very hard time connecting with people here. It is unbelievably hard for me to find people with interests and concerns similar to mine. The "partying", or getting black out drunk as often as possible and acting like a complete Neanderthal, seems to be everyone's idea of college life and not much else. I'm all for having a good time but it is alarming and somewhat disturbing to be around others in any kind of typical college party environment here because it is far from that. I am frustrated and bored academically. The classes are extremely large, my smallest being 90 people, and despite the misleading statistics I was given before coming here, it stays this way until senior year. My classes are similar to those from high school and, as a business major, I am disappointed in the direction classes progress throughout a 4-year degree.
I guess I just want to know that I'm not crazy, and also if it is even feasible to transfer to Emory University. My credits for my freshman year at my current university seem to match fully to those at Emory, including AP Score credit for classes I tested out of. I really do not want to spend 5 years in undergrad as I plan to attend Law School (also hopefully at Emory), and would be willing to take summer classes to avoid such a predicament.
Is it at all common for such a transfer to occur? If I were to maintain at least a 3.8 GPA if not a 4.0 at this University, do I have a chance? Obviously I'm going to be okay if transferring doesn't work out, and can attempt to redirect my studies in graduate school, but i really would rather not spend another 4 years of my life in a place I really do not enjoy.</p>
<p>I think you have a shot if you keep up your grades this semester and write a compelling transfer essay. Getting the recommendations will be tough because you probably won’t get to know your professors very well before applying, so try to be proactive and participate, stay for office hours, etc. If you were heavily involved in any extracurriculars during high school, try to continue doing them now so that your application demonstrates consistency. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t apply to only Emory if you’re bent on leaving your current school, though. Vanderbilt and Notre Dame are two other top schools that have relatively high transfer acceptance rates compared to their RD ones. Also be sure to have some safeties that you genuinely wouldn’t mind attending, some matches, a couple of reaches–basically, college apps all over again, but with a slightly cleaner slate. The C’s you got in AP Calc may pose a problem (I know exactly how you feel, haha) but hopefully your test scores and strong first semester transcript will offset that.</p>
<p>Best of luck! 
</p>
<p>Quick edit:
There is a transfer forum on here that might prove helpful! <a href=“Transfer Students - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/</a></p>
<p>Thank you so much. Yes, calculus was quite difficult with a recently hired ex-engineer as my teacher, but I am currently enrolled in a calculus 1 class that I forsee myself doing quite well in so I hope that will also offset it. Thank you for the advice though, I definitely am going to look into other possible transfer schools as well. </p>