This fall, I transferred from College of William and Mary to University of Notre Dame, in hope for a better Comp Sci/Math program and a school with a bigger name. Now the first week of school is over, and I realized I’m feeling absolutely miserable. I thought I could adjust to its religious atmosphere, but the catholic culture is just so strong that its way different than I imagined. As an international student, I feel lost and isolated in the predominantly white crowd. Also, south bend makes me feel unsafe and I am afraid that I could not adjust to its extreme weather. I am interested in double majoring in CS and Math. Notre Dame is ranked higher than William and Mary in Mathematics and computer science, and it has a well respected undergrad honors mathematics curriculum which sends a lot of its students to top graduate schools in mathematical sciences. But I am unable to double major in Computer science. William and Mary on the other hand, despite its math and CS programs’ lack in academic reputation, I feel comfortable with the campus and the people. And it has columbia combined engineering program which allows me to spend 3 years in WM to finish my math degree and go to columbia university for 2 years for a CS degree.
I have sent an email to WM admissions to ask if its possible for me to come back immediately and resume as a wm student for this semester. I have spent so much time and energy on the transferring process, but the first week of notre dame is just so much frustration for me. I am not confident that I would be happy here in the future. Do you guys think its worth it to set all my endeavor during the transfer season in vain and go back if WM allows me to? what would be your decision? Any suggestion is greatly appreciated!
@PurpleTitan I wanted to avoid spending 5 years as an undergrad. Notre Dame, although doesn’t allow me to double major in computer science, regularly places its honors mathematics graduates into top Computer science programs, So I thought this would’ve worked for me. But the problem is that after a week at notre dame I’m just not confident the school would be a fit for me.
yes. [ not speaking for purple titan but as a mom of a student who went through the same ordeal as you. ]
go back to W&M.
Finish what you started.
Remember the lesson you have learned- dont be so quick to look for greener pastures elsewhere.
bloom where you are planted.
Undergrad is not always same as MS for some international students, especially those looking for work in the US. But functionally it can be from a strong program.
@quyaoxian your post is so frustrating in many ways. Surely you looked into double major before if it is so important to you. Yes I see from a post before that you did and found out no. Just minor or take what extra math you can if you are doing CS. If you want a math grad program then major in math and take what you can in CS. I do find ND a bit of a strange target. And you put way to much stock in rankings. The rankings between the two schools don’t matter much to anyone. And you have no guarantee of the Columbia transfer, right?
I find it silly for you to think you will be as comfortable now that you are in a new place as in a place you have spent more time. But I do know a sophomore there I can introduce you to if you like. She is American but originally from Taiwan–not religious. PM me and I will email her.
“Notre Dame is ranked higher than William & Mary in mathematics and computer science”
As far as I know, their respective undergraduate departments are not ranked anywhere. Did you take graduate department rankings and apply them to the undergraduate colleges?
“Notre Dame . . . has a well respected undergrad mathematics honors curriculum”
This could be relevant, but only if you compared their course offerings to W & M’s and found them to be significantly superior for your purposes.
“I transferred from College of William and Mary to University of Notre Dame in hope for . . . a school with a bigger name”
Notre Dame is a popular, desirable school for many, but it wouldn’t have occurred to me that it has a better academic name than W & M.
Consider all your options, but your most realistic one may be to commit to a semester at Notre Dame. If after a couple of months you find are still unhappy there, apply for transfer back to W & M for the spring semester. The deadline is November 1st.
@BrownParent, ah, good point about a Masters degree being different for an International. For an American, 3-2 seems fine, but yes, OPT may be easier for an International with a Masters.
And the Columbia part of the 3-2 is guaranteed so long has a student gets at least a B in all required foundation courses and hits a certain GPA (3.3, I believe).
Due to the opt rule change, a master’s is going to be necessary for professional experience (it’s likely to change back at some point but you can’t count on it being before you graduate. )
If you want to go back to Asia after your opt, then your degree needs to be recognized there. How famous is ND in your country? Would attending the 2nd oldest college after Harvard serve your purpose there?
If you want to go for a master’s, would you want to go for a PHD?
What’s your end goal?
Not sure why you thought Notre Dame is a 'bigger name ’ than W&M. For business, definitely, but W&M 's intensely intellectual atmosphere will carry at least as much weight for a PHD. Now if ND’s math program has a better track record with top PHD programs and you want to pursue math at that level, it seems that either you suck it up, don’t do cs, take the Catholic theology classes, and stay; or you forfeit whatever advantage you might have had at ND (which may not be that much, but do find out ), learn from your mistake, and plan to transfer back to W&M in the spring. Hopefully you did not have a scholarship because it’s gone, and if you depend on a scholarship to attend anywhere then you must make the best out of the ND situation.
In any case, think this through carefully; that you invested a couple months into the transfer process freshman year should not affect how you spend the next three years so that shouldn’t enter the equation.