Confused Cornell CS Student Looking to Transfer

Hi! I’m currently a Cornell CS student (taking a leave of absence until Fall 2020) that has been a terrible fit on campus since day one. I don’t want to go into the details of this (have discussed this in great depth with my mental health counselor), but I’m looking to transfer to a college that: is smaller (in terms of student population & campus size), has warmer/sunnier weather, has happier (“laid back”) students, and would provide a less STEM-intensive CS curriculum (e.g. akin to Cornell’s College of Arts & Science distribution requirements). This curriculum would ideally require no more than 4 courses per semester and (typically) only 2 STEM classes per semester. While meeting (some of) these requirements, the school would still position me well to pursue a career as a software engineer and have the opportunity to intern at large tech companies (e.g. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc).

Thanks so much for all your time and help! Please ask if you need more info to help ?

Forgot to mention, but I’m also interested in areas like AI and machine learning, so a school with opportunities (e.g. coursework, project teams, research) in these areas would also be awesome. Thanks so much!

People can help you better regarding transfer possibilities if you describe the following:

Cost constraints?
State of residency?
How much college credit have you completed and will you complete by the time of intended transfer?
What CS and math courses have you completed and will you complete by the time of intended transfer?
College GPA?
CS and math GPA?

I’m a NY resident, but cost isn’t a huge factor for me; having said that, a less expensive school would be nice. I completed 1 semester of credit at Cornell, but I’ll be completing 1-3 semesters of credit at a local SUNY school before transferring. At Cornell, I’ve taken 1 CS and 1 Math class and will take 1-2 more CS classes and 2-3 more math classes before transferring.

Unfortunately, my college GPA is terrible (2.32), where I earned a C in Math and B- in CS, but this is due to extreme health concerns (which I can get supported by my health counselor). Additionally, I’m planning to do 1-3 semesters at my local SUNY to showcase success in (CS & math) courses before applying to transfer.

I think you are jumping the gun. You’re not going to be able to come up with a list of schools until you have your health managed and few semesters of courses under your belt. Many schools offer a BA in CS. One step at a time!

@momofsenior1 Thanks for your support!

You’ve got this!

I would also encourage you to work at a pace that makes sense for you. There is no law that says you have to be a full time student. Take the number of courses that makes sense for you right now. Health is always most important.