Advice needed!: Transfer now or later

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1

Hello,

I am studying at GMU and got accepted to CWRU as a sophomore transfer. I’m also waitlisted from Georgetown. My question is “Should I transfer to CWRU or stay at GMU?”

I really want to go to Georgetown since it is my top choice. But assuming that I will not get off the wailist, I need to decide whether I should go to CWRU, staying until graduation, or stay at GMU to apply my dream schools next year as junior transfer.

*Intended major: Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Data Science (+ considering pre-med track)
*Future goal: After graduation, I will work for few years and want to go to graduate school for Health Informatics/Data Science.
*Dream schools: Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, University of Notre Dame, W&M(in-state), UVA(in-state)

I got a lot of financial aid from CWRU, much less than GMU tuition even without loans, and found that CWRU is academically well-known for my intended majors after acceptance. However, CWRU was neither my first nor second choice when I applied and I’m still not sure if this school is right for me. Also, I’ve never been to Ohio, which is 6 hours away from my home, and this makes me so nervous to stay there for next three years.

I know CWRU is already top-ranked research-focused school which I should appreciate that I got accepted to, but since it was not on my radar, I think I want to give myself a chance to go to my dream schools. But at the same time, I’m worried that I will not be able to write good essays as I did for this term, spending a lot of time writing them and doing other stuff for transfer, while I need to make personal projects/activities for my study.

I want to go to a school that has relatively small-sized (5000~7000), lots of research/internship opportunities, diversity, and is close to the city and tech-focused. I am an Asian female, and my stats are all A/A- for HS and 4.0 GPA for college, ec with leadership/athlete/STEM activities, 4 APs scored 4/5, and 1430 SAT(630/800). (I couldn’t take any more APs since I immigrated to the U.S. in 11th grade.)

I know that no one knows the right answer and how things will be going next year, but I want to hear some advice for my situation from anyone. I have only a day left until the decision reply date, so I really need any words for me. Thank you in advance.

2

Only you can decide if CWRU is a better fit academically, socially, geographically. You say it costs ‘much less’ than GMU…are those potential savings large enough to be meaningful to your family? Do you need to take out loans for either?

On average, for your areas of study CWRU>GMU, but that doesn’t mean it’s better for you.

Do you have any other transfer acceptances that you are considering?

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No, I got rejected from all the other schools that I applied… :frowning:
For financial aid, I don’t think it is meaningful to my family that much. I’m getting loans from GMU and will get one from CWRU too if I go there.

4

Maybe it’s just the mood that I am in but why do students apply to colleges and then go ‘oh ick / can’t I do better’ when they get in? If 6 hours away from home is too much to even contemplate, why did you apply? How could CWRU not have been on your radar, when you completed an application and probably a ‘why I want to come to your uni’ essay?

tl;dr- CWRU for your subject area > GMU. IMO, take the bird in the hand.

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