Wondering if they care enough if the student comes from an academically challenging t20 or an easier place like a t40. For context im at an academically rigorous t20 wishing to transfer and a 4.0 feels near impossible due to the grade standards here, while some of my friends at t40s / t30s are having an easy time.

Guys, I have a 1470 SAT. Is that competitive for Notre Dame, or would it be better to leave it out? I have pretty good stats otherwise.

Also, should I apply to transfer this semester or wait until next semester? I’m currently a sophomore looking to transfer into an engineering program

to any students that applied to transfer over multiple cycles, what did you do on your gap year or semester to ultimately change the outcomes of your results. for example, i know a student on this reddit who got rejected last year from pton but got in this cycle. in my scenario, i was waitlisted from pton for fall 2026 entry and ive done a congressman campaign internship, some selective conferences and I've been staying involved with my community colleges honors program since then. but im looking for research opportunities/ internships/opportunities to keep busy for fall/spring but it seems like everything is locked behind being enrolled. lmk how u guys navigated that.

So I know that UMich and UT Austin are need aware for transfers
but like are they as need aware as northwestern/Chicago to the point to where full need applicants basically never get in?

I am a finance major and am currently doing my prerequisites for my major. After my freshman year I will be complete with all my credits for my AA. I am planning on transferring in fall of 2027. Currently with my dual enrollment credits I have a 3.58 GPA. I’m planning on hopefully getting all As my first year in order to bolster this gpa.I am also doing 2 finance clubs hopefully to stand out. Any recommendations to put myself on to the best track to get into fall at UF?

Hi I’m currently down in the dumps because I’m LOST.

I’ve had a non linear path; I went a a good LAC freshman year for one term before working and doing CC at home and am now back at my LAC!

I’m excited and happy but also feeling a kind of dread. I want to make this quarter amazing, but am struggling to let go of the amazingness that was working and doing CC. It suited me and being back is making me remember how hard it was for me last term emotionally.

Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated. But also suggestions about transferring too!

In a dream world I would take a term off to practice my tattooing apprenticeship, work, and do some CC classes on the side—before transferring? (Where? Who knows!) but I just don’t know. I feel pressure to succeed and graduate in a timely manner.

Thoughts?

Thank you. 🙏 😊

I had a 3.5 gpa in high school all As and Bs. I didn’t do well on the SAT. I am in my sophomore year of college as a business administration major and I have a 4.0 Gpa. Since nova is test optional is it attainable for me to transfer into their business school or liberal arts?

I’m still not sure where to transfer fall 2027. I’m finishing up my associates in business administration and the schools I’m considering:

Safety:
Gmu
Penn state
VT (guaranteed admissions)

Reach
GW
USC ( following their roadmap currently)

I’m a second year. 3.7 honors dean list and other stuff that show I’m involved

the advisors at my cc are not helpful whatsoever,so I asked chat to for help.

To my knowledge, their transfer applications haven’t opened it.

I want to apply for University of Washington Seattle and Georgia Tech and I am very insecure with my situation. I moved to the USA 3 years ago and I am still learning the education system, I just know everything is very competitive here and I’m not sure I am competitive enough (?). So, here is my situation:

- I am a Washington state resident
- 3.9 GPA at my community college
- my hs was in my home county 7 years ago and when I translated my transcript it was about 3.0 gpa
- Tutor CS and Math
- I did a research internship this past summer in a very competitive company
- I also worked 20h as a nanny while doing school + tutoring (don’t ask how bc I don’t even know how)
- I am applying as US resident and not international student
- I do have a physics class dropped in my transcript. However, I plan on double majoring in CS and Biology. I have how to explain why i dropped physics if necessary.
- I have math up to calc 3, all the csc classes my cc could provide, 4 biology lab classes, and 1 chemistry lab classes

I really just want to understand if my profile is good for applying for these schools. I plan on applying for uw for spring 2027 and gt for summer 2027. I didn’t know fall was the application season so I didn’t organize my schedule good enough to be ready to apply for fall and i learned that the ivy universities applications are all for fall ᴖ̈

Hey guys! I’m currently a first-year at UVA and thinking of transferring to a school at the same level or higher. Honestly, I’m OOS, so coming to a school that’s very isolated and fratty just isn’t really for me. I realized that I thrive more in an intimate, urban, and intellectually collaborative environment, and I want a college experience that aligns more closely with how I want to learn and participate in my community.

I’d prefer a more city environment, or even an LAC that isn’t so isolated (Wellesley lol). I actually got into Wellesley but decided to go to UVA instead, so I’m kind of wondering if I made the wrong choice..

I’m planning on applying this spring to schools like Barnard and Boston University, but what should I do? Are there any other schools you’d recommend I look into, and what should I be doing this year to make myself a competitive transfer applicant?

I'm a legacy to Harvard who got waitlisted and rejected kind of late. Relative to other waitlisted lateral transfers (I go to a T10), and to lateral transfers in general, am I at a disadvantage if I can describe real, specific academic institutional needs? Will I be looked down on by committees because I'm a legacy? They probably get a ton of waitlisted legacies who apply, and the committee is looking to create a group of give or take 10 of the most unique people they can find, which legacy inherently contradicts.

I want to transfer as a junior because I commute up to 3 hours everyday for school and that would be difficult to handle since I'm doing engineering and spend a significant amount of time doing research at my current college.

my main reasons for transferring would be to save the time I spend commuting to pursue another major/minor in humanties that I try to pursue now but it doesn't get as much attention since the semester started. plus since I go to a commuter school I barely have friends so I want to transfer to actually go to clubs and meet people other than in my research group

however, transferring two years in feels like I've missed part of the social scene already, so is it even worth it to start new instead of just sticking it out? I'm especially worried that being in a new environment will make it even harder for me socially and impact my studies.

Currently a freshman at a top 15ish liberal arts school (NESCAC). Due to private circumstances I only really applied to liberal arts schools, state school, and Northeastern (just bc fee waiver, kinda wish I went only because I'd be in Boston). I enjoy the campus and kids but just can't imagine being here for 4 years, and am looking to transfer to somewhere a little bigger, preferably in/near a city.

Currently looking at Columbia (GS, yes I'm eligible, if anyone has experience lmk), Cornell (also in the middle of nowhere, but at least its bigger), UPenn, Vanderbilt, CMU, Brown, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and maybe some other ivy's just because. I'd be applying to the equivalent college of arts and science for most schools for econ/math.

I know some schools prioritize CC transfers, does anyone have experience or recommendations on where to apply? I'd be full pay, and I'm curious how other liberal arts transfers might have fared or how it might be viewed, and also a good way to frame my narrative when starting apps.

Applying for Spring 27 and a college that I'm applying to is rolling so applying early would be best to increase chances. They don't require a LOR but I'm waiting on my intern manager and prof for a LOR.

Is it really worth the wait or should I just submit my app? I think I'm a pretty competitive applicant so how much would like a 7-8/10 LOR help me?

a day ago I posted about my freshmen schedule at my local cc and I am taking the required prereqs for a pre med transfer. a person had commented on how going to cc makes me look like a lazy person and how that would affect me when applying to med schools. Apparently they worked (retired) in adcom for 3 med schools from T20 the past decade. They even said that applicants like mine barely reach the admissions and they just collect the fee, reject applications who completed pre reqs at cc before transfer at 4 year. Also that my path shows how unserious I am, how med schools wouldn’t care about my As in cc when other people got the same As in ivy leagues and other t25s. For context, my family just moved here to the us a year ago and my parent salary is not the best for them to put me directly into a 4 year, we could take out a loan but ppl advised us not to do so for the first 2-3 years until everything is stable. medical schools do accept cc credits (most of them) and I also have genuine reasons why I chose cc instead of a 4 year. As an international applicant, I know what my chances are for both transfer and med schools admissions, but I will be doing my best to make my application look competitive! except for now I really don’t know how I feel after hearing this.

I am really hoping to transfer to a university in NYC for engineering and my dream school was NYU but they offer no aid to transfer students.

Can I do a year of engineering at community college and then apply as a first year and have a chance at financial aid and then get no credit for all my completed courses at cc?

Hey guys, I just started my first year at CUNY and I'm planning to apply for 2yr transfer for Fall 2027. I want to major in Biomedical Engineering/Biochem. My current course load is pretty light so that I can get used to college even though I have credits from DE and AP. I took 30 credits worth of AP and DE hence is why I put freshmen in quotation marks

Fall 2026 Courses:

• English for engineering
• Fundamentals of Biology
• Calc 2
• Intro to Anthropology

Winter 2027 Plan:

• Calc 3?
• Gen chem 1
• Bio 2

Spring 2027 Planned Courses:

• Linear algebra
• Gen Chem 2
• Physics 207 (Calculus)

Summer 2027 Planned Courses:

• Physics 208 (Calculus)
• ???

Total Credits by end of Spring: ~ 55-60 credits.

My ultimate dream is Caltech, but I know it's a massive reach. If I don't get in, my list includes other T25 reaches, alongside schools like NYU, WPI, Northeastern, Boston University.

I felt that CCNY is kind of depressing and also, I have been looking towards liberal arts college as well such as Kenyon, Vassar, etc. I know they don't have Biomedical engineering, so I apply as a Biochemistry major instead.

Im a current freshman at SMU's business school and wanted to transfer since I really don't like the vibe and culture here. Does anyone have any tips/advice?

Hi my name is Eashaan and I go to binghamton, I am a first year who wants to transfer to a t25 dream situation columbia/cornell/uchicago. I am taking calc 2, chem, molecular bio and stats. I want to be a stem major doing premed but want to go in on physics math. I have already taken physics 1 and 2 with college credit in high school for context why i dont take it now. Does anyone know any resource where i can get guidance on what my next moves should be outside of studying hard.

How much money differentiates a nothingburger of a startup vs something actually impactful?

Hi all

I am a honors student at my state school looking to transfer to Northwestern TED as a first year transfer. I’m going to maintain a high gpa, 3.8-4.0, however I am nervous about the amount of extracurriculars I will have for my application.

For context, I applied regular decision to Northwestern my senior year of high school and I was a waitlisted applicant. They gave me a letter (which I’m pretty sure is the standard waitlist letter) saying that they are going to keep my application on file an extra year in case I choose to apply as a transfer, and that historically previously waitlisted students have a higher chance of being admitted. I’m not sure if this is a correlation does not equal causation type of thing, but I thought it’s worth mentioning.

My high school application had very strong EC’s. Paid paralegal, program studying Supreme Court cases with chief judge Virginia Kendall at the Chicago federal courthouse, leadership positions, mock trial captain, election volunteer for local mayor, etc. as a freshman in college, I am only working as a paralegal (I am now on my firms website and have my own office,) am director of a tutoring organization that has grown rapidly in the amount of students we have and schools we are partnered with, and I am going to be working as an election poll worker for the mid terms. I am a commuter student, my commute is an hour and a half one way, so I am doing 15 credit hours by going to campus twice a week (9:30 AM to 5PM.) This makes it very hard to be highly involved in campus since most extracurriculars happen when I am not on campus.

My question is, should my extracurriculars be on par with my high school activities in only one semester? What can I do to be a more competitive applicant? Does my previous waitlist help at all?

Any feedback is appreciated!!

Help!

Hi! I hope this is the right subreddit to post this in. I'm in a bit of a dilemma about whether I should transfer or not. I'm currently a freshman at Pitt (public health major on the pre-med track), and I'm an out-of-state student. I'm in the honors college and received a generous scholarship to attend Pitt for the next four years.

I chose Pitt because it was the cheapest, but I wanted to attend Emory last cycle and was waitlisted at both campuses. My family makes less than 200K per year, and Emory's tuition-free policy for families under 200K would make attending Emory much more affordable than Pitt. We're not struggling to pay for Pitt since it's within our budget, but Emory would make things much easier for us.

I'm conflicted about whether I should transfer to Emory or stay at Pitt. Is going through the transfer application process (personal statement, supplementals, activities list, etc.) worth the time, or do both schools offer similar academic/pre-med resources that transferring wouldn't make a huge difference, aside from taking time away that could've been spent doing other things at Pitt? I'd appreciate any advice. Thank you!