Transfer Advice... Now or After I Get My A.A.?

Transfer Students
1

I am currently enrolled at a 2-year state college in Florida. One of the ones with basically open-admissions.
I’m on course to get my A.A. and then move on to a better school to complete my degree in Biology (PreMedical).

My first semester I had three classes and ended with a 3.33 GPA, I know that isn’t good, but I am taking 19 credits (7 classes) right now and I have straight A’s in all of the classes, and I intend to keep them. I also took the english clep test so that is another 6 credits. I anticipate to have a GPA around 3.8 after this semester.

ANYWAYS after this semester I will have 34 credits towards my A.A. and I was wondering if it would be more beneficial to me to transfer out of my current college and move on to a better college this fall, as opposed to next fall after I have my A.A…

One of the colleges I’m interested in is UF, but they don’t accept transfers with less than 60 credits so I would have to wait until next year.
Here is a list of the other schools I would like to go to, (note that a lot of them are far reaches): Columbia, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, NYU, FSU, UPitt, Stanford, Harvard, and Cornell.

I believe I would definitely get accepted into Florida State University, but would it really benefit me to go there now or to wait and go to UF? Do those names really matter when attempting to get into Medical School? And I am very aware of the extremely low acceptance rates for transfers at some of these institutions, I just have high hopes and even higher dreams.

Thank you all so much in advance for your help.

2

In my opinion, if you like the state college you are in right now and you don’t mind staying for another year then stay. Going to a state school in your second year will not accelerate your graduate date in anyway. But if you feel like you can’t stay at your current college anymore and you need change, then go for it!

3

For your med school applications, your GPA, MCAT scores, letters of recommendation, and shadowing/volunteer hours will be what matters. The name of the institution on your diploma will barely register with the admissions committee. If you think that you can get really good grades at FSU, you can afford FSU, and you’d like to be there sooner rather than later, then go ahead and transfer this year. You would have one more year there than at UF to get to know your professors and to get research experience in any labs that might give you that opportunity.