Advice from the great CC Parents? ...18 y/o junior transfer

<p>I know this forum generates a lot of replies and most of the advice I find is very good, so maybe you all could help me...</p>

<p>Currently I am a junior at a small Christian liberal arts college in the northeast. A little bit of background about me...homeschooled through eighth grade, then went freshman year to a local Catholic high school that was a compromise between me and my parents between a pricey private school (they wanted) and the local public school where I had friends (what I wanted). I stayed one year at the Catholic school, hated it, so I went back to homeschooling and enrolled part time in a community college - I was 15. I ended up staying at CC three years and graduated this past spring at 17. I had fairly good stats - 3.94 CC GPA, 2070 on SATs, All-State Academic Team.</p>

<p>The college search/transfer process was a mess for me. I initially thought I wanted a Christian school to avoid the party element, but along the way I realized that mandatory chapel and rules about the other gender in your room were a little overbearing. Still, I felt like my options were limited by where my credits would go, which schools had my program (Economics with an option to double in another business field), and, importantly, what I could afford. We did everything based on merit scholarships, no need based aid.</p>

<p>In the end, my dad liked the school where I am now, my mom liked Hillsdale a bit better, and I ended up really liking Hofstra. Had a bad experience with Hillsdale admissions and my parents were put off by Hofstra's sketchy surroundings, so I ended up at the school where I am now and I am thinking of transferring after this term. In a way I kind of set myself up to not be happy, but objectively speaking it does not feel very "collegy" here and, while not unbearable, is not what I was hoping for out of college. There is very little social activity on campus and very, very little school spirit. It seems like a lot of people made friends during orientation and I thought I would, too, but the people I spent orientation with have pretty much disappeared. I'm responsible for ~85% of whatever social interaction I have here (not helped by the fact I was put in an apartment with three - count them, three - people on the entire floor).</p>

<p>My whole problem though, boils down to this: I don't want to spend four more years in school, and because of my junior standing, I won't have to. But because my time is short (by my own choosing), I want to spend it at a school I love and am proud to attend. Were I a freshman, I might consider spending the year here just to see if it gets better and get some of my core classes done and kind of feel my way around. But my core classes are long gone, and I want to get on with my major. The problem this creates, though, is that I know time is of the essence.</p>

<p>Options right now are transfer, stay, or take a semester off...any advice/thoughts?</p>

<p>Semester off while you look at some other options. If you don’t find anything you like better or that is affordable, go back to this college, finish your degree, and get on with your life.</p>