I hate the school I go to?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hey guys. Don't wanna make this too long and obnoxious to read so I'll try to slim it down. I'm a fresh student out of higschool but coming in with 56 credits after this summer, already verified by the transfer dean, yet they placed me as a 2nd year @ UVa since a lot of it was AP credit and they don't penalize you for that. Now I'm sorry if I offend any uva-loving students here, I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your stay. yet, even though I haven't started a full semester here, I hate it immensely, I've never been so irritated and tense and depressed for this long. I live in a 1 BR apt below a jerk guy who plays his TV (like right now, and i wanna punch something cause of it) way too loud. The guy below me plays his bass-high music loud too (altho not as bad as the guy above me which I can almost decipher his TV show as I type this). The area is terrible. I lived down in waay southern virginia in something like a village and I had a better time than here. now I did have a super bad day due to a rift at the mall so this may seem more bitter than it is, but I think in general I don't want to go here. people are mean, no matter HOW friendly and smiling I am. In fact I was offered a job today at a cell store just from my smiling & cheerful personality. so it's certainly not me. the area is slow, not fun and cheerful at all as northern virginia or a more inhabited spot. it's dangerous too and the stereotypes seem to come to life here. people seem a lot more outgoing and friendlier up north as well. i make friends but i don't seem to really enjoy them all that much. just somethings not clicking. either they're jealous or too extreme on one side of the social spectrum? i just feel like I don't belong here. like i'm too quirky or something. this place isn't fun at all if you don't already have a group of friends, it's not like DC where you can meet random people on the street your age, you know? i just don't like that. i want to be my own person but I feel this atmosphere is too limiting and not my style. it's waayy too traditional and oldtimey and I'm more street, more modern, more 'random-risktaker'. i like colors, spontaneity, this same brick design for every damn building is so drab. and it seems this kind of design leaks out onto the residents too. just everything annoys me. i hate it but questions if anyone can help -</p>

<p>1) is this first year college depression perhaps? leaving family, living on own so suddenly, etc?
2) CAN i still transfer? even with 56 credits? i believe the latter is yes, that as long as I fulfill the "60 credits done at our school" rule i'll be ok? can i still do it at this point in time? (i guess i'd have to wait till after fall sem? =)
3) people are telling me it gets better when students come back from summer vac but so far I just don't like anyone here, either they're jealous or too on one side of the social spectrum for me. the dislike of the area doesn't help at all either. </p>

<p>I really didn't want to go to this instate school but at the time of apps, parents told me that instate was my only option thanks to financial constraints. now they're telling me if i wanted to apply out of state i could've (yeah right) and now I realize I can always take loans on my own and such. it's not like i ever got to visit this 1/2 schools I applied to instate and I really wanted to leave virginia, I just <em>felt</em> that I should go out of state, like to johns hopkins in baltimore or something but at the time I didn't have much of a choice and now I'm hating it like I predicted. woe. any tips, suggestions, answers, help here? thanks a lot. :)</p>

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<p>Stick it out for at least a semester, if not the whole year, but with an open mind! You have to be willing to learn to like it (does that make sense?). Granted, your views on the area and its architecture might not change much, but I think you'll definitely be able to find a group of people that you gel with once school starts up and that'll make things that much better for you.</p>

<p>I was in a similar situation last year. I absolutely hated the idea of staying in-state and going to Rutgers (because of its size, proximity to home). The only in-state school I applied to was Rutgers, and that was only because my family made me. I insisted that I'll go there for a year and transfer out. After my year here, I don't have any intention of transferring. I've made a great group of friends and have gotten involved on campus. Sure, there are times when I wonder how things would be if I went to a smaller school out-of-state, but then I have to 'remind' myself that I like it here and no school would've been absolutely perfect.</p>

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<p>Ms.Funloving, what are you doing there already? School hasn't started yet.</p>

<p>Even with that many credits, I'm surprised that you weren't placed in 1st Year housing in order to get the full 1st Year experience. i know a bunch of (Echols) folks with tons of credits who still ended up in 1st Year housing.</p>

<p>Re. #2, yes I think you can still transfer. Even though I loved UVA, I know it's not for everyone. It seems to me that you've come to UVA/Charlottesville with a negative attitude about the place since you didn't want to go instate anyway. I would see how the first semester goes, and if you still hate it there, definitely transfer. It's always better to be happy with your college environment and experience.</p>

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<p>are you in an apartment by yourself? strange, and did you ask about dorms at all? or were getting credits more important to you? I ask because alot of this was indeed your choice</p>

<p>if you can get through that many APs, you should have been able to navigate the system a bit</p>

<p>Did you ask about housing? </p>

<p>I know this wasn't your first choice, but how you react to it is your choice...I would find a way to get through at least one semester, with good grades, through yourself into work and school, and if you have a goal in mind and a plan, you can suffer through the parts you dislike</p>

<p>My Ds would not have liked where you are going, they are more "urban" shall we say</p>

<p>So, NOW, get on the ball, ask about housing, something may open up, and you won't feel so alone and will have a better chance of connecting up with people</p>

<p>Again, why are you living alone off campus....sounds really hard for an 18 yearold</p>

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<p>Hey, you're in a tough situation. Living by yourself in an apartment right off the bat definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea, and during the summer Charlottesville and UVa do not feel so "alive". But UVa is a truly beautiful and academically challenging school, there are many interesting things to see and do in town, and the student body is pretty big - you'll meet some people like you. Stick it out for a year, really trying your hardest to be involved and positive. If things still don't feel right, you can transfer.</p>

<p>(And as for the other residents in your apartment building...Trust me, it's probably way more quiet than a dorm, and also pretty similar to what you'll be living in when you're in the real world! Get some earplugs and don't let your initial disappointment with the town/people discolor all of your experiences.)</p>

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<p>i'd be happy if i had an apartment to myself cause im a really private person</p>

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<p>has school even started yet? it seems like you haven't even experienced the school part yet</p>

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<p>overly cheery people that pretend to be happy on the outside but actually hate their surroundings annoy me...</p>

<p>see what i did there?</p>

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<p>You think Cville is dangerous--have you spent any time around JHU?? It's in a slum.</p>

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<p>Hopkins is NOT in a slum. Quite to the contrary, it is mostly surrounded by very comfortable, if not wealthy neighborhoods.</p>

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<p>Your comment about JHU being in a slum is absolutely incorrect. The area that surrounds the school is quite beautiful, and upscale</p>

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<p>You would probably like a school that is less preppy. Check out Maryland College Park and UNC (especially UNC).</p>

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<p>You know, I still find your situation highly unusual. Though you may technically be considered a 2nd year because of the amount of credits you have, you're still a 1st year when it comes to housing since you didn't transfer into UVA but came directly from high school. And all 1st Years have to live in the dorms. Why on earth would you choose to live in an apartment for your 1st year in college? You're not getting the complete collegiate experience. You talk about not liking the people, but you haven't really met the students yet since most of them haven't returned from Summer Break.</p>

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<p>I have to say I tend to agree with Globalist's perspective on the whole matter. There are many students who enter schools with sophomore credit standing from AP classes, but for all other intents and purposes they are generally considered "First Years" and assigned to first year/freshmen housing (or at least that's what I've always heard and experienced). Did you elect not to stay in the dorms for financial reasons? Or was there a housing shortage (though that wouldn't usually affect freshmen)?</p>

<p>Also, since school isn't in session yet (not for Fall anyway), I'd say to wait it out, at least a semester, if not a year. The feel for a school is totally different when it's in session (that's why they say not to visit colleges during the summer). Wait until you're in classes, with people your own age, who are excited to start their college experience. Join in some activities around campus, join a club, volunteer, something. Don't just sit around thinking about how much the people in the apartments around you bug you.</p>

<p>I'm not saying you shouldn't transfer if you still aren't happy with your college experience, but it doesn't seem like you've given it a fair shot.</p>

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<p>oh so you guys think it's cause I didn't do the dorming scene? well maybe, you'd think for such a high rated school everyone could find their niche somewhere, so I'm not shooting down any of these ideas. perhaps a 1 BR apt wasn't a good decision. I mean I would've done the dorming but like people mentioned here, it's loud, I'm not really fond of living and sharing so much personal space with people I don't know at all, sanitation (with sharing the same bathroom and stuff), and I did the dorming before college style twice during a summer camp and while I became best friends to this day with my dorm mate the first time, the second time I had a really bad experience with the whole dorming, it didn't really help all that much. um so. i don't know. I could try the dorming scene but I'm one of those people who take really long showers and don't like doing personal stuff in front of other people >< it just seemed that so many people already come in with like 'groups' of their own ... but I guess I'd be able to find someone in my same shoes. I chose the 1 BR dorm cause I don't know anyone.</p>

<p>citygirlsmom, I find that post kind of assuming. A lot of this was not 'indeed [my] choice'. Still being underage when applying, I didn't exactly have a choice if my parents didn't want to pay for an out of state college. and you made it soudn like all I did was shut out the world and try to get as many credits as I can, well FYI that's false, almost all of it was <em>dual</em> credit, so I would take an advanced high school course and it counted for both college and high school credit, same system with AP scores. it's not entirely impossible -</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901779.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901779.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>no need to shoot people down for being intelligent. but thanks for your post, you offered some insight, i appreciate it, yeah I could still find a contract now but I'm just afraid of, well, the reasons I mentioned, but maybe I should take that risk and try, I could always leave if it completely failed I suppose. </p>

<p>and proton, thanks I guess, but that doesn't really help and it's not myself, after I left cville for this week I felt perfectly fine and normal, so I really do think it's the environment. or something about that place. =|</p>

<p>ILikeDice, no I don't see what you did there, I sorta hide my feelings anyway, I'm not the type of person to be hateful to eveyrone around me because I feel bad, I'm just not mean.</p>

<p>and yeah my mom told me JHU was super scary and dangerous when she went there for a medical interview but, man, I just get a completely different perspective of life there. </p>

<p>soo instead of transferring, do dorming and try out the year is the general consensus .... I guess I'll see what I can find, my mom offered that but I guess I didn't really think of it as a real option until someone else mentioend it, so there was some use out of this thread =] thanks to all who helped out, if anyone has any other insights, feel free to respond!</p>

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<p>Why does it sound like your life is in general disarray?</p>

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<p>lol. i don't know. i guess I was just born with it. or attract it somehow. parents were always random and kind of dysfunctional.</p>

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<p>Right. (10char)</p>

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<p>
[QUOTE]
1) is this first year college depression perhaps? leaving family, living on own so suddenly, etc?

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Not necessarily. In fact, it's frequently the opposite that occurs; one's first year at college is the most exciting period of their experience, after which they get used to the grind, and start becoming more annoyed with real or perceived faults of the school. </p>

<p>If you're miserable this soon, then there's probably a 95% chance you will continue to feel this way. </p>

<p>
[QUOTE]

2) CAN i still transfer? even with 56 credits? i believe the latter is yes, that as long as I fulfill the "60 credits done at our school" rule i'll be ok? can i still do it at this point in time? (i guess i'd have to wait till after fall sem? =)

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Yes. </p>

<p>
[QUOTE]

3) people are telling me it gets better when students come back from summer vac but so far I just don't like anyone here, either they're jealous or too on one side of the social spectrum for me. the dislike of the area doesn't help at all either.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>It's a good idea to meet the majority of the students of the university before going through with your decision, yes. </p>

<p>Best of luck to you. I hope you find what you want.</p>

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<p>ms.funloving,</p>

<p>I agree that many students who initially dislike their school end up liking it after a few months. Also, summer is really different than fall at any school. BUT, sometimes you just KNOW you have made a mistake. It sounds like you want an environment that is less preppy, regional, and affluent or more diverse, urban and trendy, or w/e. Some people hate JHU too. To each his own!</p>

<p>It's too late to do anything about fall term, but maybe you could research other options and make some transfer applications. That way, if you still feel the same way in a few months, you might be able to get some other options for January. That would also let you feel less "trapped" and help to get you through the fall semester.</p>