<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm currently in my second year in the faculty of science at McGill university.</p>
<p>I'm originally from Kentucky, so you can imagine that McGill was quite a change. I was mainly attracted by the city and by the stark contrast between McGill and my home. I also wanted to go out of state, and McGill was better financially than my other choices. I wanted to get away and start fresh.</p>
<p>Since I've been at McGill, I've made some friends, but I don't know how to explain it. I just haven't really connected with anyone. I don't get any joy out of the social relationships that I have here. I initially wanted to go to an urban school, but I think that was a mistake. I miss being able to drive a car and go camping and just do the casual things that people do back home. I don't get any pleasure out of shopping or clubbing or whatever people here do. I've tried joining school clubs and stuff like that, but I just can't get into it socially. Frankly, I'm tired of being in another country. This environment is the exact opposite of my home environment, and I'm having trouble thriving here.</p>
<p>I also don't enjoy my classes. I used to love learning. I wanted to learn everything that I could. But now I dread my classes. I get really far behind and have to cram at the last minute, because I just don't care about the material. I'm having a hard time forcing myself to learn it for learning's sake. All of my classes have 600+ people in them. I didn't think this would bother me coming out of high school, but it does. I don't feel the need to pay attention in class or do readings. I feel like a slave to the system, that I am wasting my time.</p>
<p>Last year my gpa suffered greatly because I stopped going to class. I was sort of a mess really. My grades this semester will be a lot better, but I still fall behind frequently, because I just don't care about any of my classes. None of them interest me enough. I find myself wasting time doing other things unrelated to them. I'm now stuck with a major that I have no interest in pursuing, only because it will prove to future employers that I'm smart, and I've already done the prerequisites for it. I don't want a career that uses it. But I haven't found a major that I really want to pursue. I've taken courses in many different areas and haven't found anything that I want to pursue. Now that I've taken all of the science prereqs, I'm determined to get a B.S. instead of a B.A. Is that silly?</p>
<p>Sorry for giving that much background. I don't enjoy being at McGill, but it is a good university from which to have a degree. There's no denying that. If I transfer next year, I will transfer to a less-respected university that will probably cost just as much if not more than McGill. It would also probably take longer. I'm not happy now, so my coursework is suffering. As a result, I'm not pursuing other opportunities such as internships, club leadership roles, and research.</p>
<p>How much should the reputation matter? Is it worth sacrificing my happiness for the next two years to get a degree from McGill in a subject that doesn't interest me? It's hard for me to know if that piece of paper with a stamp could really be worth it.</p>
<p>In high school, I really cared about the reputation of my college choice, but I care less and less as I see more of the real world. In the summer I have a terrific job that gives me a lot of responsibility. I could do this job with or without a college degree, and a lot of the people that I work with are college dropouts. I don't want to drop out, now that I've invested 2 years of time and money, but I don't know whether it would be better to suck it up and finish at McGill or go somewhere where I'll be happy and excel but will come out with an incomparable degree.</p>
<p>What do you think? Do you think these problems would follow me to a transfer school? Do you think that it's too late to change it?</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice you can give me.</p>
<p>EDIT:
College has so far been a major disappointment for me. I do enjoy learning. Often, I skip my coursework and reading to watch Ted Talks and political commentary. I think the interest in learning is still there somewhere, but it certainly hasn't shown itself in college. I tend to blame McGill for this. Do you think that I would have the same disappointments at another school?</p>
<p>It's pretty obvious that I made the wrong decision initially, but I don't know what the best way to fix it is. My gpa is so wrecked that I would have no chance at getting in any of the schools that accepted me out of high school.</p>