Tufts or Ivy?

<p>Hi everyone,
I have a couple of questions about whether or not I should transfer. I am a rising sophomore at Tufts and planning on double majoring in International Relations and Economics. I am considering applying to transfer to the following schools: Brown, Georgetown, Duke, UPenn, and Columbia because these are better overall schools than Tufts and would likely offer better financial aid. I know that Tufts has a strong IR program which is why I don't know whether I should definitely apply to transfer. Do you think I would be better off staying at Tufts because they have such a strong IR program, or should I apply to transfer to a better overall school?
Also, do you think I could realistically transfer into these schools? (Sorry to post another chances add, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!)</p>

<p>My stats:
College: Tufts, Rising sophomore
GPA: 3.88/4.0
HS GPA: 93.4/100 (unweighted) and in top 10%
SAT: 2120 (Math 740, Writing 760, Reading 620)
SAT II: 700 in US History and 690 in Math 1
AP's: Microeconomics 5, Macroeconomics 4, US History 4, Government 4, Statistics 4, Calc AB 4, English Language 3
EC's: I played a lot of sports in high school, and play in a semi-pro women's baseball league. I was a two-time state champion policy debater, and a lot of other academic awards. This past summer I interned for a Yale University medical study as a Spanish translator.</p>

<p>Any input would be helpful, thank you all in advance!</p>

<p>If you're unhappy at Tufts, I would say transfer, however, Tufts is a GREAT school and of (almost) Ivy caliber. It has an amazing IR program, which is what interests you. I don't see why you would want to transfer to a "better" school when in reality, it's hard to get much better than Tufts. Unless you're not enjoying your experience and overall dislike going to Tufts, I would say you shouldn't transfer.</p>

<p>I have to argee with Lily, unless for some reason you dislike Tufts then transferring isn't really worth it. I think GT and Duke below Tufts academically and Tufts Brown and UPenn are almost par with each other based on their admission stats. The only thing you can say by gonig to UPenn or Brown is you went to an ivy which is slightly watered down now-a-days due to the applicant volume these past years. By transferring you have to basically reset your roots and deal with adjusting to a new school again.</p>

<p>Thank you both for your input! I have been debating this back and forth for a while, and appreciate having an outside opinion.</p>

<p>Yeah I'm just thinking unless it's a evident step up then it's not really worth it in my opinion. Like I went to ASU last year and moving to USC this year so academically it's a vast improvement. But it's a really large pain moving schools, loosing connection, friends, dealing with getting off campus housing if you can't get oncampus etc. The other thing I could suggest is if you really feel like you're on the fence debating if to transfer or not, is to select your top one or two schools and to apply to them. Then just keep in your mind to stay at Tufts then if you get into one you can debate if you truely want to transfer, and if you get rejected then no harm done (well maybe not to your ego) and you can stay at Tufts.</p>

<p>I mean Tufts was left out of the Ivy League by sheer chance, not quality. I'd say your Fletcher School is better than nearly any other program like that, except maybe JFK, and Harvard doesn't except transfers.</p>

<p>Tufts is certainly a good school of ivy caliber and since it is a top 20 school i can confidently say that it matters. so whether or not u want stay at tufts (which is very good) is up to you.</p>

<p>stay at tufts if you like tufts. go to another school if you don't (if you get in). don't grass is greener yourself to death, you'll never be happy. probably because you'll be dead.</p>