So I’m a first year pre med at UCLA who hates it here and wants to transfer to UCSD for Fall 2016. The primary reason why I want to transfer is so I can run on UCSD’s cross country and track team. Unfortunately I wasn’t a state champ in high school so my chances of walking on at UCLA are near impossible. Running as a sport has extreme importance to me: to put it briefly I used to be a subpar runner as a freshman in high school who never tried because I resigned myself to the fact that I was always going to be slow, that I sucked at everything I tried in general. Then after some drama I began training seriously and became a competent runner. Running will always be a symbol to me of how I can overcome challenges and succeed even when the odds seemed to be stacked against me. I can explain it more eloquently but that’ll take too long. Anyway, I wanted to go to UCSD to run but my parents forced me to go to UCLA simply because it was ranked higher and didn’t even bother to consider where I’d be happy. I discussed transferring to my parents and they said they would listen and consider. I want to be involved in competitive running for as long as I can, especially in college when you’re at your peak. Will transferring for this reason show commitment and be viewed favorably by med schools or will they see it unfavorably as a capricious and illegitimate reason? I would really appreciate your input on this.
And I’m not transferring because my grades are tanking.
I think it will be viewed neutrally, neither helping or hurting your application.