Canadian here

I'm going into my second year of biomedical engineering at a Canadian University this fall and I'd like to transfer into engineering at either McMaster or Western. I'm also interested in Queen's but to my understanding it can be difficult to transfer there from another engineering program.

The problem is that I achieved a low average in first year. Around a 70%. This was largely a result of domestic and financial problems resulting from one of my parents becoming disabled. My average is a result of 7 courses as I ended up dropping the rest to focus on problems at home.

In high-school I took all the prerequisite courses for engineering and finished with a 95% average.

I intend to apply to transfer after fall semester this year.

I'm planning to take electives this year to improve my average by as much as I can. I also intend to fill out an extenuating circumstances form explaining my situation.

I'm thinking of filling out a supplementary application form as well but as of now I'd only be able to put several academic awards I won in high-school and some extracurriculars from my high-school days on it.

This summer I have a guaranteed engineering internship but I'd have obviously already submitted my transfer application by the time it starts.

I have already spoken to councilors and transfer coordinators about this matter. I have a good reason for transferring and I'm certain that I want to transfer.

Does anyone know if I'm going about transferring correctly? Does anyone know of anything else I can do to improve my chances of transferring?