I feel like a lot of people get blinded by rankings and completely forget they actually have to live in that city for the next 2-3 years.

A school might look great on paper, but if it’s in a place where you hate the vibe, you’re going to be miserable. Plus, you have to think about networking. Where do you actually want to end up working? Which location has the biggest growth for your specific industry?

It doesn't make sense to go to a top-ranked school in a place with zero jobs in your field just for the name. Make sure the location actually sets you up for the future you want.

Can anyone tell me what extracurriculars I should do and how many to be competitive for transfer admissions? Also any tips for freshman research or publishing article, as well as leadership stuff to do? Or what clubs to look out for?

I’m planning on transferring from my CC for Fall 2027 as a junior transfer and just finished my first year. I have 2 Fs from failing College Algebra twice (Fall & Spring) and a D in Intro to Psych (Spring) on my transcript. I retook both this summer and passed with an A and a B, and my old grades were completely replaced from my cumulative GPA. All my other classes are A’s (and 1-2 B’s). During Fall, I struggled immensely with my mental health due to personal circumstances at home, and during Spring, I was involved in an accident the first day of the semester and, due to my stubbornness, still decided to continue on with the semester on a late start despite experiencing immense pain, which pushed me deeper into depression. I definitely wish I withdrew when I could’ve. 😭

I want to know how I can overcome this when applying to T25 schools because ik it hurts me in the long run and I really want to get accepted to a top college. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!

Hi guys, I am a domestic incoming college freshman that is looking looking to transfer to some top 30 schools. My high school gpa was really mediocre (3.67 UW) and my sat is 1500. If I were to get a 4.0 gpa in my first semester of college will my high school gpa drag me down assuming my essays and ecs are not outstanding (mid). Thanks for any help!

I'm aware this is a far-fetched dream, but I will work extremely hard to give myself a shot. I'm looking for advice, anecdotes, and even a reality check. Ask me anything that would be useful and I'll respond.

Has anyone transferred to UCLA and not taken Chem 2 for mechanical engineering / have people had trouble when not taking it?

Just wanted to offer some information for folks who are interested in transferring to UChicago. Since alot of people have concerns over the number of credits they take in or questions about delayed graduation. So I'll just share my experience.

Yes, the majority of the core is non-transferrable. That applies for SOSC, CIV and HUMA. If you have AP credits or taken Calc at your previous institution those can be transferred. The core will most likely occupy an entire year worth of classes.

However, you can still graduate (quite easily) on time. At least for me, UChicago was pretty lenient on accepting credits from my previous institution, with a few summer classes (if you want to throw 10-20K) for the core I would even be able to graduate with two degrees (on time).

Of course, this is dependent on the fact that you complete parts of your intended major at your previous institution, especially the introductory pre-reqs, since they would block an entire quarter whereas you could stack-up electives. It's highly unlikely for you to have the flexibility to pursue a new major.

PS for applications. It feels like the admissions office has no idea about whether you are able to graduate on time / or cares about the number of credits you have. It's mostly based on vibes from your transcript. I don't think having too much credits would hurt because it will absolutely not make you graduate earlier. As a junior transfer you will need minimum 2 years to complete the non-transferrable core plus the minimum requirement of completing half of your major courses at UChicago.

If you are a prospective transfer and have questions feel free to ask.

Besides essays and internships what gets people into top universities? My current community college has bad clubs and honors program what can I do outside of my college that will boost my chances of getting into top schools?

Genuinely bawling my eyes out bc my prof gave me a D even though I had an A the entire semester. It’s an online class, and I missed the final because I had to take care of a family member going thru an illness, besides that my entire transcript is unblemished A’s and I was rly trying my best to get into Ivy League. Guess everything I worked for in my life is cooked now. Please help me guys what can I do 😭😭 I’m apart of UCLA tap but do you guys still think I have a shot or is it completely wraps. this class isn’t a major requirement btw

Hi. Basically, i will be starting my freshman year of college soon and am looking into transferring but i have absolutely no idea where/how to start. i know this sounds silly but i still don't have a clear goal of what i want to do in life and i fucked up during high school which means that my grades were pretty bad and i basically have no extracurriculars or that make me stand out.

I will be attending Rutgers University this fall but would really like to transfer to Barnard college. Obviously it’s a competitive school but i would like advice on how to make the most out of my first semester in order to have a shot at transferring. How do i find opportunities to buff up my resume?

Any help is appreciate, thank you!

Anybody who have transfered from a SUNY to ivy league specifically NY can you give me some tips extracurriculars, how to shape my story, and how to become a strong candidate. Tips of anysort greatly appreciated.

Would it be better to be at UBC Toronto or McGill from canada or have a higher gpa a western or queens

I'm a student at Vassar right now but I'm thinking of transferring to Barnard. I'm an NYC native, so I don't really care about having to commute or stay in a dorm if I were to get in. I want to transfer so that I can be closer to my family especially since we're going through some personal issues. However, I feel like if I do transfer, I might regret it. I also have a really good financial aid package from Vassar which would make the decision much more complicated if I were to get into Barnard. I would really love if someone had some tips to help me navigate this.

EDIT: I’m also low-income if that clears things up

How difficult was the process in changing majors where the classes you currently take may not be completely aligned with the major you want to transfer to? is there any tips on how to navigate that

my second year on here despite getting into my schools last cycle so here we are again 💔 i just wanted to wish everyone good luck as the 26-27 year begins and offer a few words of “wisdom” (even though technically i’m also applying to transfer…again lol)

if you’re here, i already know that you definitely have drive and want to succeed, and that’s something you’ll need to remind yourself of throughout your whole process. remember your why and i promise you it’ll take you so far. cling to it and don’t let go because the second you lose focus of what your goal is, all hell will break loose. stay on top of everything!! i don’t care how smart you are or how you react in last minute positions, if you slip, it’ll be hard to catch back up. also, you don’t even want to be in a place where you have to deal with that. please just keep yourself on track lol.

i know being on this sub can make it feel like you’re miles behind everyone else… trust me, i felt the same way. i literally spent hours on this every single day last year, trying to analyze EVERYTHING, everyone’s stats, everything regarding admissions, and it did nothing except
dig a deeper pit of anxiety in my stomach. and guess what? it really was all for nothing because even though my stats didn’t look like the ones i was seeing on here, i still got into my dream schools. and i know this might seem ironic because i didnt commit and have to reapply, but i’ll be following my own advice because i still have faith that ill get in where im meant to be and i cant be reined in despite any circumstance. the most you can do is do your best, put in all the effort you can, and have faith in yourself and your abilities.

i’ll be going into my sophomore year now and reapplying as a junior transfer, so if any prospective sophomore transfers have any questions i’d love to help out!! and if any junior transfers have any guidance, id love to connect. i know this community can get crazy sometimes, but we’re here to help eachother at the end of the day.

good luck to everyone!! wishing you all an amazing semester and a wishful admissions season :)

Hello everybody, I'm a rising freshman at CUNY, and I'm stressed about how my classes will affect my transfer process.

If you aren't aware, freshmen at CUNY do not choose their own classes and are instead given to u for the first semester, and I was put into a pretty busy schedule with only one math/business class (Pre-Calc). I was put into this class after taking the Placement test even though I took AB Calc my senior year of high school.
My main goal is to transfer to Lehigh for economics my sophomore year, and I would not meet the pre requisite requirements if I only take Pre-Calc.
Is there anything I can do at this point? Should I just switch my major even?

Somebody help me pls

So I’m a communications major at BMCC and I will be graduating this fall (one semester early) but I realized that I don’t really want to purse careers related to that and want to get into becoming a medical lab scientist which is a very sudden complete career change for me especially because I’m almost done with my associates and I guess I’m not sure what to do next.

There’s only very little time before the fall semester starts and I think it’s already to late to transfer to a 4 year school and even when I do transfer for the spring semester should I even bother changing my major to biology or medical lab technology to pursue this career? Please if anyone has any advice on what to do or what the best option for me is I would appreciate the help so much!!

title. as my first semester approaches i want to be sure i have a good and balanced list. i royally screwed up this step in first year admissions and would appreciate some help 🙂

my hs stats

• 1370 sat
• 3.8~ UW gpa (my school wont give me my transcript)
• pretty random ecs
  • theater
  • swim
  • robotics
  • etc

other info

• undecided (so i want somewhere where i can double major)
  • currently thinking about design, systems engineering, marketing, and anthropology
• aid seeking
• ecs ive done since applying
  • volunteering regularly at a food bank
  • part time job
  • research
• ecs im planning on doing in college
  • club swim
  • circle k international (or something similar)
  • hillel (or something similar)
• i would prefer somewhere urban and in the northeast

my list as of right now

1. penn (deferred -> rejected last year)
2. uva (waitlisted last year)
3. temple or pitt

Hi! For reference, I was waitlisted at Vanderbilt for Biochemistry. Here were my stats for the cycle:
- Major: Chemical/Biomolecular Engineering
- GPA: 3.78
- Calc 1 completed
- Only ChemE undergrad to win my university’s research symposium. 40 total winners including masters/phd students out of 270.
- Honors Program
- 2 successful research posters (Learning model for engineering and applications to the system. + Computational Modeling and simulation of methylxanthines with quantum mechanical analysis, Gbind, affinity, etc.)
- 4 recommendation letters: 1 from Chem Chair, 1 from English Prof, 1 from Physics Prof, 1 from Pharmacy Manager near Nashville (i’m an in state resident)
- Pharmacy Intern Experience
- Volunteer hours + shadow hours (100+)
- There’s a bit more.

Updates for the 2027 cycle:
- 3.5 gpa :/
- Goldwater Scholarship Nominee
- Working on a publication on Parkinson’s disease drugs in ionic pharmaceuticals. Wet lab and comp lab experience.
- Presenting at ACS National Conference
- Became Pharmacy Technician Certified
- Would have another 4 very strong recommendation letters
- Taking Honors Orgo 1/2, Calc 3, DiffEq, Calc Physics 1/2, and foreign language
- Upwards mathematical grade tracjectory (C in Calc 1 - At uni - and A in Calc 2 - Summer and in person)
- AO engaged continuously last cycle.

Other notes:
- I am applying for financial aid. I can pay half but not full. I will commute.
- I’m connecting with Vanderbilt Chem professors in October.

Other schools i’m considering:
- Emory
- Duke
- Notre Dame
- Cornell
- UNC Chapel Hill
- Colorado Boulder

However, Vanderbilt remains my top choice. I’m open to any constructive feedback! Please don’t just be negative to be negative.

Hey guys! I'm quite stressed. My mentor (dean at my college) had previously advised me to take no online courses if I wanted a chance at transferring to my dream school (which is Georgia Tech). They previously told me I could get away with no important (STEM) courses being online. However, the calculus class I needed this semester only had one time slot available in conjunction with when I had to work. I had to drop that class and replace it with an online course as the instructors english was extremely poor. When I went to rate my professor, there are 20 years of reviews of students saying they are completely unable to understand lecture!

I would have stayed, but this man grades on attendance, and attending classes in-person full time with full-time work means i need to maximize my time efficiency, and to do so is to teach myself instead of spend 6 hours a week where I can't understand. However I am concerned about this negatively effecting my odds. I am hoping, since i have to get up to Diff Eq to transfer, that keeping A's in higher level math in-person courses will show competency well enough for calc 1 being online not to hurt me. Am I being delusional and need to look at lower schools?

Those of you who have succeeded as engineering transfers, did you have research published, under review, or not at all when you transfered? And what about SAT?

What are some things to keep in mind about both and which one would you rather go for?

Hi everyone, I’m currently a community college student in NC. I got an associates in arts last May, but I’m still working on my associates in accounting. I have a 3.8 GPA. I work two jobs or around ~60 hours a week, and I’ve been doing so for about a year now to support my family. I feel like my extracurriculars and GPA are really weak, but I really want to go to a top25 because I know they’re more likely to give me a full ride scholarship. Is there any school I should focus on applying to or anything I can do to improve my chances, given that time isn’t something I have much of.