Whats my best option?

[Snipe99x]

So I'll be starting my undergrad this fall, and lets just say I'm not at the university I'd really like to be at. (read: high school slacker, didnt take the college application process seriously) I consider myself lucky to even be at a university right now, and its not a bad school or anything, its just not where I want to be right now. So with this fresh start I plan on working my butt off and transferring somewhere I do want to be. The way I see it I have two options:
1)apply to transfer to my dream schools after my freshman year, if I get in great. If not, do another year, try again, and add a few schools I think I'd still be happy at and take the best I get after sophomore year
2)apply to all the schools I think I'd be happy at and take whatever I get after my freshman year, even if it isnt a "dream" school

Which would be the best for a student aspiring to make it to med school one day? Any other advice about transferring?

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[bostonpmed]

just do your best at any school you make it too!!!
Im not at my dream school but, ive been starting to see some great perks at this school and im just doing my best (and saving all my debt for med school)

sorry if this advice is crap.. im leaving for the airport to fly to LA in 5 mins!

 

[MChitty]

I wouldn't already be thinking about transferring before you've even started school. I didn't get into my first choice school and was thinking I would be miserable, but ended up loving it. Conversely, I had friends from high school that went to their 'dream' schools and hated it.

College is really what you make it and you may end up falling in love with your school once you get there. That being said, if you start off there and end up being miserable, then start thinking about transferring. But right now, enjoy your summer and focus on getting geared up to kick some butt in college. You're going to need good grades if you want to go to transfer as well as if you eventually want to go to medical school.

 

[silas2642]

So I'll be starting my undergrad this fall, and lets just say I'm not at the university I'd really like to be at. (read: high school slacker, didnt take the college application process seriously) I consider myself lucky to even be at a university right now, and its not a bad school or anything, its just not where I want to be right now. So with this fresh start I plan on working my butt off and transferring somewhere I do want to be. The way I see it I have two options:
1)apply to transfer to my dream schools after my freshman year, if I get in great. If not, do another year, try again, and add a few schools I think I'd still be happy at and take the best I get after sophomore year
2)apply to all the schools I think I'd be happy at and take whatever I get after my freshman year, even if it isnt a "dream" school

Which would be the best for a student aspiring to make it to med school one day? Any other advice about transferring?

I wouldn't worry about the school you're in, especially since you haven't even started. In terms of prestige of undergraduate institution, that's pretty far down the list in terms of what adcoms look at when determining what makes a competitive applicant. What is much higher up on the list are competitive gpa, mcat scores, clinical experience, leadership experience, maturity, character, extracurriculars, etc. Since you stated that you were such a slacker in high school, I would suggest that you take this first year really seriously (i.e. little partying, lots of studying) and learn the study skills that work well for you. You are going to need a strong gpa in order to be competitive for medical school, and a lot of the introductory subjects that you take first and second year of college will come back to bite you in the butt on the mcat.

Also, my personal advice to you if you are willing to transfer schools would be to consider going to your state school or whatever accredited university is financially cheapest for you. This is unless your parents are rich and are willing to flip the bill for your undergraduate education. The reason I suggest this is because medical school tends to be crazy expensive, especially if you're like me and don't have a state school. Just a thought.