i made the wrong decision and it's too late to transfer?

College Search & Selection
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I am a current freshman at wash U in St Louis. when applying to colleges the first time around, i didn’t even look at the small liberal arts colleges (even though all my friends/family thought those would have been the best fit for me) because I thought it would end up being too claustrophobic and i wouldn’t have the opportunities as of a larger school. but,now that i am at a 6,000+ person school, I miss the small environment of my high school, and I am realizing more and more that I should have gone to a small liberal arts college from the start.

i applied to transfer to yale (tiny, tiny, acceptance rate and also my EA school the first time around), but now i am thinking it should have been a small liberal arts school.

I miss the proximity to many types of people and the “meeting people you wouldn’t otherwise” attitude that seems present at small schools, as well as the open-ness and closeness at smaller schools. Wash U feels very pre-professional, too cliquey and too big at times ehre. I may just be having a crisis, and it’s not like im miserable and super unhappy all the time here, but i don’t think I am happy. and I’m also not sure Yale will give me that happiness. I just dont know what to do.

btw my current gpa is 3.94 and act was 35 and have some extracurriculars

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April 1st is a fairly common cut-off for fall transfer applications, so I’d encourage you to continue your research. In all cases, however, I suggest you verify that a school appears to *welcome transfer applicants/i. With your GPA, @collegegal1010, some appealing options might be realistic for you.

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Many many students transfer after sophomore year. You’ll be more informed next time around. Also make sure that your particular major can be competed in the normal time frame post transfer. Another year of college can be cost prohibitive.

But you are at such a good school. It’s hard to find your stride somewhere with your eye on the door.

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Here’s what my daughter did, when she was feeling ambivalent about her school in the spring of her first year: she started the process to go abroad in the spring of her sophomore year. That way she was committing to only one semester on campus sophomore year rather than two, and she knew that she could submit junior-transfer apps before going abroad if she wanted to. It was a way of giving her college a chance without feeling stuck for the full sophomore year if she wasn’t happy.

As it turned out, things turned a corner in the fall and she didn’t end up applying to transfer - but she certainly could have if she’d wanted to. She’s having a fantastic semester abroad right now, and looking forward to digging into the “meat” of her major(s) when she gets back. If she had decided to transfer, though, she would still be having a great experience, and she would have a fresh start to look forward to in the fall.

If you want to do this, though, start immediately - the process of preparing for a semester abroad has a long lead-time and you may be up against deadlines already.

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Btw, you are correct with respect to Yale, its most recent CDS indicates a transfer acceptance rate of 1.8%.

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I am confused - if you are looking to transfer to a smaller school, why are you applying to transfer to Yale, which is also pretty large (about 6,000 undergraduates to WashU’s 7,500 or so)? Why not to an actual LAC?

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But you are at such a good school. It’s hard to find your stride somewhere with your eye on the door.

This is a very wise comment. Are you sure transferring is the answer or that you haven’t quite adjusted yet and feel at home? You mention that you miss the small environment of high school. IMHO, I think it is a mistake to try to compare a high school atmosphere to a potential college atmosphere. Sometimes when students are very successful in high school and are a larger fish in a small pond, they feel a little out of water once away from home at a university. Could this be you?

I am a big believer in blooming where you are planted unless there is something serious that needs to be changed. You are just about through you first year. The next three will fly by. Good luck whatever you decide.

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@mwolf, I think OP is saying that Yale is too large and the transfer app should have been to a small LAC.

@collegegal1010, Transfers don’t generally get much aid. If your parents can afford the cost then you can apply to colleges that are a better fit this fall. Have you declared a major yet? Once you’re in a major you’ll be in a smaller community. That might help make your current university not seem as big.

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If the latter applies, you can bloom where you are transplanted.

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But geographical cures seldom solve the underlying issue. The problem is we always bring ourselves along for the trip.

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I think that the transition from high school to an LAC is an easier adjustment.

With no indication of your major or career plans, it is a bit difficult to suggest target LACs. Have you considered Pomona College & the benefits of being in a consortium ? Haverford or Swarthmore ?

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Close friend’s daughter just transferred from Clemson to a small LAC in the Northeast. She is a smart, outgoing girl but just found the larger campus and large population not to her liking. She loves the small campus feel, smaller classes and overall more personalized attention. No dis to Clemson at all, in fact she is recommending it for my S2 but sometimes the fit / name just isn’t right.

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OP says " i don’t think I am happy. and I’m also not sure Yale will give me that happiness." I think there’s a fundamental problem with the approach here. No school is going to give you happiness. WashU is a great school and your best approach may be to figure out ways to, as was said above, bloom where you are planted.

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" I may just be having a crisis, and it’s not like im miserable and super unhappy all the time here, but i don’t think I am happy"

This is something that you can take to the counseling center on campus, and get some help to work through. The folks there will help you sort through all of your options (leave of absence, transfer, new campus job, better sleeping/eating/exercising plan, etc.). You don’t have to try to figure this out on your own.

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If you think that the vibe at LACs is non-judgmental, then you may be mistaken. The vibe at national universities tends to be non-judgmental, but LAC social life can be very judgmental & unforgiving.

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You made the exact same thread before with some great advice from others on it. Did you read it?

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Yes, many of us responded the last time you posted this, and you never returned to interact with us.

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I am a current freshman at Wash U with an undecided humanities major (history, english, american culture studies, sociology, etc) and a fall gpa of 3.94 and I applied to transfer to yale for next year (i know, p much impossible to get in). It was my EA choice senior year, and due to a lot of issues (undiagnosed adhd and depression, family problems, etc), I feel like i really messed up the first time around in the college process. My high school gpa isnt that high (but also not awful), but since it is good in college, i am hoping that it shows change in what i can do academically.

I wanted to transfer because the campus here feels very fragmented in many ways: engineers vs premeds vs b-school vs art school, greek-involved vs non-greek, socioeconomic status, interests, etc) and I want a more cohesive experience with close communities created with many different types of people (esp in the residential colleges), because the sociology program at wash U is very new with limited teachers and classes, and because it would be nice to be closer to home.

thinking about it further though, I feel like i should have applied to LAC. Most of my close friends are at very small northeastern schools, and I think that is a better fit for me overall. I like smaller communities (like i thought i would have with the yale residential colleges–to an extent), and the idea of interacting/being friends with people you wouldn’t otherwise. I love the cozy, comfortable and tight-knit (also outdoorsy and somewhat quirky and non judgmental) vibes at the LAC, but i am not sure if that is just me projecting that. I feel like there is not as much of this presence at wash U, or it is very small and hard to find (which i don’t really want either), but it is only marginally larger, or maybe not at all at Yale.

i am not miserable here, but the more I stay, the more I realize it is not the right fit for me and I am not as happy as I think i could be. However, I don’t know if Yale will be the perfect fit either, or if somehow I convinced myself that it is. I had this LAC-realization a few days ago (the deadline passed for transfer for all of them) and I am not sure what to do (or if this is even correct in my assumptions).

any help or advice is appreciated

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MODERATOR’S NOTE: I merged the two threads.