I am a freshman at UTK. I am a couple months in but I feel like I am regretting my choice because I do not know if I chose the right school. I chose UTK because I am getting paid to go (instate), but my top choice was UGA (30k). I know I could have gotten into more prestigious schools with my high school resume but I settled on UTK, a fairly easy school to get into. Mainly, I just hate the campus and the fact that I knew I could have gotten into more prestigious schools. My parents were willing to pay for a top notch school but I settled for the school that was paying me to attend. Did I choose wrong? Will attending a less prestigious school affect me that much after graduation?
Also, I want to ask if supply chain management is a good major. Do they get paid a lot, what do they do, and are there a fair amount of job openings? Would it be a good major? Also, is this major computer driven? I want to major in information systems but UTK does not offer that as a major. Thanks for the input.
SCM is actually much in demand and yes people are well paid. It helps if you have a decent grasp of an Asian language (or Spanish) so think of a minor in that language.
I assume you’re in the Honors college. Participate in as many honors activities as possible, take a bunch of honors seminars, look at alternative breaks and study abroad.
You made the right choice if you take advantage of everything offered to you.
If you attended another school, what makes you think you’d take better advantage of opportunities at the college that admitted you?
If by December you still feel that way talk to your parents about transferring, keeping in mind that they should not be taking loans on your behalf and you will not receive as much financial aid. Realize that your odds of transferring are low and depend on your having excellent grades and exemplary involvement at UTK and in honors.
To me it looks like you are suffering from “the grass is greener…” issue, which also might be called “buyer’s remorse”.
You are at a very good university. You are much better off going to a very good university for free, rather than a slightly better university that is going to cost you 30K per year. Four years from now you will be able to get a job anywhere that you want, while friends are constrained to getting a job within an hour’s drive of their parents house so that they can live at home to save money and pay off debt. Five and ten years from now you will have a job and money in the bank and your friends will still be living with their parents and paying off their loans (with years to go in some cases).
To a large extent what you get from a university is based on the effort that you put into it. There are a lot of opportunities at any university.
“Will attending a less prestigious school affect me that much after graduation?”
No. Well, the one way that it will affect you is that you will not have any debt when you graduate.
Yeh, UGA may be somewhat more competitive for undergraduate than UTK, but I am not sure it is a better school. If you could have gone to Vanderbilt or somewhere like that it would be different.
If I do decide to transfer, will it be easier to get into a UNC level school compared to HS(saying I have all A’s maybe one B.(is this a good gpa overall in College)
Also if I transfer, is it similar to HS where I can apply to multiple schools and compare their offers? If those schools are too expensive and I decide to stay, is that an option?
No transferring is usually harder. In college it’s MUCH harder to get A’s and B’s than in high school. If you have a 3.5+ it’ll really help you. 3.75-3.8 is awesome.
Yes you should apply to lots of schools and compare their offers. If you wish to stay, you can.
Do you have any idea how many people would do almost anything to be in your position. You are at a 4 year college and you will graduate debt free which will give you a world of choices down the road if you have a successful college career. Right now it sounds like you are choosing to make yourself miserable .
“If I do decide to transfer, will it be easier to get into a UNC level school compared to HS”
Generally getting into top schools is more difficult as a transfer. Financial aid is also usually harder to get as a transfer.
“Can I apply to multiple schools and compare their offers? If those schools are too expensive and I decide to stay, is that an option?”
I believe so, yes.
There have been posts on CC from students who have transferred and regret it and want to transfer back. In these cases the financial aid on transferring back may be lacking.
You are at a very good school with a great financial deal.