I think kids ending up transferring colleges for many reasons. I don’t think it can always be avoided by “better college counseling”. Nationally the number is very high- upward of 30%. Our daughter transferred after sophomore year for a multitude of reasons. These included changing majors, she chose her college primarily because the high rank of the program she was interested in. Her new major was not a highly ranked choice at her school. She decided she was not the party, sorority girl she thought and hate stage parting culture. She had a perfect gpa as the rigor of classes was not high. She actually told us we were wasting our money on her tuition based on the level of academic rigor.
She researched top programs in her new major. Her strong grades, self reflection, community involvement and professor support - landed her admission to 3 of the 4 schools she applied to- all significantly higher ranked in her major then her former school. Based on this experience, I don’t see transferring colleges as a failure- but an opportunity.