Is it bad to transfer colleges twice?

[thebeginningtheendandthe]

I want to transfer from my current undergraduate school, Rutgers, to a much smaller liberal arts school because I found that I do better academically in smaller classes. The thing is, I've already transferred before (from CUNY Brooklyn College). Would it look bad or suspicious to graduate school admissions that I transferred twice? I'm looking to go into grad school for experimental or counseling psychology, if that's useful information.

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[smalltownpsych]

I went to six different undergrad schools and I never once even was asked about it. It just means a lot of transcriptsto order when applying.

 

[singasongofjoy]

I went to six different undergrad schools and I never once even was asked about it. It just means a lot of transcriptsto order when applying.

I just had two transcripts to concern myself with and even that was a headache because one or the other would occasionally get misplaced (having 2 different names on them since I changed my name when I got married didn't help, but...) I imagine trying to order and make sure 6 all got to the right places was quite the headache!

 

[smalltownpsych]

I just had two transcripts to concern myself with and even that was a headache because one or the other would occasionally get misplaced (having 2 different names on them since I changed my name when I got married didn't help, but...) I imagine trying to order and make sure 6 all got to the right places was quite the headache!

It has always been a frustrating process, but fortunately none of them have let me down. It is a good sign that I was a non-traditional student who wasn't sure what they were doing in the first two years of college which lasted about ten years.

 

[thebeginningtheendandthe]

I'm still worried, though, because I posted this same question to /r/AcademicPsychology on reddit and got this response:

"It depends on the program and faculty. Some might not care as long as your grades were good and your other credentials are competitive. Others might question why you did this and even specifically ask you about it should you get interviews. If you tell them this epiphany you had about class sizes they would (justifiably) be somewhat concerned. They might be worried that you'll have a similar epiphany in their program and leave, for whatever reason. Grad school spots are very limited, especially in funded clinical and counseling doctoral programs, so they don't want to waste them on people who aren't fully committed or might have changes of heart later on and leave them holding the bag.

I'm not giving any advice, because it's difficult to tell, there are so many variables involved."

Is this true? Should I not take this chance if I want to go into more competitive clinical psych programs?

 

[smalltownpsych]

The main thing that the reputable PhD programs are going to want to see are research productivity/skills/experience, high GPA, and high GRE. Making sure that you are likely to have the coping skills and resources to make it through the program would be secondary. Being able to have a coherent narrative that makes sense and doesn't raise any red flags about why you changed schools should not be a problem.

 

[foreverbull]

I took undergrad classes from 4 colleges and was never once asked why by grad schools, although one grad program refused to process my application until I'd sent in a transcript for 6 measly undergraduate credit hours when I was already about to complete my master's degree. By the time I found this out, it was too late to get the transcript (this was the only program that required that transcript). I dodged a bullet because that doc program isn't reputable.

I went on to get my master's before applying to doctoral programs, but I'm inclined to say grad schools care about experience, GRE scores, recommendation letters, and GPA rather than focus on number of undergraduate schools.