I’m not sure how a school can waitlist you twice? Did you apply out of HS and were waitlisted, and then applied for transfer as a rising soph and were waitlisted? If so, I wouldn’t apply again. If you have also previously been denied for some of the other schools on your list I would rethink spending the time and money to apply again.
Likely true, and this thread will be instructive for people who think one can only get IB jobs from T20s. Because you don’t need a more prestigious name to get the job you want out of college, I still am struggling somewhat with why you want to transfer, so on to my next comments…
It sounds like you are saying you want to transfer because you can’t do econ research at your current school, is that right? You are going to have to be careful in your essays to address what the new school has that you want, and that your background and experiences offer a good fit. Meaning, don’t talk about the shortcomings of your current school, because being in a school that’s as highly ranked as 185 (not kidding, that’s a top 10% school) I expect there are plenty of academically challenging classes, econ research opportunities, and econ classes there. Anywho, in your transfer apps you literally have to say things like ‘I want to do X research with Prof X because that’s exactly what I am interested in doing’, blah blah blah.
I also agree with Thumper’s points about it being easier to get classes as a junior at your current school, and transfers will pick classes last, at least for the first semester.