Alright, here’s my situation. I lived in Europe all my life and got pretty bad grades, cause of this I ended up at ISU, paying $8k a year due to my financial situation. I’m now living in Illinois and will start at ISU in a few months, majoring in finance. However, I’m not sure if ISU is the right place for me, especially for finance.

I want to know if I have a chance of getting into better schools. I scored 1150 on the SAT, but I’m confident I could raise that to 1400 or maybe even 1500. My GPA is 3.3, but I attended a really competitive school and didn’t put in much effort. I believe I could raise my GPA to 4.0.

What should I do in my freshman year to build a strong application? I know I need to work hard and network with students and professors. I also did swimming but wasn’t good enough for a full ride. I’m training to reach a D1 level, but ISU doesn’t have a men’s swimming team. Could sports help my chances?

I’ve also heard about writing to colleges before the school year starts to ask what they’re looking for. Also some univerities have higher transfer acceptance rate. Any advice or comments would be appreciated. I know it seems tough, but I’m willing to work hard to improve my situation.

I want all of your answers mainly because I have to believe that I actually can get into a better university.

Notre Dame univerity (I want to get into this particular school the most)

Cornell university University of Pennsylvania Princeton Yale New York university Columbia Michigan university Darmouth UChicago MIT Darmouth Northwestern Indiana Bloomington