<p>*
D had a friend who left Reed college after a year because she was planning on attending medical school and her parents wanted to help with that.*</p>
<p>I think that anyone who is planning on going to med/law/dental/whatever school after graduating needs to “do that math” if their undergrad is requiring debt and there are cheaper and adequate alternatives elsewhere.</p>
<p>D has a friend at Williams–freshman. It was all about the name. She didn’t get in to an Ivy, and was bound and determined to go away to get a better education than she could get in Florida. She is miserable now and doing transfer apps. She finds Williams to be too small, too confining, too far north, too cold, small town, misses friends and family. I think it was not a good fit. She is a first gen hispanic. I don’t think the pressure on her to go was parental. She did summers at MIT as a MITE, and put the pressure on herself. She is just not happy. She lives for breaks so she can come home. The atmosphere is just different and not what she expected.</p>
<p>In contrast to JHS’s depressing list of negative reasons (money, partying, immaturity) my D left a mid-sized OOS school for a good LAC for reasons of better academics and fit (less partying, more involvement in political/cultural issues, less preprofessional.)</p>
<p>I should have included “fit” on my list. The more I think about it, the more I remember examples of that. It’s a good catch-all for “I want more academic challenge”, “I want a less pressured environment”, “I wish I were closer to home”, “I’ve got to get away from home”, “I wish my school were smaller so I could make friends”, “I wish my school were larger so I could make friends”, “I wish there were more to do”, “I wish campus was the focus of everyone’s life”, and the ever-popular “I wish they offered courses in the area that interests me”.</p>
<p>I would say medical conditions, weather, homesickness, cost, lack of support, lack of classes available for major/graduation. Of course, immaturity is a huge thing—>that leads to over partying, over sleeping.</p>
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<p>Partying is not the only way to fail. One can fail by being too disorganized and unscheduled to get the work done. Partying does not have to enter into it.</p>
<p>Most of the kids in my hometown end up coming back after the first semester or two. My town is a university town, and they just usually seem not to be ready to be out on their own. So they come back home to live and attend the university here. It is usually cheaper and their parents can still encourage them and keep them clothed, sheltered and fed.</p>
<p>Three recent stories.</p>
<p>Son’s friend is leaving Tulane after freshman year. He feels that it is too much of a party school and too many rich kids…funny input from a kid who comes from a really affluent town and who goes to his share of parties!</p>
<p>Also recently heard of a girl applying for a transfer from Penn State to Cornell, also after freshman year. She wanted to go to Cornell after high school and didn’t get in, and never gave up the dream.</p>
<p>Finally, another friend of son is transferring from Indiana (currently a sophomore) to his state flagship. Apparently the kid can’t get into the major he wants, and he also wants to be closer to his girlfriend.</p>
<p>Lots of good explanations here. I’ve heard of my friends kids and s’s friends transferring because of “fit”, that they didn’t like the school, their peers, the faculty, didn’t feel challenged, etc. Most in those cases transferred laterally (to an equal) or up (to a more difficult) school. Of the ones who were perhaps unhappy or partying too much, without the requisite self discipline, they either came home and commuted to a local school or took a semester off. Hard to transfer “down” if the transcript will be unhelpful.</p>
<p>I would add that when listening to a student (or parent) tell you why a kid is transferring will not always tell you the “real story.”</p>
<p>I know a student who is transferring from an OOS public to an in-state public. The real reason is finances, but that’s not what he and his family are offering for consumption (maybe to protect their pride). The same could happen if the student is leaving over grades. The student/family may not offer that as the real reason for leaving. They may offer a red herring reason.</p>
<p>Just a few stories I’m aware of.</p>
<p>Our public hs in the mid-Atlantic sent three kids to schools in Colorado. Two transferred out after freshman year. I think they had not thought through the cultural differences (had really focused on the skiing!) and wanted to be closer to home.</p>
<p>Another kid from our public hs went to Clemson but wanted to transfer out after about two months. Too many kids who fit the southern racist stereotype (<–do not shoot me, not my words).</p>
<p>Another kid went to nearby LAC but left before end of first semester–not where he really wanted to go in the first place but hs girlfriend wanted him to remain in-state. (She dumped him shortly after graduation.)</p>
<p>Another kid who loved his OOS school but parents decided they couldn’t keep him there for four years and told him he’d have to take out loans to pay the difference between that and in-state school. </p>
<p>Another kid at DS#1’s school who decided to transfer after being cut from the athletic team he was on. Probably was not the place for him in the first place without the sports. (DS got cut too but is still there and happy.)</p>
<p>(And just a note on Penn State–I’ve yet to meet a current student or graduate (recent back to about 40 years ago) who didn’t absolutely love the place.)</p>
<p>GW: everyone I know has left, about six students! I don’t really know why.
St. Vincent’s: I know two students who want to leave; “I like the school but not the location - in the middle of nowhere”
Kent State: I know a student who says that it empties out on the weekends, and he wants to leave.
I know other students who have left a college because they missed a boyfriend or girlfriend; a very poor reason if you ask me!</p>
<p>*I know other students who have left a college because they missed a boyfriend or girlfriend; a very poor reason if you ask me! *</p>
<p>I agree! I know a student who picked his college based on his GF, and the GF broke up with him 3 weeks after classes started!</p>
<p>I’ve known kids who have left Penn STate (yes, it happens A LOT, look at their stats). For some, it was just too big of a school. Some could not handle being away from home in a place with so many fun distraction and could not settle down with the school work. Also, I know kids who left Penn State, U MD and other such schools after going there from out of state, and feeling "left out’ cuz so many kids seem to know each other at the school already, and they do not.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the personality of the college is just not a match for the student. I’ve known kids who left Bard, Wesleyan, Vassar, because they wanted a preppier, more school spirited in a traditional way type school.</p>
<p>Sometimes I think it’s just luck. If a kid gets a good roommate match, a good dorm floor, is able to connect with the people in his/her classes or activity, it all falls into place. If none of the above happens, well that’s when a lot of kids just aren’t happy.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very true for the social aspect.</p>
<p>Everyone’s got their own reasons, and I agree with the poster who said the reasons provided for public consumption may not always be the real reasons. There will always be a small percentage who find the school just didn’t suit them—whether because they can’t swing the finances, or because they weren’t academically ready, or for personal reasons, or simple fit. I’d imagine you’d find some of each of those categories at any school.</p>
<p>I’d be more concerned, however, about schools where an unusually high percentage of kids leave. Among US News top 50 universities, for example, Tulane stands out—in a negative way—with only 87.5% of freshmen returning for their sophomore year, and only 74% graduating within 6 years. Think about that: 1 in every 8 freshmen doesn’t come back for a second year, and nearly 3 in 10 don’t graduate within 6 years. That’s really quite a dreadful retention rate for a high-priced private institution that has ambitions to elite status. The University of Miami isn’t much better, with an 89.8% freshman retention rate and a 77% 6-year graduation rate. I guess I’d want to know what’s going on at those schools that causes so many people to decide to opt out.</p>
<p>Several people mentioned Penn State, but its record looks positively stellar in comparison to Tulane and U Miami, with a 93.2% freshman retention rate and 85% graduating in 6 six years. (The very top privates do better, of course, as do the very top publics).</p>
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<p>I know a kid who just transferred at the end of his first semester. His mother’s Christmas letter just said that he’ll be attending Univ of Wisconsin second semester. He’s from Minneapolis. IMO, the schools seem fairly similar, so I’m just guessing that he may have wanted to be closer to home. Money could have been a factor, as MN students pay instate tuition at WI.</p>
<p>“Tulane stands out—in a negative way—with only 87.5% of freshmen returning for their sophomore year, and only 74% graduating within 6 years.”
they had a hurricane a few years back, which 1] caused major damage and 2] forced the temporary transfer of all students to other colleges around the country. many decided not to return. they also closed the engineering dept, which meant the engineering students had to transfer to other colleges.</p>
<p>Yes OOS tuition is very high.</p>