Do I transfer out for these reasons? Any input is appreciated.

Transfer Students
1

<p>I really like a lot of aspects of my school such as its social life and extracurricular activities. Those have been great, but I haven't been satisfied with a few things...</p>

<p>Most importantly, I've been extremely disappointed with the academics. I have found it really hard to take the classes I want to take, and I feel like I am getting nothing out of the classes that were my only options. I came in with a Romance Language major, but the RL department at my school is so awful and the classes are all so painful that I really don't think I want to continue with it. I keep wondering what I'm going to pursue and what I'll get out of the academics here once I graduate and reflect on my four years. I am concerned that there is not enough guidance to help me in these academic decisions.</p>

<p>Another thing, though it's probably of less importance, is that I actually feel TOO close to home. During my college search, 90% of the colleges I applied to were pretty far away. I ended up choosing the only school I applied to in my state (about 20 mins away) because it just felt "right" to me. During the first month of school, I was glad to be close to home because I was feeling homesick and enjoyed seeing my parents. When I was applying to college, I figured I'd have only four years to live in an entirely different place, and now that I've settled, I'm starting to feel that way and not want to spend these four years in the city that I've basically grown up in my entire life. I visited a friend in Chicago a few weekends ago by myself, and it really made me feel independent. I don't quite feel that way here.</p>

<p>It's just hard because I LOVE the social and extracurricular aspect of my school, but I'm just concerned over my growth as a person and as a student.</p>

2

<p>I am looking to transfer almost exclusively for your second reason so I’d like to think that isn’t a bad reason. In response to your first point it all depends on how important academic rigor is to you. If you don’t think your school is challenging you then yeah you might want to aim higher. Though it may be possible to do that at your school now (honors courses, thesis programs, etc.)</p>

3

<p>I’m actually in a somewhat similar situation. I’m currently at NYU, considering a transfer out. The academics at my school are great; I’m generally impressed with the faculty and the coursework. There are many extracurriculars, some of which I am involved in. But I am very unsure about the social life. I find the lack of a campus will typically thwart efforts to create a campus community that I feel is so important to undergraduate life. So I guess I don’t have much advice, but I figure it just helps to know that there are many others out there who, like us, feel like they are very satisfied with one aspect of their school and very dissatisfied with another. My plan is to look into schools for Fall 2010 admission, apply, finish out the year, and then decided to either attend a school I get into or stay at NYU. So I would say try and pick more challenging courses for next semester (if possible), and reevaluate the school once you know you got into certain schools to transfer to. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Whatever your reasons are, if you feel that you are unhappy there, and feel that it’s not the best fit you could have as a student, then that’s a good enough reason to look into a transfer.</p>