Looking for college to transfer to

College Search & Selection
1

DD18 is a freshmen at University of San Francisco. Academically she is happy and succeeding there. She is really not liking the city campus and the surrounding area and California doesn’t seem to be what she thought. She has not found real friends yet and has a difficult roommate situation. She knows and hopes that things turn around and that she may end up staying but she is looking to apply to a few schools transfer for the fall to keep her options open. Looking for ideas. Here are the criteria as written by her:
-in a city or right outside a city (not in the south!)
-small student body but not too small
-an actual campus
-emphasis on learning & experiencing but not too prestigious or competitive
-No large Greek presence
-active student clubs/orgs
-good art program

Thank you all

2

The above list varies greatly in terms of feel – Berry being for example more religious and Sarah Lawrence being almost the polar opposite. Definitely check the feel. Also use the website niche to get the student’s nutshell summary of how they view their own campuses.

She may want to consider Mt. Holyoke or Smith – they are not in a city but are in or near Northampton. Great art, real campuses, no Greek presence and they take transfers. Of the two, Mt. H is more homey and less competitive, but both are nice schools. If she’s attending one school, she can attend any of five schools – also includes Hampshire, Amherst and UMass amherst.

She may also want to consider Mills in the Bay Area – it has all of her wants. I know an art major there who is very happy. Mills allows cross reg at Berkeley and also an art school.

Vassar – checks all of her boxes but takes few transfers – is in a suburban part of a small city and is on the commuter train line to NYC

Bard – even more arty than VAssar, and on Amtrak line to NYC, takes transfers

She should also consider Wesleyan --takes transfers, is in a large town, and has access to NYC sort of. It’s not direct by any means, unlike Vassar. Wesleyan has Greek life but isn’t dominated by it

Connecticut College is in New London and no Greek life

Barnard – she could transfer in but their FA for transfers is terrible usually. In a “quiet” part of Manhattan in that it’s where there’s relatively more green area. It has a defined campus and is across the street from Columbia and its defined campus.

Sarah Lawrence – checks all of her boxes, very arty, 20 minutes outside of NYC,

Simmons in Boston may give great merit, it’s part of a consortium with an art school

Wellesley might be nice but it’s transfer-in rate is super low.

Ithaca – very arty and checks all of her boxes.

Muhlenberg – very arty and in small City – lots of NYC kids go there, theater, jazz, writing

Haverford / Bryn Mawr might be great, but their transfer-in rate is not huge. Otherwise the pair check her boxes

Earlham is arty and in a smally city, very nice school.

Centre College

St. Olaf is arty and 40 miles outside of Minneapolis. They run buses into the City. Lovely school.

Tufts has the museum program. Very nice school

3

Have her check out the Liberal Arts schools in the PNW - specifically Willamette, U of Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark.
Another school she may like, as it’s similar in tone to U San Francisco but with a more cohesive campus, is University of Portland.

4

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Should have added - no women’s colleges. I think is she transfers I prefer her back on the east coast (or Midwest) so while I wouldn’t say automatic no to PNW …

5

What is your home state?

What is your budget?

6

Home state is Georgia. Nowhere here she wants to go. Budget not an issue though she currently gets $25k a year in merit at USF and we really appreciate that.

7

Re post #1 – Barnard is need-aware for transfers, but they meet full need for fall transfer students. No aid is available for spring transfers. So the statement that Barnard’s aid is “terrible” for transfers is incorrect — once accepted, an incoming fall transfer student will get aid based on the same formula that applies to all other students.

That being said, Barnard does not meet the criteria that the OP outlined – so not a school I would recommend based on her wish list.

8

Boston College if she has great grades at USF. Also Catholic. No Greek. Beautiful campus and great student life. Not sure on the arts scene. Very demanding and expensive though.

9

American Univ in DC or RISD in RI.

10

“urban” will often mean 'less of a campus, surrounding area may not be gentrified, fewer activities organized by the college".
What was she looking for when she went to California - start up culture, a large number of Asian classmates, good sunny weather, liberal political activism, a beach, glamour and the iconic plam trees…? (Many different students have different views of California. The state is very diverse and as big as most European nations, with two distinct identities, SoCal and NorCal…)
Is attending a Catholic college a criteria or are the religious components a problem?

She could go explore, see if she like St Mary’s of California (in Moraga), U LaVerne, Chapman?

What’s her current GPA (estimate)?