There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking about transferring colleges. In fact, more than one third of college students will end up transferring during their undergraduate education. That being said, there are certainly great and not-so-great reasons to want to transfer.
If you are thinking about switching schools because you think it will give you a great opportunity to excel in your studies and career, great. If you are thinking about switching because you want to be closer to a long-distance significant other or miss friends from home, it might not be the best decision!
In fact, there are some really important questions you want to ask yourself before you decide to transfer.
Do you get to keep your credits?
This is one of the most important questions to ask before you decide to really pursue transferring. If you are interested in transferring to Boston University, for example, but they do not accept a large amount of credits from your current school, you’re going to have to seriously weigh your options.
Surely, it is not unheard of for people to transfer despite their credits not going with them, but it ultimately means you will be spending more time – and potentially a lot more money – to get the degree of your choice and graduate.
What happens with your financial aid?
Another highly important aspect of any college education is the money involved. The top universities in the country costs tens of thousands of dollars per semester and it is very important to know exactly how you will financially impacted by a transfer.
If you are thinking about transferring, it is crucial to make sure that you know how that will impact any federal grants your have or scholarships you have received. While some may be able to travel with you and help you cover the costs of your new education, others may have to be sacrificed. If you are willing to make the sacrifice, great! But, you need to make sure that you know exactly what is at stake.
Another important factor to consider is the fact that when transfers occur, federal student loans go into repayment rather than stay in the deferment period. That means that you could potentially have to start paying off student loans while still in college.
Which grades really matter?
Not all grades are created equal when it comes to your transcript from your current place of higher learning. Just because you might have been a great applicant to a school in high school thanks to your high school GPA and SAT scores, doesn’t mean you still are.
The general rule when it comes to transfers is that once you start college, a very large part of the decision-making process will be based on how you have performed at college, rather than how you performed in high school. If you struggled your first semester or two, you may want to hold off and allow yourself to improve your GPA before pulling the transfer trigger.