I need some suggestions, please. My daughter just finished her freshman year at a University in California with a 4.0 GPA. She hates her college and wants to transfer. Her high school GPA was not great. 3.5 or something like that. She applied to a couple of schools but after visiting the ones she was accepted at, she is not sure. What is the best course of action this late in the game? Do colleges still accept sophomore transfers? Is her best bet one year at a community college? I would love to hear from anyone with experience in transferring twice. Thank you.
Congrats on the 4.0
As far as the transfer, each school will have their own policies.
As you know, it is likely too late for Fall 2024. Is she planning on doing her second year at her current school? It is also not unusual for people attending a school that they hate to leave, attend community college while applying to transfer to somewhere else.
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If the student transfers at a Junior level, then HS GPA will not be considered in the transfer process. As a Sophomore transfer, HS grades/test scores etc… will be considered.
What schools is she interested in transferring?
The CC to 4 year transfer is a proven pathway so if she is not willing to go back to her current school for another year, then she should consider community college.
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If she would consider attending a different UC then she should look into the TAG program which offers an admission guarantee to six UCs for most majors after attending a Calif CC. With one year at a CCC she would qualify if she takes 30 semester units. See https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/_files/documents/tag-matrix.pdf and other info about TAG she can find online
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Thank you! She is interested in transferring to UCLA or one of the other top 5 UC schools or USC. Currently, her transfer options are LMU or USD but she is not sold on either. Maybe one year of community college is the right path then?
As mentioned by @mikemac, the UC TAG program is a great option although UCB, UCLA and UCSD do not participate and most of the other campuses have some majors excluded from TAG.
For UCLA, the TAP program gives transfers an advantage but since she already has 1 year of college completed, not sure if she will be eligible but worth looking into the program.
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UCs mostly do not, so if she wants to transfer to a different UC, the most likely path is either to stay at the current UC, or do sophomore year at a community college.
Many other colleges do admit sophomore transfers, but high school record will be relevant, and it is somewhat late to be applying for many of those which are more selective.
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