Okay so I am currently in high school, and I want to transfer colleges when I get to college. I was hospitalized frequently throughout high school, so my grades aren’t so well. My plan is to transfer to an Ivy League school such as Yale, brown, etc. I know the odds of getting in are pretty low, but would it decrease my already low chance of getting in if my grades in high school weren’t so good? Also, i may not be able to graduate until January due to credit transfer, so would starting college in the spring semester instead of fall negatively effect my chances of getting into a school if I wanna start as a junior? Would I be better off starting in the fall term of the next year? Please give me accurate answers, thank you.
I’m a little confused. Are you going to a community college, or a 4-year institution?
To colleges, it does not matter whether you started in spring vs. fall vs. summer.
You are currently in high school, and have a confirmable history of medical issues.
Right now, you need to concentrate on 1) getting and staying well, 2) finishing high school with good grades and with good relationships with the people who will write your letters of recommendation. The exact date of your high school graduation does not matter. In fact, if it will help pull up your GPA and get you really gready for college, you should stay that extra semester and graduate in June.
Most students start college in the fall, and most transfers start in the fall. All of the processes will be easier for you if you stick with that calendar. If for some reason you must graduate high school in January rather than in June, don’t try to go to college immediately. Take advantage of those “gap months” and do something that you enjoy and/or that will earn some money for your college costs.
As for your goal of attending an Ivy: Why, exactly, is this your goal? Think this through carefully. Each of the so-called Ivies is different from all of the others. When you apply for transfer, you will need to be able to make a clear argument as to why your target institution is better for your specific academic goals than the place that you want to leave.
Some of the ivies (HY specifically) have disappointingly-low acceptance rates for transfer students, like 2%, making it more difficult to be accepted as a transfer to those schools than as a high school senior. Princeton currently doesn’t accept transfers, but I think they’re changing that for next year? (You might want to fact check this haha) Brown, Penn, and Cornell are more transfer-friendly because of their size. All of the ivies either list the specific numbers on their websites or include it in their common data sets. (You can google “[school] common data set” and they have a whole section on transfer admissions/acceptances.)
You may also want to look into schools similar to the ivies like: BC, Hamilton, Villanova, Northeastern, “the public ivies,” etc. They have higher transfer acceptance rates for transfers but still boast amazing networks, resources, educations, and prestige. They’re all highly-respected and my friends at those schools all love them.
As happymomof1 has said, make sure you have grounded and specific reasons for wanting to attend each school. This is one thing they look for in applications, that you want to attend for abc specific reasons rather than “because it’s Harvard.” Does Dartmouth have a great professor researching xyz that would foster your desired senior thesis on international economics in Latin America? Do you want to attend Penn because its pre-professional focus aids your goals of becoming a doctor and attending med school to further public health? Does Columbia’s core curriculum appeal to you because your current school doesn’t have that structure?
As for transferring junior year, schools really stress college performance in junior transfer applicants. Make sure you keep your college GPA up and get good letters of recommendation from your college professors. I’ve read that it helps to be heavily invested in one or two things on campus - as opposed to many things - to show how you would fit into your transfer school’s community.
Hope this helps! Good luck with your college apps 
I’m either going to go to st. Francis or Wagner, possibly Umass if I get in. My question is if I get in, can I apply for as a transfer in an Ivy League school? I know the chances are already pretty low, but would my hs gpa and ke taking a term off eliminate my chances overall?
possibly Umass if I get in. My question is if I get in, can I apply for as a transfer in an Ivy League school? I know the chances are already pretty low, but would my hs gpa and ke taking a term off eliminate my chances overall?
They won’t care about your high school transcript if you have top grades in college before attempting to transfer. Be aware though, as noted above, the transfer acceptance rate is even more minuscule than applying as a freshman. Those colleges have very high retention rates. Hardly anyone leaves. Arguably, the people admitted as transfers to tippy top colleges are even more spectacular than those admitted as freshmen. Grades alone will not be enough.
I understand that, that’s why I will be applying to all Ivy leagues in hopes of attending at least one. I mean it’s been my dream to attend one. I was on track freshman year I had a 3.9 average and was going to take two honors classes for the following year but by the end of freshman year I started to get hospitalized and my grades dropped incredibly. Thank you for the advice. But my question is if I were to start college in the spring term instead of fall would it decrease my already low chances of getting in? Someone had informed me that if I were to do something meaningful in my time off it wouldn’t matter, but I’m probably going to just end up graduating in Jan because of credit transfer. So should I start that following spring term or should I start fall term?
I will be attending a four year program. So you’re saying that if I start college in the spring term of my freshman year rather then the fall it wouldn’t effect my chances of getting accepted? Even if my hs grades were still kind of low?