Advice for transfer from UVA to T10
Thought I should give some background on myself.
Rejected/waitlisted from all 9 reaches. Accepted only to VA target and safety schools. I'm currently planning on double majoring in Political Science and Business Commerce at UVA (the two majors I applied with during Common App) and plan on applying for McIntire and Echols Scholar next year regardless of the result of transfers.
I wasn't a terrible student in high school. Pretty much the "average" applicant who tried to go ivy (top 10%, 1550 super, mostly 5s, etc.). Had like OK ECs and awards (business passion projects, political internship, few clubs, national debate accolades).
Honestly the only reason why I'm trying to transfer isn't really opportunities or whatever benefit is brought from going to a more prestigious institution. I strongly believe in the fact that anyone can find success wherever they go and whatever their situation is. The only reason why I want to transfer is simply because I just seek prestige and the name of the school. With that out of the way I do have some questions in regards to how I should approach the next year of college to maximize my transfer success.
How should I go about asking for recommendation letters from professors? I feel that if I were to go and build a meaningful relationship with my professors and then going out of the blue during office hours asking "hey so I actually want to leave your institution can you write me a rec?" it would just leave me being very disingenuous and jeopardize my chances of getting a good rec.
How heavily are activities and honors weighed for sophomore year transfers? Because by the time I've submitted my application, I'll only have had like 1 1/2 semesters under my belt so I'm curious as to what AOs will look at/weigh more in an application. Additionally, are any "relevant"/"impactful" ECs from high school still fair game?
If I were to submit a standardized test score it would be a 1540. I'm currently set to take the September SAT near Charlottesville (I am "attempting" to aim for a 1570). Should I come short (which is most likely going to happen), is it ever worth spending my spare time in college when I'm not doing any activities or studying to prep for the SAT because I'll still have 3 more opportunities throughout the year.
Reflecting on my essays during first-year applications I've realized that I'm a god-awful essay writer and that I think genuine AI slop has more voice and substance than I do. Knowing that, is there any way I can compensate for my pitfall in essays in my application?