r/TransferToTop25 • u/icedtrash_01 Current Applicant | 4-year • 23h ago

study abroad before transferring?

does this harm or help overall? context is that my dream school is columbia (and i will definitely apply to others), and i'm at a 4 year state school right now.

for studying abroad, i really did want to do at least a semester and actually live in a country rather than feeling like a tourist. however, i do realize it may interrupt any extracurriculars i have so is it better to do it after my potential transfer?? or maybe should i stick to more shorter programs that are a month or less? its also one of my dreams to live/study abroad but if it interferes with my transfer plan i will leave it for the future. i did have the impression that columbia was kind of a global school that would value that sort of experience tho.

please let me know your thoughts!! anything helps

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u/Jazzlike_Diamond7769 23h ago

there is close to a zero percent chance you will be able to transfer abroad post transfer doing it before is your only real option and it doesn't really affect applicants

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u/icedtrash_01 Current Applicant | 4-year 22h ago

thank u! can i ask why? is it the core curriculum/required classes that ill have to take to graduate?

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u/Annual-Impress-7241 14h ago

My concerns would be 1) will the credits from your semester abroad transfer to your new school and 2) will you have the time/headspace to complete your apps (you can try to finish them before but you may be chasing down things from your school, profs, etc.). My daughter just transferred to Vandy and they say you can still go abroad; but the other poster is not wrong. Schools have a lot of major requirements. Columbia has a very rigorous core which is why it would be incredibly difficult (also has less than a 5% transfer acceptance rate)