Considering a Transfer

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I'm currently a freshman at Reed College, though I think that I made the wrong decision. Making a decision of what college to attend was a difficult choice for me, but I feel like I didn't just make this decision on a whim. I visited all 9 colleges to which I got accepted and ultimately decided upon Reed. However, after having spent a semester here I find the atmosphere to be very depressing. "Gloomy" is the best way to describe the general attitude and vibe of the campus for me. I've never been a depressed person and I've always been able to handle a large workload and challenging courses, so it's not any sort of academic stress that's causing me to feel this way. But for some reason I now wake up most days and can barely bring myself to get out of bed. I'm trying my best to get involved on campus this semester and meet people through extra-curricular activities, but as of now I'm dreading having to spend another 3 years here. Do you think that it's simply the freshman blues or should I actually consider trying to transfer somewhere else? I was deciding between Washington University in St. Louis, Middlebury, and Reed last year. Do you think it would be possible for me to still transfer to Wustl or Middlebury now? Thank you for your input.</p>

<p>I don't know about Reed vs your other choices. I did want to say that my son, who likes his school, is feeling a little overwhelmed by the work load at this point, and February is never a happy weather month. Do you find Reed's small size to be a little stifling? Do you dislike your classes? It probably would be good to try to zero in on the problem. Even if you can't pinpoint the problem, the fact that you feel gloomy and depressed matters, and I wouldn't want to feel that way for the next three years.</p>

<p>I visited Portland Oregon once. I had a six hour stopover and rather than be bored out of my mind at Portland International Airport, I decided to pay $2 and take the train into downtown. After wandering around for two hours looking for SOMETHING to do, I hopped back on the train to the airport and fell asleep until my flight.
You are not the first person to describe Portland as depressing and gloomy. Your college years are when you are supposed to be having the time of your life. Yes, actually learning something that will prepare you later in life is important, but at what expense. It is not too late to transfer to WU, Middlebury, or any other similar college. Finish off the year so that your credits will transfer. Then, make your choice again, but ensure that you've done your "due diligence" and researched what is best for you now. Perhaps packing up all your belongings and moving to the other side of the country is the change in your academic life that you need right now. Certainly, no one can fault you for making a bad decision, giving it an honest effort to work it out and then altering your course to make a positive change. It's a lot better than staying there for 3 more years and then wondering the rest of your life what could've been.</p>

<p>i agree. just try to muster the energy to get on it, and start filling out your apps. you have a somehwere between half a month - month to work on your apps, so start working</p>

<p>Moonage - I think you have been given good advice above. But I want to ask, in the most supportive possible way, if you think there's any chance that you might be experiencing a little depression now, even though you haven't had that problem before? I think it would be worth a visit to the campus counseling services to see if you can get a little help in sorting that out. It would be a shame to transfer if the problem is a little more internal than environmental. And it would be good to confirm that it is totally environmental. Even if you do need to transfer, it might be nice to see if you can get a little immediate help and relief from the feeling of barely wanting to get out of bed, etc.</p>

<p>I hope you understand my intention here is not to undermine your thinking or suggest you are "at fault." I'm just raising the possibility in the hopes it might ease things for you.</p>

<p>Keep us posted.</p>