Don't know where to transfer to/what to do!

Transfer Students
1

Hi!
I’m a freshman at Florida southern college in Lakeland, FL and in my second semester and I’ve been thinking about transferring schools but the thought of it gets me all stressed out. I’m a biology major/pre-vet
I am from Maine and miss home, and originally thought about transferring home, but I don’t have a good family life and feel like I should keep exploring the country and be on my own and grow and all that mushy stuff. I think I miss the familiarity of home, and I’m struggling with anxiety and depression which makes me think that being home isn’t really what it’s about. I’m in the process of working on my mental health but still want to transfer.
I’m not 100% sure I want to transfer but FSC has a lot of things I don’t like. I haven’t really made a ton of friends, I have a few close friends and one really good friend who I don’t want to leave, but she’s a year above me and is going abroad next year so it’s not really like I should stay here because of that.
I have a dog, and I want to live off campus in an apartment. FSC does not allow that till Junior/Senior year. I hate the food here, Lakeland is BORING, and i also have a horse and I haven’t been able to find a good facility for him here. I am aware the animals are a lot of responsibility; I don’t need any lectures on that!
I’m looking at CU boulder and maybe Oregon or anywhere really, I like Colorado because I miss the snow and want to be more adventurous and active and I’m just so bored in Florida and don’t really like the Southern culture.

I’m not sure if I should stay here, go home, or go somewhere else random and try to stay independent and whatever. I’m nervous because my first semester grades were rough, I have a 2.4 GPA and hopefully it’ll be more like a 3.3 after this semester. I graduated HS with a 3.9 so college has just been rough so far.

Any advice at all is super appreciated, right now i’m focusing on my classes and everything but there’s only three months of this school year left and I feel like i don’t know what to do about next year

Thank you for reading all of this!!

2

Could you take a leave of absence for a year and sort out the mental health issues? Truly, until those are under control, you probably aren’t going to be happy anywhere.

3

Transferring to any school is going to be rough right now with your current GPA. If you can truly bring up your GPA to above a 3.0, you have a shot.

Can you afford to transfer? Are finances an issue?

You may want to consider taking a year off and focus on your mental health, as the previous poster suggested, or save some money and attend a community college for a year to figure out which direction you want to take.

I get where you’re coming from; the culture shock between Maine and other states is pretty significant (I was the opposite; I went from outside of Maine to Maine). The job market in Colorado is pretty good, so if you’re willing to work for a year, maybe that’s something you’ll want to consider exploring as well.

4

CU-Boulder is not boring ! You will love it. But Boulder is on the expensive side.

5

OP: I do agree that Lakeland can be a bit on the boring side.

Consider schools in North Carolina & Virginia.

UC-Boulder may be too far from home & can be intimidating for those who lack sufficient funds.

6

Well, there’s more options. You could try University of Wyoming. It’s an open enrollment school, so your GPA won’t matter. Also, the tuition is really cheap for a nonresident. It’s out in the middle of the mountains. The town itself is boring, but it’s a cowboy town, which would be pretty good for the horse. You should find some good facilities out there. I’m assuming you’re not riding the horse to Wyoming, right? :slight_smile: