Transferring Universities?

[airjordan23]

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I am a junior in high school and I am really not doing that well. my class rank is top 35%, but I took the SAT in March with no preparation and scored a 2110(1400/1600 old scale). I am taking the ACT in june and I am retaking the SAT in oct of senior year. I am still unsure of how i will do on the ACT, but I am pretty confident I can do a lot better on the SAT considering i omitted a few math problems because I was going too slow because i was nervous(only got 700 math). Assuming I pick up my grades senior year and improve my class rank, if i go to a state school ranked in the 50s-60s is it realistic to expect to have a chance to transfer into a top 20 school(cornell,hopkins,brown,or the like) after a year if i can do well? Is this unrealistic since my hs career is far from stellar, or is that forgiven if i can get good test scores and make up for my gpa in college?

 

[deleted205891]

I am a junior in high school and I am really not doing that well. my class rank is top 35%, but I took the SAT in March with no preparation and scored a 2110(1400/1600 old scale). I am taking the ACT in june and I am retaking the SAT in oct of senior year. I am still unsure of how i will do on the ACT, but I am pretty confident I can do a lot better on the SAT considering i omitted a few math problems because I was going too slow because i was nervous(only got 700 math). Assuming I pick up my grades senior year and improve my class rank, if i go to a state school ranked in the 50s-60s is it realistic to expect to have a chance to transfer into a top 20 school(cornell,hopkins,brown,or the like) after a year if i can do well? Is this unrealistic since my hs career is far from stellar, or is that forgiven if i can get good test scores and make up for my gpa in college?

I'm confused, 1400/1600 is considered bad now? In my day that was in the 92nd or 95th percentile. Also, why transfer? Ivy is expensive and doesn't make that much sense for undergrad, as long as you go to a relatively good state school (50s, 60s is fine). I have heard of unemployed Ivy League graduates too, you know.

 

[deleted357625]

why do you need to go to a top 20?

anyways......yea just go to college and do really well and it's possible you can transfer.

 

[airjordan23]

I know the score isn't that bad, the overall score(2110) is 97th percentile, but it was my first attempt so I'm sure it's worth another shot. i just don't know if i can get by with my bad gpa (3.85 weighted/3.3ish i think unweighted). Also to answer the question of why I would want to switch schools, it is a combination of the rank/prestige of the school(can't hurt) and the location of some of the ivy league schools(Columbia,Cornell)

 

[NickNaylor]

IMO and from what I've heard, transferring to a competitive university seems to be much easier than getting in outright, assuming you do well at the university you start at. Focus on grades, get a 4.0, do some activities, and try and have fun. The rest will take care of itself.

Keep in mind, though, that transferring isn't all positives. You're not going to be able to build long-term relationships because you'll basically only be at your new institution for a year before you apply. This might hurt your ability to get quality LORs from people that know you for long periods of time.