<p>Like have you ever either regretted choosing your current university over another one or does it occasionally haunt you that you didn't get into your top-choice university?</p>
<p>I've been feeling that way lately and it depresses the hell out of me. Like, my current university is one of the best public universities in the country and the best in my state and so on, and I'm glad to be here for the most part, but I have this habit of asking myself "What if?" and looking at all videos of these happy students talking about how great their experience is at my top-choice university which is much smaller, has a better sense of community and pride, which I didn't get into and I think about how much I would enjoy all the things about the university that they're talking about. =/</p>
<p>Has anyone else experienced this? I can't seem to shake it off.</p>
<p>No, since the only college I was interested in was UC Davis (since that was the only UC with an Animal Science major, and I wasn’t interested in the CSUs or going out of state), was the only college I applied to, and the college I got into (thanks to the Transfer Admission Guarantee program).</p>
<p>Yeah, I go through that too sometimes. I was admitted to some pretty good schools but chose the least selective because it was close to home and I had a gut feeling about it. I don’t necessarily regret choosing it, but my whole first semester freshman year I was writing transfer applications and even this year (my sophomore year) I thought about applying to transfer. I’ve just never actually clicked that apply button because there’s something about this school that I love… I don’t know. It might not be the best school I could have gone to but something feels right haha, mushy.</p>
<p>That feeling’s always going to be in the back of your head, but you have to chose to ignore it and move on. A lot of the time it’s better to stick with your choices than to constantly waver and never be all in.</p>
<p>Yeah, I always live with that. For me, I worked SO hard in high school, never once got a B, was school president, editor of school newspaper, tutored, and for some reason when the time came to actually write applications, I just didn’t try very hard. I don’t know why…maybe I’m just at heart lazy or maybe I was just tired but I really regret the fact that when the finish line came, I just dropped the ball. But I go to an okay school and I’ve been realizing that yes, I missed opportunities, but I can only do the best I can right now.</p>
<p>I’ve sometimes wondered about where I’d be if I had applied myself more in middle and high school, but I don’t get depressed about it. I absolutely love the people I’ve met here, and I do like being able to go home on a whim. </p>
<p>I get more depressed about choosing to go to college altogether, or what major I picked. The school itself? It’s fine, and again I love the people I’ve become friends with.</p>
<p>For me, I think about it in certain situations. For example, the only real downside about my school (in my eyes) is the housing situation - because we’re located downtown, the school only guarantees one year in dorms on-campus (freshman year) and sophomore year in university housing, meaning off-campus apartments. I lived in the dorm last year and absolutely loved it, and I wasn’t too happy about being kicked off campus to live in an apartment and stuff. So whenever I think about that, I kind of wonder how if I had chosen among the public universities on my list, I would have had guaranteed on campus housing for three or even all four years.</p>
<p>But otherwise, I’m very happy with my school. It wasn’t my #1 choice during the application process, but I liked the feel and atmosphere when I visited, and I got great financial aid and I got placed in a great dorm. I’m now finishing my 3rd semester and I really like it here, even though my college career so far hasn’t been so hot academically.</p>
<p>And then every few weeks or so I wish I went to UC Davis or any other college with an on-campus bowling alley, but that’s really trivial haha.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel like people look down on me because of my school choice. I probably would have gotten into the University of Michigan if I applied but I chose MSU instead.</p>
<p>I don’t regret my choice though. I love MSU and I’ve dreamed of going here since I was six. I switched to a Zoology program and take a ton of Animal Science classes which is something UofM just couldn’t have offered me. I just wish people wouldn’t act like MSU is just the crappy school that people who couldn’t get into UofM go to, that MSU has better programs than UofM in some cases, and that working with animals or agriculture doesn’t make you dumb.</p>
<p>Never, actually. Our school has an exchange program with eleven other US schools and every now and then someone has shown it to me and I’ve been like…why would I want that? I’ve always wanted to study abroad but even then I sometimes get sad about the prospect of not being here. I’ve never been happy anywhere like I am here.</p>
<p>Yes, but I would’ve been depressed with my college choice any bloody freaking way, no matter which college I chose, so it doesn’t really matter.</p>
<p>Yes, because when I was applying to colleges, I never even considered studying geology, but the summer before I started, I would go read geology textbooks at a local university’s library and realized how much I like the subject. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the college I’m currently attending offers a very poor geology program. The school is extremely academically challenging and a great social fit, but if I do decide to complete a geology degree, I’ll need to transfer :/</p>
<p>I had those feelings after I backed out of my dream school and went to the local state school (a very good one, but the more “boring” choice). I hated it until around spring, and I couldn’t bring myself to transfer at the end of the year, even though it was all I’d thought about for most of winter. It was so strange. once I made connections though, I didn’t feel so awful. I ended up transferring after two years. But I actually feel like a made more of a mistake leaving. The experience is very similar at a lot of schools. It’s really what you make of it.</p>
<p>Yes, almost every week. I feel like I choose a good school (it provides great resources), but I never felt that I became part of the community here. It just has not clicked yet. Its only been one semester though. I feel that I need to spend more time here before I decide whether I want to transfer or not.</p>
<p>Yeah, sometimes. Especially when I look at the lives of my friends who went out of state to places like Seattle and New York. Everyone wants to be some place new and exciting, but new and exciting is expensive. I could afford in state tuition at the state flagship, and they had my major, so that’s where I am. It’s not really exciting, I don’t fit in super well, but I won’t have any debt when I graduate so I guess I made the right choice.</p>
<p>Yep. I wanted to go to UC Irvine because it’s my dream school, but I got rejected and am now stuck here at UC Davis, which is the only school that accepted me. And as much as I’d like to transfer, I’m probably over the unit limitations for transferring. Plus, it’d a hassle to move all my stuff up here down to SoCal. The campus here is pretty and I’ve met some friendly people, but I can’t help but feel disconnected from everyone. I get this feeling that I just don’t belong.</p>
<p>Oh, thank heavens! I thought I was the only one going through this. I go to a good school, a really good school - not quite Ivy League but “prestigious” but something just feels… wrong. I’m almost done with my first semester and I’m not happy here. I can’t wait to go home. And when I went home for Thanksgiving, I didn’t want to come back. It’s not the academics that’s throwing me off, and it’s not the location, it’s just the experience I’m having here. I feel very disconnected from others, even my own roommates. </p>
<p>It just doesn’t seem right.
And I was so excited when I got accepted…</p>
<p>You may want to talk with a school counselor to find out what the problem is. If you transfer to another school without discovering this, you may be unhappy there too. The issue may be you and your expectations.</p>