UBC vs. Umich + Transfer Question

<p>I was rejected by my favorite schools U of Chicago and Georgetown. The main reason for staying in UBC is to get high grades in the first year in a more familiar environment, get Canadian citizenship(maybe) and transfer to a top US university. If I choose to go to Michigan, I'll probably spend all four years there, and will lose the Canadian resident status.</p>

<p>And here are some questions that I am not sure about:
1. Do universities require and pay attention to high school grades and counselor recommendations? (My high school grades are very very average and will hurt my chance for sure.)
2. Do they pay much attention to AP record?
3. I will be in school of commerce if I go to UBC. Does entering a Commerce School (which contains many professional and technical courses) affect my chance of getting into a general undergraduate college in a top US university?</p>

<p>Your help will be very appreciated.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>HS record is more important if you are transferring as a soph than as a jr. However, for some of the very selective colleges, everything counts to some degree.</p></li>
<li><p>It likely varies with the college and again with whether you’re applying as a soph or jr.</p></li>
<li><p>Top schools will want to see that you are taking basic distributional requirements (eg. science, quantitative, social science, humanities, etc.), not technical courses.</p></li>
</ol>