I did not get into the schools that I originally wanted to for my freshman year of college. I am already unsatisfied with the school that I ended up enrolling in (SUNY Stony Brook), so I am planning to transfer. My application for the University of Maryland is almost complete and although I was planning on applying as a sophomore transfer, I could apply to Maryland as a spring transfer in my freshman year. While I do like Maryland, I am not sure it is the school I want to end up graduating from. My number one choice to transfer to, as a sophomore, is Brown. My question is: should I attempt to transfer to Maryland in the spring and then again transfer in the fall of my sophomore year or should I stay at Stony Brook for my whole first year so as not to hurt my chances of getting in somewhere else next year?
Have you even started at Stony Brook yet? Have you completed one year there?
From an academic point of view the difference between Stony Brook, UMD, and Brown is going to be less than you are imagining. They are all very good universities.
“should I attempt to transfer to Maryland in the spring and then again transfer in the fall of my sophomore year”
No.
“should I stay at Stony Brook for my whole first year so as not to hurt my chances of getting in somewhere else next year”
I take this to mean that you haven’t even started at Stony Brook yet. I think that you are over thinking this.
Go to Stony Brook planning to do well there, and expecting it to be a lot more difficult and a lot more interesting than high school. Make friends. Participate in activities that you find interesting. More than anything else, attend all classes, sit near the front, always pay attention, always stay ahead in your homework. If possible, do you homework as soon as possible after it is assigned. Keep ahead in your reading. Expect there will be some people there who are smarter than you.
If you expect Stony Brook to be easy, you are likely to get a very rude awakening which will not help your transfer chances at all.
Given Stony Brook a full year. Don’t count on getting into Brown as a transfer.
What is your intended major? Depending upon your major, a very reasonable plan might be to spend four years at Stony Brook, get your bachelor’s degree, then consider other schools such as UMD and Brown for a master’s (with our without some time off to work in between).
Stop jonesing for Brown. It isn’t going to happen. Go to Stony Brook and give it an honest effort academically and socially for a full year. Then consider what your choices are. School hopping is not a good idea. You can lose credits when you transfer, get worse aid, and struggle socially.
I transferred 2x, I spent a full year at each school. I was admitted to Stanford, Yale, Penn among others and earned my degree out west (sadly my dream school Brown, rejected me :P)
OP – work hard, get some killer ECs on your resume and anything is possible. Check out Brown-RUE if you get the urge to really go off the grid for 2-3 yrs and doing something killer like start a non-profit in Africa.
Go to SUNY and if you want to transfer after your first semester then use winter break to starts app for the fall of 2019.
@thestandard. You were a veteran among other things. Very much a non-traditional student with an impressive post high school resume. The OP’s situation as an 18 year old Ivy hopeful is quite different than yours.
In general I think it is a terrible idea to start one college with the intent of transferring out. This will stand in the way of your making meaningful friendships, developing relationships with professors, and getting involved on campus. Then if your transfer doesn’t work out as planned you will be really stuck. I’d go to the college you enrolled in with the intent of staying all four years. It is fine to throw in a couple of transfer applications but don’t count on it working out.