The worst case scenario is that you waste your freshman year (25% of your undergrad experience) with one foot out the door ready to bolt. And that will be your reality whether you get into “better” schools, “worse” schools (and you have both on your list), stay where you are, or decide to drop out entirely and become a clown or pastry chef.
It’s October. Why not engage in a thought experiment and spend the next 60 days pretending that you are going to stay where you are… and develop the friendships, relationships, etc. that make college such a robust time/place in your life?
If you’re getting a 4.0, then what you’re doing is obviously working. Sounds like the school is a perfect academic fit. Right now everything is going as perfectly as it can. It only goes downhill if you start messing with it.
I don’t know how you can claim a 4.0 college gpa when you’re only half way through your first semester. Maybe you did good on a couple of quizzes or papers but have you even gotten grades from midterms yet? Maybe you will have a 4.0 for this semester but at this point there is no way you could know yet. I’ve seen people who thought they were doing really well end up failing a midterm or final.
I sort of hinted at this in my earlier response but I think that you are entirely correct to mention this a bit more obviously and up front.
Given that @rhino78 is premed, I am assuming that they are currently taking some premed classes. These classes are likely in many cases to have very tough mid term exams and very tough finals. It really is important for a student to put in the effort and keep ahead at all times throughout the semester (or quarter) and make sure that they are fully ready to do well in very tough exams. Do not take these classes for granted regardless of whether you are at a top 10 or a top 200 university or LAC. Plenty of students will be unpleasantly surprised at some point.
I have heard multiple examples of premed classes that were full of very strong students with mid term or final exams with a class average in the 40’s or 50’s. The students who got an 80 or 85 or 90 on these same exams are the ones who get an early leg up on admissions to medical school (or a very good PhD program or whatever route they decide to take).
Difficult to assess your chances because the key factors to transfer admissions are not included in any of your posts. Specifics matter. (Specific reason/reasons for transferring and specific reasons for wanting to attend any particular school.)
Nevertheless, apply and see which schools become an option for you to consider.
P.S. I do understand that you prefer schools with a larger student body. At just 1,900 students F&M is a small school with a mostly regional appeal.
65% of the applicants at F&M apply TO and the reported test scores of matriculated students is solid, but much lower than your SAT score & much lower than that of your target schools.
Retaking the SAT with the confidence that you can raise significantly your current 1500 SAT score is a good idea. While it may or may not help with respect to transfer admissions, it will likely be helpful to you in other ways.
The short version is that it is not difficult to understand your desire to transfer even though not stated in a clear and straightforward manner.
I was hoping that they left the thread either because they got involved in interesting activities at their current college, or because their classes got tougher as they got further into the semester and they are focusing on studying, or all of the above.
Either way as the Cat in the Hat might have said: “This is good and I knew that they would”.
Not trying to be mean but I literally read this thumbnail sketch of F&M immediately before reviewing this thread:
OP’s best chances are with 'nova, BC and maybe some other college in that range. The real problem is the high SAT versus so-so high school gpa. To an adcom it sets off all sorts of alarms and the OP’s candid remarks support the very thing they’d be the most suspicious of.
Seems clear that the OP prefers a larger school and a different academic environment. Understandable that one would apply to a school which recruited him/her for athletics even though the school did not match OP’s preferences. OP has now experienced F&M firsthand as a student athlete and appears to have confirmed his/her earlier preferences.
I admire OP for having the courage to move on. Life is just too short.