Do grad schools look down upon transferring schools?

Is transferring to reset my gpa a good idea to get into an ivy?

• I have decided to transfer out of the current university that I am currently attending, I have not been very happy with this school and as a result my gpa has suffered. I currently have a 3.0 :/ Also, I am currently a sophomore. My 3 year old SAT scores are o.k. Reading: 610 Math: 610 (didn't care enough in hs to really want to get a good score) I was essentially guaranteed a spot at my current university so I didn't worry about my SAT's... too bad I no longer like this school EC's are good and hs gpa was a 4.1 weighted taking fairly rigorous courses some of which actually directly became college credits My three favorite schools: University of Pennsylvania University of California Berkeley Cornell University I am actually applying to Cornell this time around since I know that they put a good focus on other materials such as the essay and I am a fairly good writer (though my yahoo answers questions may not show it haha). Pretty big reach and I prob won't get in but I have nothing to lose. Of course it's kind of a shame that I have just now decided that school is truly important to me. I know that I can attain a 4.0 gpa it's just no one else knows because I have done nothing to prove it haha. This term I decided to kick it into gear and will end up with a 4.0 for the quarter but that doesn't make my gpa any more appealing to my top 3 schools. Now I know that my gpa will reset once I transfer to a hopefully better university that I actually enjoy being at. So here is the question. If I transfer into another school and maintain a 4.0 for a year and a half and decide that even after transferring to that school I still want to go to one of my top 3, what do you think my chances are at getting into one of those schools with a new near perfect ACT score, great ec's, awesome essays, and solid recs, and maybe a service project abroad. how do you think the second transfer would look? would that hurt my chances? Or would the fact that I could provide solid reasons for transferring again and an upward trend in grades (since they will still get my 3.0 transcripts) offset the fact that I am transferring again. Or will my mediocre hs gpa hurt me too much for any of it to matter lol. p.s. I know this would add A LOT of extra time to my college education but I am actually almost a year younger than anyone else in my grade so it doesn't really bother me that I might be an undergraduate for 5-6 years. Thank You!!

• Answer:

  Top schools like the ones you mention are *incredibly* competitive for transfer admissions - much more so than they are for freshman admissions. They will take your high school grades and test scores into consideration. It sounds like transferring to a top school is out of reach for you. I expect realistically once you've obtained sixty credits (2 years) at some combination of schools you will not be eligible to transfer anyway. Most schools (and this is not just limited to top schools) are unwilling to accept transfers after that point anyway. I would recommend you choose some more realistic goals and work on finding a school that works for you. You can consider an Ivy or other top school for grad school.