Graduate Early or Transfer to a Better School?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello everyone! Here's the situation I am facing right now:</p>

<p>I am currently about to enter my second year of undergrad at San Jose State University, and I am a commuter student studying Sociology. When I applied for college, I really wanted to go to UC Irvine, but unfortunately, I faced rejections. I neglected going to community college because I decided to settle-- attending SJSU was one of those situations where I was not bitter, but I wasn't too hyped up about college either. Regardless of where I attend now, I want to take a shot at transferring to a UC for Fall 2015.</p>

<p>However, if I stick to SJSU, I may have the chance to graduate early (I haven't discussed this with my advisor, but it looks plausible) at least a semester early. This came from transferring my AP credits, and so by the end of this upcoming Fall semester, I would be a junior-standing undergrad student by Spring 2015.</p>

<p>I have lived in northern California all my life and sometimes I wish I hadn't faced the rejections that I did so I could go to school in southern California. To some extent, I don't think geographic locations should be a sole factor in where I should go to college, but being a commuter student has been a little... uneventful for me the past year.</p>

<p>If I successfully transfer, I haven't quite done the math if I would still be able to graduate by 2017, and I may end up staying as a college student longer than I hope to. However, I would like to experience living in a completely new community away from home.</p>

<p>In short:
- Staying at SJSU would mean I have a pretty good shot at completing my undergrad early.
- Transferring (if successful) means getting that new experience I want in life, but I may remain as a student longer than I expect. If I am unsuccessful at transferring, then so be it.</p>

<p>For now, I'd like to disregard college finance and UC transfer acceptance rates (but I know they will have a heavy impact later on), because I know there are already a lot of gray areas.</p>

<p>Are there any opinions on what you all think I could do? I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts!</p>

2

<p>Before anything else, verify your numbers. Talk with your current school counselor to find out of you are correct that you ban graduate early. Secondly figure out apprx how long long it would take to grad after transferring (you said you hadn’t quite done the math yet). </p>

<p>After you know both things, then you can decide based on fact not assumption.</p>

3

<p>You’re right! Fair plan, I’ll get to working on that :)</p>

<p>Bump! I’d like to hear more thoughts as well.</p>

4

<p>Is there a special professor you want to get lectured by at UCI? I ask because I attended UCI and honestly it’s nothing special. </p>

5

<p>Well, no, not necessarily :/</p>

<p>The thing is that I have lived in San Jose all my life thus far. I’ve traveled to southern California several times, and I really enjoyed the community, especially around Orange County. That’s not to say I’m only after UC Irvine because of it’s location, I do think it’s a great school as well and I think I would enjoy being a student there and living in a dorm, unlike the commute life I live now.</p>

6

<p>Um, why can’t you try to find a job or go to grad school in SoCal after graduation?</p>