Transferring question

[RollDawg7]

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I'm a sophomore at a top 10 undergrad, and I am toying with the idea of transferring to my state school. The main reasons I have are:
1) money (even though I am on financial aid I currently have two jobs in order to pay my tuition)
2) my GPA - no matter how hard or smart I study I can't seem to break above average, and having a B/B+/occasional A- average GPA is not really conducive to getting into med school
3) volunteering, etc - if I were to go home I would be able to work significantly less, and therefore devote more time to volunteering (which is something I actually enjoy doing, but have been unable to do here due to lack of hours in the day)

My reservations are:
1) I'm the first person from both sides of my family to go to college and they are all extremely proud that I go to "X" school, and I don't want to let them down
2) I am a varsity athlete, and transferring would essentially mean retiring from my sport
3) I got in on a really awesome clinical study with a PI that I really like (and that really likes me - aka potential strong lor) - I don't know what transferring would mean for my role on the research team
4) How will it look to adcoms for me to transfer from a top 10 undergrad (where I have a average GPA) to an unknown state school (where I will likely be much more successful academically)

Basically I need some advice, mostly pertaining to my 4th reservation

 

[justadream]

Why don't you just drop your varsity sport?

As you said, if you transfer, the downsides are X, Y, Z, and that you would have to retire form your sport.

If you just drop your sport and stay, then you don't have to experience X, Y, and Z.

 

[Gibbward]

Why don't you just drop your varsity sport?

As you said, if you transfer, the downsides are X, Y, Z, and that you would have to retire form your sport.

If you just drop your sport and stay, then you don't have to experience X, Y, and Z.

I'm assuming he/she gets a scholarship for being a varsity member, so if he/she drops the sport, he/she can't afford to stay?

 

[RollDawg7]

I go to an ivy, so losing a scholarship is not an issue (ivy league rules don't allow athletic scholarships) and would not change the amount of financial aid I receive

 

[WedgeDawg]

Hi, I'm also at an Ivy. Perhaps I can address some of your concerns. I'll address these out of the order you presented them in, so bear with me.

Reservation 4: Based on what I've seen around the forums regarding similar questions about this topic, I would say that this really won't do anything to hurt you. You certainly have valid reasons to transfer from a purely objective standpoint, and "fit" is something that can't really be objectively measured anyway. It should be a question you should be prepared to answer at an interview, but I honestly don't think there is really a "wrong" answer for transferring. If it's what you thought was best for you, I don't think anyone will give you a hard time about it.

Reservation 3: If you are transferring to a school far away from this Ivy, chances are you will not have any opportunities to work with this PI other than summer terms/leave terms. This could potentially mean you could work with another PI at the state school during the school year and work with the Ivy PI over the summer, or it could mean that you leave the Ivy PI's lab entirely and just work only at the state school's lab. Even if you leave the lab, I'm sure your current PI would be willing to write you a strong letter of rec, and he might also be able to address in his letter some of the reasons that you are leaving. So yes, you might need to leave the lab for logistic reasons, but it won't be a huge detriment as long as you can find another lab and ask the PI for a letter before you leave.

Reservation 2: This is a decision you have to make on your own. It won't really affect your chances at admission. It will only affect your personal life, but it is still a huge decision. I can't really offer you any advice not really knowing the role it plays in your life. Think carefully about this one and I'm sure you'll come to the conclusion you're looking for.

Reservation 1 and Transfer Reason 2: Again a personal decision. Won't affect medical school admissions too much, so it comes down to what you want. What I will say, however, is that at super research heavy schools I've interviewed at, the vast vast majority of applicants came from high caliber undergrad schools (Ivy, Duke, Stanford, etc). However, I'm sure all of these applicants had amazing grades at these schools too. It's definitely not impossible to get interviews at Harvard/whatever from state schools, but it's only going to be the tippy-top getting those interviews whereas I'm definitely not at the top top of my school and am still doing well. This is the only place prestige plays a role (the whole "eating their own" phenomenon), but if you have average-ish grades at an Ivy, realize that this necessarily implies there are people above you on the GPA scale who from an objective standpoint are better interview candidates for Harvard/whatever. However, schools like NYU, USC, Northwestern, etc love to eat up "average" Ivy kids for whatever reason. All in all, this is a very nebulous area of the admissions process and shouldn't be the determining factor in whether or not you transfer.

Transfer Reason 3: Adcoms understand that sometimes circumstances dictate what you do with your time. As long as you explain yourself well, having to work probably won't be held against you as long as you have some experience with the healthcare field and can reasonably show you know what you're getting into.

Transfer Reason 1: This is the biggest one here, I think. All else being equal, not being in debt is far better than being in debt. If being at an Ivy is too much of a financial burden for you (which sucks terribly because it shouldn't be at a school with a ridiculous endowment and guaranteed 100% demonstrated-need based financial aid), no one would ever fault you for transferring, especially given how expensive medical school will be. You can always try talking to the financial aid office and explaining your situation. Write them a nice letter about your future plans, what you've been doing, what you aspire to do, and how they can help out a bit. After that go discuss it with them in person. You might be surprised - I did something similar and got a better financial aid package after a disappointing one my sophomore year.
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I hope this helps you reason through your options. All things considered, I think the mediocre grades + the time requirements + the financial aspect means that transferring is the better decision for your professional career. It is now up to you to weigh that against your personal goals and desires and then make a choice. If you want to talk further, feel free to PM me - I would be happy to discuss this with you.