<p>I'm currently a freshmen (First-year as they call it here) at UVA planning on completing a double major in American History and Foreign Affairs. However, I don't really feel comfortable here. It's an amazing school, and I love the history and such, but I just don't feel comfortable socially. It seems like the majority of people here are rich, white kids from Northern Virginia and frat bros/sorority girls. The pretentiousness here is also rampant. I also feel that people here are more focused on keeping up the reputation of the school rather than sticking to Jefferson's ideals of active learning.
Do you guys know of any colleges around the same level in academics as UVA that I could transfer to? I was considering NYU or Columbia, but I am receiving Financial Aid from the University now, so it would definitely have to be a place that offers good financial aid packages for low-income families. I'd like to be near a big city and attend a college full of diversity (UVA has a lot of diversity, but the groups tend to self-segregate themselves). The only thing about William and Mary is that it is entirely too close to my home (like 30 mins. away), so I'd prefer not to go there.
Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Well, first of all, Columbia is almost certainly more rigorous than UVa, and NYU possibly marginally less so. NYU gives terrible FA to transfers (and really, everyone), though, so if that’s a major concern I would cross it off your list. I don’t know what to list other than the usual suspects (Georgetown, UPenn, USC, etc). Are you looking to stay relatively close to home? What are your stats? How urban of an environment do you want? Neither NYU or Columbia is “near” a city - they’re in Manhattan, which is an amazing, exciting, and often totally overstimulating conglomerate of environments. Morningside Heights is extremely different from the Village, and both are certainly a far cry from Charlottesville. I’m not trying to be condescending, and I’m sorry if it comes off that way, but I’m just trying to get a better sense of what you are truly looking for.</p>
<p>I’m white and a first-generation college student. I graduated from high school with a 4.37 GPA with loads of extracurriculars and a 1930 score on the SAT. I currently have a 2.8 GPA here at UVA, but am working on raising it considerably (I slacked off and made some bad decisions). I started the Quidditch team here at UVA and am going to join UVA’s International Relations Organization.
I’d like to stick to the Eastern Seaboard and nothing past the Mississippi. I would love to live in the city, but living outside of a city with easy transportation into the city would be fine also. I just want to go to a school where I could fit in easily.</p>
<p>Well, I’m sure you know this, but that GPA is going to hurt you immensely. Using the calculator on this website </p>
<p>[Raise</a> Your GPA](<a href=“http://www.back2college.com/raisegpa.htm]Raise”>http://www.back2college.com/raisegpa.htm)</p>
<p>even if you get a 4.0 from here on out, you’ll only have about a 3.6 by the time you attempt to transfer. (It will take 33 credit hours to do so, which, if my information serves me correctly, is about 10 or 11 classes, or two semesters worth of work, at UVa.) I’m sorry to say this, but you need to lower your expectations considerably, especially considering your financial situation. You could probably get into NYU with a 3.6 GPA, but unless you’re comfortable taking out an egregious amount of loans, I would steer clear of NYU.</p>
<p>As for recommendations, if fit is truly the most important factor to you, from what you’ve said, it seems like you could be happy at American, URichmond, VCU, Fordham, or maybe BU. If academic rigor is equally important, however, you might be better off staying at UVa. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you have very little chance of transferring anywhere reputable for Fall 2012 with that GPA, and unfortunately it’s going to continue to affect your chances next year. Maybe, if you’re really determined, you could try and take some summer and winter classes to get more credit hours.</p>
<p>I’d second American & Fordham.</p>
<p>I was thinking of transferring in Fall 2013. Thank you for the recommendations though.</p>
<p>Would Vassar be an option?</p>