I don’t know if this is technically the correct thread (it’s ‘what are my chances’ but I don’t know if that applies to students looking to transfer in college), but I’m posting this anyway.
So, I got accepted into NYU Tandon last year with an almost full ride. Unfortunately, after going through the first semester, I realized that I applied for the wrong major for the wrong reasons (such as it being ‘strategic’ since I’m a female that applied to an engineering program (thanks for making that a reason, America… anyway), a good number of possible jobs after graduation, not to mention a good number of jobs that pay well, in addition to a good amount of pressure from my family to choose a major in that field…). Granted, the reason in my mind is that I thought I was interested in IT law… after limited exposure to programming in Java, HTML, and CSS and an Information Technology class. The thing is, first semester was probably my worst academic experience in my life, and with the GPA I had at the end of it, I have no idea how I could get the chance to switch my major to something that isn’t engineering/science related, since I go to NYU and there’s some sort of internal transfer thing that I’d have to go through. So, messy introduction aside, I suppose this is where I write what I have and what I want:
(Not sure if they take HS records into account but just to give anyone who might have an answer an idea)
HS GPA: 4.62 weighted, 3.84 unweighted (did IB program)
HS Rank: 11/624 (I was 10 for the entirety of high school until… well, that’s a long story)
Got a 35/36 on my ACT test the first time I took it, they don’t have my SAT scores.
College GPA: 2.5 (yes, that’s a huge difference, I realize that- it was less a hard time with the classes and more… I just really disliked the courses I was taking at first, aside from EXPOS and Calculus 1 (though I did really badly in it, that was completely my fault as I should have practiced so much more) and maybe Gen Chem 1 (it was all right, but I didn’t love it)… so basically, the courses related to my major, then I began to, dare I say, hate them. That may have been the courses themselves combined with the atmosphere, but I’m not entirely sure).
… not sure what else to put here. I think that realistically, if I don’t raise my GPA to at least a 3.0 next semester, I don’t have any chance transferring to another major in, say, CAS. The problem is that I’m having a difficult time figuring out what I want to do for the next 3.5 years of my life (and possibly the rest of my life). I really enjoyed the ToK class I took for IB (my school didn’t offer Philosophy, so that’s all I had), and I’m definitely not afraid of reading or writing a lot (as seen in this post, haha… though my organization skills could use some work), so taking into account that I really like analyzing implications and learning about different ways of thinking, I was considering Philosophy for an undergraduate degree.
However, I really enjoyed IB Economics when I took it in 12th grade (a bit too late for me to put any real consideration into whether or not I’d want to major in that, as college applications were basically in the beginning of the school year). But, since the only option I had was to take SL economics (little to no math involved), I’m a little concerned about whether it would be a good course of action to apply to transfer into Economics. Sort of going beyond an undergraduate program, I know that I want to go to law school (I know, some of you might be laughing at me because of my current GPA; don’t worry, I’m laughing, too… bitterly). I am (possibly) one of the few weirdos that enjoy answering LSAT questions for fun (please tell me if that’s normal or not, if anyone knows, haha).
I just know for sure that I don’t think I can stand taking another year of engineering-related courses, and I’d really rather not transfer outside of NYU because my parents would not be understanding of that at all… and they’re the ones paying for this, so I have to listen to them about a good number of things… Speaking of, they don’t like the idea of me majoring in Philosophy (considering the lack of job opportunities if I don’t get into a good law school), and majoring in Economics is something that my mom borderline supports but my dad doesn’t (not as in he won’t pay for my education, but he’ll use every chance he can to tell me it’s a bad idea and I should stay in engineering, because ‘You like that sort of thing, right?’ I’ve tried telling him that I really don’t, but it’s hard to get the point through for one reason or another). So, the question here is, what would anyone advise that the best choice I have would be at this point (yes, I know you’re going to say you can’t tell me what to do with the rest of my life, but still)?
Tl;dr: I did fairly well in high school, but first semester of college was rough for… some sort of “existential crisis”-type reason, which then caused me to get a really terrible GPA. I want to change my major, but I don’t know if I have any chance transferring into NYU CAS with said terrible GPA. Help. Please. Thanks.