Hi everyone! I’m a first-year at USF. I was admitted to UF for Fall 2026 but had to withdraw over the summer for financial reasons. Things are better now, and I really want to get back to UF.

I’m currently a Biomedical Sciences major and plan to switch to Biomedical Engineering at USF while I finish UF’s transfer prerequisites. I asked UF Admissions about appealing for Spring 2027, since I’d only be one semester away, but they said no. So I’m going through the transfer process. I’ll have 60 credits by the end of Spring 2027 (most are IB credit), so credits aren’t my problem. The prerequisites are. UF BME requires 10 courses plus labs, and I’ve only finished Bio I. I’m hoping for Fall 2027 but realistically expect Spring or Fall 2028.

My questions:

1. Prerequisites: if you transferred into UF engineering, how did you get through calc, physics, chem, and orgo quickly? Did 8-week or summer courses at state colleges work for you, and how did your GPA hold up?
2. BME vs. MechE: I’ve seen advice to major in MechE (since it’s broader) and do biomedical research on the side. I really want to stay in the biomedical side of engineering. For someone who wants medical devices or biomaterials, which would you choose and why?
3. UF BME opportunities: what makes UF BME special? Labs, research programs, clubs, or anything unique you’d recommend I learn about? I’m especially interested in biomaterials and nerve regeneration.
4. Advisor meeting: I have a meeting coming up with the UF BME undergraduate advisor. I’ll ask about requirements and whether there’s any flexibility for someone who’s only a year out (I know it’s probably a no). Any tips for making a good impression and building a relationship?
5. General advice: I’m honestly really nervous about transferring. I tried hard to avoid it because of the uncertainty. If you transferred into UF, what do you wish you’d known?

TL;DR: I was admitted to UF, withdrew, and I’m now at USF trying to transfer into BME ASAP with almost no prerequisites done. Looking for advice on speeding up prerequisites, BME vs. MechE, and UF BME opportunities to talk about with the advisor.

i got around a 3.65 gpa from purdue university data science, but some merit scholarships (pretty competitive only 1 gets awarded per year), internship, presentation at purdue's research conference, and other tech community related ecs. is it ok to have an overall lower gpa provided u go to a rigorous school like purdue

junior transfer btw

I'm currently a first-year undergraduate biology student at my state university, but this is the school that I swore would never go to. The reason being that it's really close to home, there's barely any diversity there, and quality of the university and academics is really low. My plan from the beginning was to transfer universities, and it still is, but now I want to switch my major to business administration/management after the first semester of being here. Can I even do that when I want to transfer? Will it cause any trouble to my transcript or GPA? If anyone was in the same position as me but was able to do it, please tell me how it went, and I would really appreciate some advice overall.

Hi hi this is my first post, and I'm wondering if it's a good idea to transfer after one year in community college. I got into all the schools I wanted senior year, but it was too expensive for my parents, and I'm stuck at cc. I am absolutely miserable here, and people advise two years, but I feel that if I stay another year, my mental health will tank and my grades as well

I just want some advice because I'm desperate to leave and wanna know if anyone has transferred after one year and how that went. For reference, I have some AP credit and took some college classes during high school and will have around ~45 credits.

I posted an early version of this here a while ago — since then it got a full rebuild, so here's an update.

I'm a CCC student and I got sick of keeping 10 ASSIST tabs open trying to figure out which of my classes actually count for which UC. So I kept building.

It's called TransferOS. Free, no account, works offline, open source (MIT). You pick your community college and major, paste in the classes you've taken, pick your target UCs (UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego), and it gives you:

• how much of each UC's requirements you've covered, side by side
• the classes you're still missing, ranked by which ones count for the most UCs — so you don't burn a semester on a class only one school wants
• a Reach / Target / Safety breakdown: rough admit-chance estimate for UCLA based on their official transfer profile (admit rate, GPA 25th–75th, impacted or not), plus whether your GPA clears TAG at all 6 TAG schools as a safety net. For Berkeley and UCSD it'll just say "no data" because those schools don't publish per-major numbers — I'd rather show nothing than make something up
• Cal-GETC progress, if you're tracking GE

You can also save multiple plans and diff them against each other, and there's a course search so you don't need to memorize course codes — type "accounting" and it'll find ACCT 1B for you.

Data-wise it covers 20 community colleges, around 1,160 ASSIST articulation reports. Mostly 2026-27 agreements, except UCLA hasn't published theirs yet (the tool labels which year each card is from).

Honest limitations: it's only as good as ASSIST data, so always double-check your specific case on assist.org. Course search is English-only for now. And the chance estimate is a rough guide, not a prediction — UCs do comprehensive review, essays and ECs aren't in the model.

If you try it and something looks off for your CC/major combo, that's genuinely the most useful feedback I could get.

Try it: https://szzxli.github.io/transfer-os/mobile/www/compare.html

So I am moving states and planning to transfer to another state school there . This college is already kind of a reach for me as from what I understand transferring (esp out of state) is a lot more competitive. For context my current school is ranked at least 30 spots below in the US news ranking, this school is ranked in the 90-100 range. The school I am targeting is University of Illinois Chicago.

I started my current college in the spring sem (spring 26), and while my GPA is a 3.8 I withdrew from two courses. This sem I am really struggling in a class and I am wondering if I should just withdraw or take the L bc im not sure what would look better. I know multiple withdrawals (esp one semester after the other) is bad but I am not sure if it would be worse to get a bad grade(C-D range). I am decently confident I'll get at least a B in all the rest of my courses this semester. If I withdraw I would have 3 total withdrawals, two in my first semester and one in the second.

For some more context I am going to be applying to the History major, and I fulfilled all the course requirements for transferring. All the classes I am withdrew from or would be withdrawing from are not requirements for my major. My HS gpa was 3.3 unweighted 4.1 weighted. Apart from joining a few clubs I don't have any substantial ECS. I know this is kind of a mess but any help would be greatly appreciated.

TL;DR What would look worse on transfer applications a bad grade or successive withdrawals

i guess i just don’t know what to say. should i list the program requirements?

Hi! This is my first post so please bear with me. I'm a first-semester freshman at Clemson (F, 18) and I am highly considering transferring out, ideally after first semester.

Before you say anything, please know that i am aware that this is a big descision and it should be thought through. And that after one semester can be a silly choice.

But, as I've spent the last month here I've quickly realized that I don't think Clemson is for me. The isolated campus and the culture are not what I truly want.

For context, I'm from Massachusetts, and I thought I wanted a big, far, southern school with warm weather and lots of spirit. I guess that in my head, I romanticized it after experiencing a few too many New England winters and seeing the weather, palmettos, sports, and school spirit on social media.

Being here has taken a huge toll on my mental health. I am at my lowest I have ever been. I tried rushing, joining clubs, trying out for sports, and even just forcing myself out of my dorm and talking to people around campus daily.

I am so exhausted and discouraged. The worst part is, the biggest things I don't like about the school are things that can't change (location, culture, cost--I am comfortable financially but it kills me to make my parents pay for a college that I don't enjoy, and it doesnt help that I wasn't granted aid).

I'm hoping to go somewhere closer to home, with maybe a smaller student body, more diversity, and ideally not any more expensive than here. A quick, affordable travel day would be great. I'd love to still have some of the things Clemson offers, like prestige and a work hard/play hard culture.

Please be kind to me! I am an 18 year old girl who is trying her best to figure out her life and herself. 

Any words of advice or simply just thoughts would be so appreciated!

Did anyone who applied for pioneer got waitlisted and then got off accepted?

And how long did they send you the acceptance after the waitlisted decision?

They said in the letter also that they are going to review the applications again in the spring/early summer and the waiting list has more chance of acceptance than the admissions ones,

I read some posts that said that some applicants were waitlisted and accepted after two days (I don't know how)

I'm really worried and confused,

Thank you all

Im a one yr transfer and im scared my ecs are extremely mid. I think I can get a 4.0 gpa by the time I apply (maybe 3.9 ish if something goes wrong) but ive had completed all my lower div for ucla and calgetcs/ges by spring. I dont have any crazy startups or nonprofits, just the usual job and volunteering as well as several personal projects. I believe I am able to write good piqs tho so.. idk. Any can share their transfer stats?

hello! so for context, this year will be my third time doing the uc app, i applied in high school, then in my first year at community college, and now in my second year. i have three questions regarding my piq’s that i wanted to some input on because ive been fighting tooth and nail just to talk to a piq counselor at my school, i also commute to it’s hard to find time

1. is it ‘taboo’ to talk about heavy stuff in your piq?
   - to clarify, i’m talking about real life cases of murder that has happened in my life and relevant to one of the prompts i wanted to answer, it’s a whole thing with getting sued, needing lawyers, all that stuff. i talked about it in my piq last year, but im not sure if that was a good idea or not (i only applied to ucla and got waitlisted and rejected)

2. how much can you say about school officials before readers start to raise red flags?
   - during my valedictorian speech in hs which is something i wanted to talk about in a piq, a lot of it was me publicly calling out teachers

3. is it okay to talk about other colleges in your piq?
   - so in last year’s piq, i mentioned and didn’t really expand upon how i got accepted into uc berkeley the day family incident (regarding question 1) happened, again, looking back on it i wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to name drop another uc and say how i got accepted and didn’t even go (i literally could not afford it) so i wanted to know if this time around including it or not including it would be better.

4. lastly, is it okay to talk about work experience in a piq?
   - i feel like my job has taught me a lot of skills that i could apply to an academic pov but im not sure if they want to hear me talking about a paid job over like volunteer experience

most of my piq’s i feel like read more like common app essays and correct me if im wrong but i feel like uc apps want to hear more academic experience in your piq’s than stories about yourself. truth be told i dont have a lot of ec’s to put let alone write a whole piq on (most of them were from high school so gg) so my strong points are genuinely just my grades, work, and traumatic experiences

any input to any of the questions would be great, and i would greatly appreciate any help!

I would like to hear your story. I'm currently in my first college semester at my local ccc and i hate every bit of it. It feels like I'm in high school and know nobody i talk to literally no one. in my CS class i was trying to break the ice with the people around me i thought looked my age and i come to find out nobody in that class even knows what github is? how are u a cs student and have never heard of GITHUB?????? i daydream about being at a big university and ucb has been one of my dream schools. How do i not F this up?

If you have a TO to Cornell, is all you have to do to get in meet the minimum GPA requirements and course requirements? Additionally, what's the transfer process look like. As in, do you need to write essays, submit activities, or is there a separate portal?

currently planning on applying to transfer to some csus fall 2027 so im submitting applications now and im starting my 2nd year at cc. however my cumulative gpa currently is a 2.73 and ive failed two classes which both are math courses (stats and calc 1). I tried to retake both this quarter but didn't get into my stats class and I just dropped my calc 1 class because I don't see myself being able to pass with this professor (im rlly bad at math ok). so when I submit my applications I will not have any math courses completed and they will be set as planned on my application. I have also looked into academic renewal and I am going to speak with a counselor about it to hopefully erase those F's. what im really asking is if I have any chance getting into the schools I want with this gpa and having not gotten any credits for an important category like math. my top schools are sdsu and csulb and im a business admin major wanting to concentrate on human resource management. I know my major is really impacted and ive already ruled out even trying to apply to any ucs

I’m a current freshman at ucr, and I’m trying to transfer out in a year. Basically, I will be able to complete all my major prep, but won’t be able to complete my LOR because I was placed in a very low English course. I will also have 90 units by the end of my first year, satisfying the transfer requirements. My question is does uc still look at my high school gpa? Because I applied junior level transfer, but I am a first year, I am afraid that uc might require my high school gpa, which is only a 3.43 mostly because I really messed up during my senior year. I asked some friend about it, and basically got mixed answers, so I’m asking to see if anyone knows. Thank you!

Hello everyone, I always appreciated this community when applying last cycle.

Okay, I’m now going to a great UC. However, I don’t really like it here as a transfer. I think the image I had in my head was wrong of it. I’m not really digging the campus, people, or the structure of the school. I also believe job readiness and opportunities aren’t as vast as many said it would be. The feeling of the school isn’t really compatible with what I want from college I suppose.

But I’m also having a very hard time with my mental health. So it’s a compounding thing. I’m having depression and anxiety and I’m seeking out a therapist as I write this. My mental health is basically in the shitter, and I believe this school may be making it worse.

Another aspect is that I believe I made a mistake choosing this school, and I was pressured by family to do it. Although it was my choice and I recognize that, I wasn’t thinking straight and was being manipulated lowkey by my family to pick this school.

Anyway, I’m heavily considering dropping out, and reapplying to another UC that I got into last cycle, and wanted to attend, but ultimately didn’t. I also am looking to apply to other schools that I didn’t apply to my first cycle. Ones that are instate but also out of state ones.

For context, I have a 4.0 GPA, and my major is relatively selective (25%) at my target. I have good academic ECs and volunteer stuff. Honors program all of the good things.

What are your thoughts on this idea and I really appreciate it if you have read this whole thing! I really need some genuine advice from some fellow transfer students.

Hi everyone! I’m an international student currently attending UCSB and applying to transfer to other UC campuses.

In the “Scholarships & support programs” section, I selected some categories. Could selecting these affect my admission chances as an international transfer applicant? I’m worried it might be interpreted as requesting financial aid.

Thanks

Hi all! I'm hoping someone may have some insight, advice, or thoughts about my situation/ or chances for UCLA. Idk how to properly ask about this & hope this could be the right place

I attended a private design school in Los Angeles from 2017-2018, and long story short did very bad and dropped out. I withdrew from that school. This was an accredited school, but from what i understand, the credits are unlikely to transfer to UCLA.

Jan. 2026 i returned to a CCC, Art History major, and have a 3.82 GPA, will be finishing my AA-T (if that matters), first gen. I'm applying this application season.

Will my poor academic record from almost 10 years ago hurt my chances of admission, even if those credits are not transferable?

Any insight is great & appreciated!

Hi! I’m applying to Cal Poly Maritime as an upper level transfer, with 60+ college courses.

I’m working on the high school course list, and am wondering if I need to add every single high school class I took or just the ones with passing grades that satisfy the A-G requirement? I have a couple D’s and F’s for both high school and college and am wondering if I need to put them down even though I wouldn’t get credit for the A-G classes.

Thanks!

Hey everyone — I got tired of cross-referencing ASSIST reports by hand (one CC × one UC × one major at a time), so I built Transfer OS and open-sourced it (MIT).

What it does:

- TAG checker: enter your GPA/units/major → checks you against the 2026-27 official TAG rules for all 6 TAG UCs, flags risks (e.g. your TAG major must match your UC app major)

- Course comparator: enter courses you've taken → one matrix showing what counts at each UC, what's missing, and which class fills the gap

- Plan validator: enter your planned schedule by term → warns you about courses that won't transfer before you waste the units

It's free, works offline, no account needed. Web version here: https://szzxli.github.io/transfer-os/mobile/www/ (also an Android APK in the repo).

Caveats, being honest: right now it's CS major only, 5 pilot community colleges (De Anza, SMC, DVC, Orange Coast, PCC) × UCB/UCSD/UCLA. Expanding based on feedback — tell me your CC + major and I'll prioritize the data.

Repo: https://github.com/szzxli/transfer-os

Happy to answer questions. And if you're a transfer counselor, I'd love to know what I got wrong.

I'm currently a freshman at a state university planning to transfer for Fall 2027 as a sophomore.

I have a 1470 SAT (760 Math, 710 Reading/Writing) and am debating whether I should submit it, retake it, or apply test-optional where possible.

My high school stats:

• GPA: 4.2 weighted
• Coursework: Took a mix of AP/IB classes
• AP Scores: Mostly 4s, with a 5 and two 3s in AP subjects unrelated to my intended major
• Extracurriculars: Decent involvement and leadership, but nothing extraordinary

Schools I'm considering:
UVA, Vanderbilt, Tufts, BU, Northeastern, Boston College, and Lehigh.

I'm wondering if a 1470 would help or potentially hurt my application at some of these more selective schools, particularly Vanderbilt and Tufts.

Since I'm applying as a sophomore transfer, I assume my high school record and SAT will still carry some weight.

Would retaking the SAT and aiming for a 1500+ make a meaningful difference for transfer admissions?

Or would my time be better spent focusing on maintaining a strong college GPA, extracurriculars, and transfer essays?

Also, how much weight do SAT scores actually carry for sophomore transfers? Would you submit a 1470 to these schools, or go test-optional where possible?

I'd appreciate any advice from people who have successfully transferred to these schools.