What type of classes should I be taking to transfer after my Sophomore year?

Transfer Students
1

Hi,

I’m currently a freshman at Boston College and I hate it. Every bit of it. It feels so homogeneous and isolated. I loved the beautiful green campus and proximity to Boston but that’s not enough. Biggest problem is that it is Catholic - while I have no problem with that, it does have an impact on my education in that I keep hearing the same things all over again from catholics. I knew it was a religious school, just not this religious. And I feel everything is so austere (just my opinion though. Not everyone feels this way.)

Anyway, I’m looking for a more liberal school now. BC is just not a good fit, too bad I’m finding out after enrolling.
I’m thinking NYU or Northwestern, maybe Cornell. Or even BU would be nice (would it be a downgrade? Not crazy about that school but it might be a better fit. Plus it’s also more global/internationally focused, which I like.)
There’s also USC. I initially didn’t want to be on the West Coast, specially not LA - but the more I look into this school the more I like it. Would I have good chances of moving to the East Coast with a degree from USC?

Anyway, I don’t think my grades or test scores would be a problem for admission into these schools, though they all say admission in the spring semester of the first year is more competitive than afterwards. So I’m not applying this year yet, it’s probably too late anyway.

They all expect you to have taken “a broad range of liberal arts courses.” What does that mean? I’ve taken mostly gen-ed requirements this semester with one class relevant to my major. By gen-ed I mean, for example, anthropology classes, or science and technology. I’m probably going to do the same next semester. Is that going to be okay?
What about ECs? What type are they looking for? I have very few unimportant ones (sports I didn’t really like) from HS, so that’s probably not going to be good enough. Does it matter at all?

(Parents looking to gloat or who just want to point out their or their children’s schools are super tough to get into, please abstain.)

Thanks!

2

If you are utterly miserable, you can take a leave of absence at the end of this semester, and get a job or do volunteer work while you work on your application list.

How much financial aid do you need?
Where else were you admitted last spring?

Start with those two. If you don’t need any aid, then all that will really matter when you apply for transfer will be your grades. Provided you are taking standard gen ed classes you should be fine provided your GPA is good.

If you were admitted anywhere else that you really liked last year, contact the admissions office there and ask if they can re-open your file. They might be able to accept you for the spring.

If you do need a lot of aid, and BC gave you the best package and it included a bunch of merit-aid money, the whole story changes. It is hard to get merit money as a transfer. You will need to look for cheaper options and/or places that are very generous with need-based aid.

3

Money isn’t really a problem. BC looked like my best option, but apparently it wasn’t. It’s not unbearable, just not pleasant. I can take the rest of the (academic) year.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify whether taking gen-ed courses was okay for transferring. I wasn’t sure those were the “liberal arts courses” they were talking about.
Thanks!