So I agree you really should just stop at the thought it doesn’t make sense to be thinking about transferring, and just resolve to make the most of Penn State. Transferring somewhere else could be an option, but very likely you won’t.
Briefly, here are four scenarios:
-
You start at a very good College, you thrive at College, you realize College has far more opportunities than you as an individual could ever make use of, and you happily stay at College to make use of those opportunities;
-
Things don’t go so well at College, you realize a different college that is probably no more selective, and maybe less selective, than College would be a better fit for you, and you transfer;
-
Things go well for you at College but there is some specific thing that you want to do that College doesn’t have, and so you transfer to another college, possibly one that was more selective than College, possibly not (e.g., see the kid recently considering transferring from Georgetown to Case because they wanted to do Engineering); and
-
Things go well for you at College, it has all the opportunities you want, but you decide you want to go to a more selective college anyway just because it is more “elite”, and then they accept your transfer application and you go.
(1) is by far the most common scenario at selective four-year residential colleges. Meaning most people at such colleges end up happy where they start.
In terms of transfer scenarios, (2) and (3) both do happen sometimes. I note lots of people do start at community colleges or non-residential (aka commuter) four-year colleges, then transfer to selective four-year colleges, and that could be seen as a variation on (3).
But (4) is very, very rare. In part, that is because if things go well, most kids end up just choosing (1). But also, selective colleges are way more likely to be interested in applicants who fit into category (3) than category (4), particularly once you include community college and commuter college transfers in category (3).
OK, so the negative observation is if you try to transfer from Penn State to a more selective college only because you want to go to a more “elite” college, they probably won’t want you under those conditions.
But the positive observation is if you give Penn State a fair chance, it is very likely you will realize that transferring doesn’t even make sense, that if you are thriving at Penn State you will actually want to stay at Penn State.
But if for some reason you really can’t thrive at Penn State, OK, transferring is an option. But it probably won’t be to a more selective college, it will probably just be to a different type of college. Which is fine if you need it, just not something I would actually hope to happen going in.