<p>My son currently attends a state school. He has done well his first semester but wants to take the next semester off, get a job (?!), and transfer to the state university (if accepted) next fall. I wish this were not true. My question is: does he need more than one semester of college under his belt before a "better" university will consider him? He was on the wait list for the university initially but not ever accepted. Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>IBMom: If your son got good grades his first semester, he should have a decent chance as a transfer. It varies by school, but some state flagships (UNC, UMD) are easier to get into as a transfer than as a freshman. See if you can find out what transfer statistics are like for the school in questions. Good luck to you and your son.</p>
<p>With only one semester under his belt, his HS record and SAT/ACT score will still play a heavy role in whether or not he gains acceptance. In other words, if he had a good shot at the transfer school had he applied during his senior year of HS, he’ll have a good shot now.
If the transfer school would have been a reach school had he applied during his senior year of HS, then he should consider it a reach school now.</p>
<p>If the transfer school was a reach for your son initially, I recommend that he complete at least 2 full semesters worth of credits with a solid GPA before he tries to transfer to a more selective college.</p>
<p>If he plans on transferring, remind him that he will most likely need professor recommendations from his current school.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>My D was forced to leave HS after her junior year of HS (she had poor grades due to medical absences). She did have decent SAT scores on file & got 100% on the GED, enrolled in CC. After her 1st semester there (where she earned 3.8), she applied to private selective OOS U & was accepted for her spring term, sophomore year, so yes, it is possible to appy after just one good term post HS. It worked OK for her & she’s happy in her private U, scheduled to graduate with her buddies that completed their senior year in HS while she was at CC. </p>
<p>FWIW, the private U she attends was out of reach for D with her HS grades & test scores but they were inspired (I think by her essays & amazing score on the GED) to take a chance on her & it has worked well for her & them. The HS counselor advised her to wait until after she had completed more CC before applying to transfer but she applied because she REALLY wanted to transfer ASAP. She felt she had not much to lose & much to gain by trying to transfer (figured she would put out more transfer applications the following year if she wasn’t accepted).</p>
<p>Transfer potential, of course, varies by school. Many schools review trasnfer applicants for sophomore standing based on hs record, first term college grades and recs and mid-term reports for the student’s second college term.</p>
<p>Your S wouldn’t have that final element and it appears he would be wanting to transfer to second-semester freshman standing? That’s not so common. But if he’s transferring from one state school to another, there might be a fair amount of precedent for that. </p>
<p>You can find out all of the specific requirements for the U he’s targetting on their website usually. Typically the Admissions section of the website will have a subsection about transfer admissions.</p>
<p>Thanks all, as usual you’ve been very helpful</p>
<p>S might check out the number of students accepted as transfers in the last few semesters at the desired college. He could directly chat up an Admissions officer who could give him some insights into how hard/easy transferring is at that particular school. </p>
<p>I was surprised to learn that our local college accepts very few transfers. I am not sure why this is – and certainly the landscape varies by school. But it’d be good to know before making the next semester “job” choice. Short term jobs are surely in short supply everywhere.</p>
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<p>You/your son can find these stats on the common data set for the school in question. While it will not give you a break down regarding freshman transfers, you can look at this along with the freshman retention rate (number of students who return sophomore year) to give you some idea as to how many seats open up.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son</p>