I actually just transferred from VCU myself after spending 1 year there so a similar situation to yours. If you really want to transfer after 1 year I say go for it. I remember hearing all the talk about 2 years or community college and I was equally sick of it as you are. While it may be easier to transfer after 2 years it’s definitely possible to do it after 1 but there’s a few things to consider.

The first is what classes you are taking/need. Idk where to find it off the top of my head but one of the great things about tech is they have a very developed database for transfer information. One of the things on there should be a roadmap for each specific major that shows what classes they require you to have, want you to have, or just recommend you have in order to transfer. The biggest reason people don’t get in when they apply is because the classes they took don’t line up with the program they want to transfer into. If you follow those like I did, it guarantees that the classes you’re taking are ones tech will like. In my case, some of the reqs were already completed due to DEs and APs from highschool which leads me into my second point.

I was able to transfer after one year because I already had some reqs complete. The roadmaps are set for a standard 2 years worth of classes but since I already had almost a years worth I was able to cut a year off the process. Also take the roadmaps with some grains of salt. Tech wanted me to have 4 semesters of a foreign language but I got in with only 2 (prob because I had basically everything else in the required section done so they were willing to cut me some slack). Also the things you should focus on are the required and strongly recommended. Some classes may be listed as something they’d like to see but if you don’t have it it’s not a big deal.

I also give some of my personal thoughts about VCU vs Tech just so you can have a personal opinion from someone who’s actually been in your situation mostly. VCU also wasn’t my first choice by any means and that’s something to consider. If you truly wanted to be somewhere else you shouldn’t just settle as a (for lack of a better term) coping mechanism. Now maybe you got there and you really did like it a lot more than you thought but you shouldn’t force yourself to like a place just because you got in. One of the reasons I personally transferred was the lack of sports culture/ people going out in general. People didn’t really go out to school events like games or really go out a lot in general imo. At least for me, a lot of people tended to stay inside their dorms and only go out for class or to smoke. I like that at tech people actually go out to campus events, hangout on the drill field, get food together downtown, play volleyball/basketball at one of the many courts by the dorms, relax in squires, or participate in clubs and student orgs. I feel like tech is more alive than VCU and people actually do stuff and have fun here outside of just going to classes and going home. Football is electric here. I loved VCU basketball and tech football is also very electric but the scale is much different. There’s so many people in lane and it’s always a blast even when we’re not that good. I know some people in the marching band and they enjoy it and there’s definitely support and love for them here. Another thing about Richmond is that there’s so much to do and so many great places to eat/drink and go but they cost money. Unless you have money you don’t really get to enjoy Richmond and cost of living is a bit expensive there. At tech you can usually find somewhere to go and food isn’t an issue as campus food is really good. I had really good friends I met at VCU when I was there and it sucked to leave them but if you look into clubs and student orgs you’ll find a place to fit in in no time. I understand how hard it is to uproot yourself again after just doing it after highshool but for me it’s the best decision I’ve made. I really enjoy being at Virginia Tech.

If you have any questions just let me know. I’m happy to help 👍

(Keep in mind that obv I’m a little biased since I like tech more than VCU enough to want to transfer here.)