I Hate It At My School, Should I Transfer?

Student Lounge College Life
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Sorry if y’all saw this discussed 50-11 times or if you guys have a megathread somewhere that just happened to miss… I’m just really torn and I want to see what others think. This might be pretty long too, just a heads up. :slight_smile:

So first of all. Here’s a little about me:
The school I’m thinking of transferring to is UCF due to the close proximity of family

I just finished up sophmore year
I have a 3.1 GPA (maybe even lower now, since I have 2 Cs and probably failed a class)
I am a Animal Science/Pre-Vet major
I attend an HBCU
I do have depression and some anxiety both of which comes and goes in waves. This may skew my views of my school a bit as I sometimes go through small periods of actually liking my school.

Why I want to leave:
I chose my school because I wanted to be around people who looked like me (might sound a bit crazy, but I did not grow up in a mixed environment, and I felt that at the time being in a PWI would have been too much for me to handle). Now that I’m here, everything is not cracked up to what I thought it wiuld be.

I have no friends, I kind of have one but she’s like a “school” friend. I also did have a group of friends for like a month, but I unknowingly said something that offended another girl and ended up in drama, which led to me leaving the only club that I actually felt like I belonged in.

I also have strained ties with my school’s Associated(?) Dean where one day he made me cry, and told everyone but framed it to where I was angry about what he said (which I wasn’t. He was berating me, but I can’t comvince anyone otherwise)

I also don’t speak to the other professors in my program - my fault, but idk what to talk about

I don’t find the school culture that much fun, I don’t care for the rampant drinking and party culture

I’m so very far away from home. I’m Caribbean, and most of my family is IN the Caribbean. The family that I do have in the states are in Orlando.

I’m just plain out unhappy here, have been since my first year. But I feel kind of obligated to stay since I’ve already paid so much money

What I Do Like About My Classes:

The small class sizes (I feel like I could get the professor’s attention more)

The smallish campus size

The town/environment (Tallahassee is reeeally nice. It’s kind of slow (which reminds me of the islands), but it’s enough to fill my stateside desires)

My program - We are a land-grant school so we focus more on farm animals/ruminants and we have our own farm. The curriculum needs a little bit of tweaking, but I like it now too.

My fears if I Transfer:
-It’s too late. I am a sophmore after all, and have about two more years which isn’t a lot

-I regret my decision. As I mentioned before I do have diagnosed depression and anxiety (which I have tried to get campus help on, but the counselors are always busy). What if my hate for the school is stemming from that? Now I would’ve transferred for no reason. Also, what if I don’t like this new school?

Thete has been one person who have been consistently nice to me this whole time, and that’s my Academic Advisor. I’m afraid if I move, I’ll miss her terribly.

What Inspired This Post?

I’m moving out today, and I’m going to Orlando for the summer at one of the Valencias. During that time I would be speaking to a cousin who is a professor at the university, and I was thinking “what if I like their culture?”

Well that’s it guys, what do y’all think? Should I just stick it out, or should I transfer?

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I can’t say for sure but I know UCF has a good pre-veterinary program. I would be concerned that it might be too late to transfer for the fall. You need to check that out. If it is I would stay where you are.

Either way you need to get some help for your depression. Get some help from an outside therapist if you can. This will be key because vet school is very stressful! Also the profession itself is stressful and has one of the highest suicide rates of all professions. Therefore think carefully if this is really what you want to do. Make sure to shadow vets and talk to them about the stress.

Next either way you need to get your grades up. Some people do get into vet school with a 3.1 but it is hard. You need to have outstanding experience and GRE scores. So you need to think which school will give you the best opportunity to get the highest grades for the lowest cost (vet school is expensive!).

So bottom line look at timing, grade opportunities, and cost to help make a decision.

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This is the main thing you need to address:

No other magical school will make things better. You won’t magically get better grades there or make friends.

My advice:

  1. Today, go to the Counseling Center and talk to them.
  2. Finish the semester strong…get a tutor or go to professors office hours but finish up.
  3. Talk to a Psychiatrist over the summer. If you need to take a semester off to get your mental health in order, think about that. But talk to the Dean of Studnets about how to do that properly.
  4. Once you have that in order, then think about transferring or not.
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I hope you are able to get everything sorted out. I know that feeling

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If your school’s counseling service is too busy to be of help, and you have health insurance, see a private therapist or counselor. Do that as your first priority, no matter where you go for the summer or how long you think you’ll spend there. As you said, it’s impossible to know how you might feel about things if you were healthy; so make it your priority to get your health in order. Start that today - find out which counselors are on your medical insurance in the town where you’ll be living this summer, and contact them for an appointment for once you get there.

I would suggest that you consider taking at least one term off from school while you figure out your next steps, perhaps even two. That’s because right now, with your GPA, you are an extreme long shot for vet school. However, if you can come back to school and from that point on do very, very well (3.5 or higher each term from this point forward), this is an entirely different story re: vet school. But there needs to be a clear break, a defined before (so-so grades) and after (great grades) for this to work. And you need enough time in school after the great grades start for them to be meaningful. If you can get some help with your health and return to school strong in the fall, that’s fine. But if you think one summer isn’t enough time to do that, then be wise and take a term off.

It should be possible for you to get a leave of absence from your current school, if you decide to take time off. This holds your place at your current school, and buys you time to get your health in order, and to look at the other schools that interest you.

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http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/2141857-should-i-transfer-or-do-i-hate-my-college-or-am-i-just-depressed.html

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I don’t see a downside to transferring if your family will offer support. Family support can help depressed or anxious students (if they’re able/willing to provide support - you know them, will they help or make things worse?). In addition, you may be experiencing culture shock’s second “bottom” in the W (it’s real and it makes you question everything).
Take a leave of absence from your current college. ← very important administratively.
Over the summer, take one science class and one gen ed per session (if there’s just one summer session, take one science class only) at one of the CCs in Orlando, they should be relatively cheap. See if you enjoy your classes while living with your relatives. Find a job (indicate you’ll be staying year-round). Apply to UCF by July 1st. Or, perhaps, take it easy for one more semester: continue at the CC for the Fall, repair your GPA, then transfer (apply by October 1 for Spring acceptance to UCF).