I am now studying in UMD, and this semester I got the offer from CWRU (Case Western Reserve University). I am in a dilemma because I don’t know how to choose. Continue staying in UMD or transfer to Case. I want to transfer to a better school next semester or 2022 spring. Money isn’t the thing to be considered.
Can someone help me please? Thanks 
Who says Case is better? Better at what?
As a side note, your success is far more about what you do, than it is about the school you attend.
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Agreed. If you are going by rank and you shouldn’t, they are similar.
Are you unhappy at Maryland ? If so, why ? Is it something with work you can adjust to ?
Case is smaller, more compact, a bit more tech focused although UMD has notable programs.
If you are transferring due to rank, which it sounds like you are, you are making an error. Build upon what you’ve done well and fix what isn’t well. Going in as a transfer is not an easy thing.
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It might help if you define what a “better school” is for you. Do you mean better in a specific major of interest to you? Or different enrollment size, different city, frats or no frats, weather, various rankings of colleges?
If it is predominantly ranking driving your desire to transfer, Forbes Best Colleges list has UMD at 63 and CWRU at 100, so it appears you are already at the higher ranked university of the two. Fiske’s Guide To Colleges (referenced in this thread) recognizes UMDs academic quality at 4.5 and CWRU at 4.0, which indicates you are already at the better academic option between the two. The list at Washington Monthly has CWRU at 132 and UMD at 50.
There are many sites/services that rank colleges and if ranking matters to you, you should make sure you include as many ranking opinions as possible to help you make a more informed decision. Also, you should review the methodology of each site to ensure the factors important to the reviewers at any individual site/service in ranking universities aligns with the factors you consider important in choosing a college.
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Sorry guys I guess I didn’t make my statement clear. I don’t know whether case is better than umd or not. I mean I want to transfer to a better school when applying in the next semester( I have already received case’s offer so “better school” doesn’t mean case).
My dilemma is:
- Choose Case because it has a study abroad program which is really helpful to me
- Choose umd because I am familiar with it and its grading system, which might be good for my transfer application next semester
So I really need some suggestions.
Really appreciate yll suggestions!
Don’t transfer twice. There is no point. You can study abroad at UMD as well.
What year are you?
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When you transfer you have to be able to articulate why the prospective school is better for your needs and goals than your current school. Without knowing what your eventual target is, I think it will be easier to craft a story about why you need to transfer there from UMD. I can’t think of how you would say that CWRU doesn’t serve your needs when you would have barely set foot on campus before applying to transfer out. Who at CWRU will write recommendations for you? You won’t know your professors yet. Also it will make you look like you really don’t know what you want if you transfer once and then immediately start looking to transfer again.
If your goal is to eventually transfer to somewhere else, it would be better to stay at UMD for now.
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2024er 
I’m not understanding why you want to transfer at all. UMD is a great school. They have study abroad if you want to do that.
Why transfer? Stay at UMD, finish your bachelors. Then go from there.
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Study abroad is opening up fall 2021 at UMD Health & Safety Study Abroad Updates | Global Maryland, University of Maryland
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Great points! Thanks!
That’s interesting. I didn’t receive the email from my school so I did not notice that. Thanks!
If you transfer from A to B and try to transfer to C, Admissions at C will conclude that you intend to transfer to D as soon as you can. Even if your essays specifically say you won’t.
What is you major and what is your ultimate goal? Why do you feel leaving UMD will serve that ultimate goal?
My intended major is applied math. And I just want to go to a better ranking school (sorry this sounds bad, but…).
Thanks! That’s helpful!
So why did u go to Maryland to begin with ? Where is the ultimate goal ? If case western is a pit stop….
Why not go to the ultimate school now.
Case won’t give you an advantage to get there?
Besides your perceived pedigree what is wrong with Maryland ?
With a math degree from Maryland you would be well positioned for both the job market and grad school .
Your story confuses me. But if I have it right you want to go from Maryland to Case to another. Is that correct ?
I used niche just because it is an easy rank to find in a subject. It doesn’t mean it’s right. Case is in the 40s for math, Maryland 80s. Means nothing. Have you looked at the outcomes for each ? They’re likely not vastly different.
You chose Maryland. It’s a great school. I hope you have a better reason to leave than i want a better school. But based on your last comment that seems it.
You will find Harvard failures and your non ranked regional, local state school like UVA at Wise producing millionaires.
If you transfer go once. But if you are using a ranking to base this on, then that’s silly.
My son is at a major auto manufacturer this summer. He’s at Alabama. It’s ranked so low in engineering you’d have to read an hour to find it. He chose Bama over highly ranked Purdue. He’s on a team this Summer with two Ga Tech amongst others….same pay, better project. You make yourself. The school doesn’t make you…
Good luck.
It doesn’t sound bad. It sounds uninformed. All college ranking systems are flawed. They don’t measure what many think they measure…ultimate career success. At best they’re a proxy for their graduate programs. In some instances, highly ranked programs are known to offer a poor undergraduate experience.
When I say your success is based on what you do and not the school you go to, I mean that very seriously. As an example, look at where the directors of all NASA facilities, including JPL, went to undergrad. All but one went to state school, most of them random places. The one exception is RPI. If it was about the school and how the school is ranked, they all would have attended highly ranked programs. They didn’t.
UMD is a very good school and a known commodity to you. In making this move, there is a reasonable chance that you will be less happy where you land. Careful what you wish for.
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I think it depends on what you want to pursue. I think Case Western would make attending a prestigious grad school easier. You’ll get the upper hand. Another thing is what each school specializes in.
Thank you for your suggestion!
I choose Maryland at first because it is the only school that gave me the offer when I was in high school. Case seems like a pit stop because I only received its offer as a transfer this semester, which isn’t my destination(well, I tried UVA but waitlisted lol).
I do have other reasons for transferring, but ranking somehow means too much to me. I think I need to think more about what really matters to me and whether a pit stop is beneficial for me to reach my destination.
Thanks!