<p>I think CC is amazing because young adults can get the skinny from more experienced folks for free. Cheers' initial reaction was very valuable input, because it should help for the OP to see how some employers could react to the situation. This is why CC is such a great place to go for advice - so many smart people are here giving all sorts of different opinions.</p>
<p>Go ahead and transfer. Sure it will be a little more complicated than not transferring but you've obviously thought this through. Frankly it's nobody's business but yours. Still, I'd start thinking about how you'll present the transfers in the future. Anything that sounds like "It's easy for me to make decisions but hard (for me) to stick with them" is instant death career-wise.</p>
<p>For the 1st one I think you can say you did not like the rural area, for the second one you can say family illness, as you told us, but please make sure this is the last time you transfer otherwise you will be running out of excuse. You should only list the college that you receive your degree on your resume. I think future employer usually verifies where you get your degree.</p>
<p>Depends on your ultimate field - I never showed a transcript after the first job. I think your reasons for transferring make some sense, but don't do it again! Much as I love NYC I think not being able to graduate in four years is a very good reason not to go to Columbia.</p>
<p>I'm glad you had paragraphs originally. I was having the same grumpy thoughts as Allmusic!</p>
<p>I'm just wondering why the heck you went to Dartmouth to begin with. It's rural of course and historically it has been full of hard working smart kids that like to party and are generally athletic and I seriously doubt it's changed all that much since my smart, hardworking, party hearty athletic guy pals went there 30 years ago. Come to think of it they are still all smart, athletic and party hearty. So why in the heck did you choose Dartmouth to begin with is my question. The Chicago far away from home on the East Coast thing I can almost understand. I for one hope for you happy and contented junior and senior year at one east coast urban school and you must be very fortunate to have supportive adults around you. Hopefully some up and coming seniors will read this chain and understand why we all preach fit, fit, fit so much.</p>
<p>thanks guys for the responses. I actually visited UPenn two days ago and LOVED it. Everything about it totally resonated with me. My friends there introduced me to a bunch of people and I just totally felt at home, a feeling that has always seemed absent during my college experiences. And to assure you guys, if I transfer, it will be to Upenn (where I have already been granted enough credits without ap credits to graduate within 2 years). I made the decision to turn down Columbia's offer because it was just not feasible to go there given the fact that I could not graduate in 2 years. And this would without a doubt be my last transfer, if I decide to go to Penn. And lastly, my writing may come across as choppy on CC but rest assure, when I write papers, I am very articulate. I apologize for the poor writing earler, as I was in a rush when I wrote that piece. And as for my reasons, just as one of the posters mentioned, those are exactly the reasons I gave in my applications (first transfer, to be closer to a city, and second one, to be closer to home). I mean, I do not feel like these are "random, flip-flop transfers here." If I went from Dartmouth to NYU and then to Columbia, I could see why this would raise eyebrows. But I went from a rural east coast school to an urban midwest school to return back to an urban eastcoast school. And finally, why I chose Dartmouth in the beginning is that I was left with Dartmouth, Northwestern, Cornell, and a few other schools and thought that Dartmouth being a relatively small school would be advantageous for me. I thought that such a feature would outweigh its desolate location. Thanks guys for your help.</p>
<p>Congratulations! Sounds like you found the right college, even if you had to take a circuitous route to get there. [as for your first post, I thought it was OK to write in a more stream-of-conscious mode than as a formal paper would be written, which I think should be OK for this forum sometimes, imho]</p>
<p>JHS said it all.</p>
<p>My son had been to 3 schools by the first term of sophomore year. Granted, it was due to Katrina and not anything within his control. However, your reasons for transferring again were sound enough to make you an attractive candidate to exactly the schools where you wanted to go.</p>
<p>I would not worry about grad schools - if you could make the case to Penn, Columbia and NYU, then you can make the case to grad schools. And you probably won't have to anyway. By that time, there will be far more important things to present about yourself than where you spent freshman and sophomore years. Yes, you'll probably submit transcripts from each school, but it is no big deal, other than a minor logistical hassle.</p>
<p>Ditto re employers. You will submit your Penn transcript (which will likely list all the credits from your first two schools, although not the grades - at least that is how it was for me when I transferred back in the Dark Ages, and how it was for my S). If they want transcripts from the earlier schools, you'll just submit them. No big deal.</p>
<p>I also think my friend cheers overreacted by a mile. A mile. As a potential employer, I might find your three schools fodder for an interesting interview question. But no way would I rule a candidate out on that basis. In fact, it is perfectly fine that your resume will simply list your education as:</p>
<p>2009 BS, Basketweaving Summa Cum Laude University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>You don't need to list each school you've attended. On grad school apps, yes; you will be asked to list every school and you will. On job app forms, if you are asked to list every school you attended, you will. But on resumes, no.</p>
<p>This is how I did it over lo these many years and I have had a stellar career. Again, my S (who is only a rising junior) listed only his current school on his resume for internships and he got a great one. It's no secret - at all - that he attended two other schools. It's just not necessary to clutter up a resume with all of that.</p>
<p>Back to cheers' point (and related observations by others). I do think you might want to do a little introspection on your own decision-making, overthinking roads not taken, etc. Learn from your experiences. But I don't see anything pathological or screaming for therapy in how you are thinking or what you have done.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>thanks guys, you have no idea how happy I am to read such supportive comments :) And to just add, I do appreciate Cheer's comments, as he/she has a right to his/her opinion. However, at first glance, my moves could be perceived as sort of weird, but I feel that they are so clear and the rationale behind them is not unambiguous. I wish I could post my essays here so people could see where I was coming from. I have very high ambitions and hopefully they can be fulfilled during my lifetime. And last thing, my friend raised an interesting question (how I am making no strong commitment to one school), and the only response I can have for that concern is that I have applied to Penn 3 years in a row. Not only did I think it was a perfect fit from the beginning but at this juncture, I could not see myself at a better place. Thanks again.</p>
<p>The practical reason why you don't list all the schools you've attended is because there is not a lot of space on your resume. Your resume is supposed to be 1-2 pages max when you start out. When you have more experience it could be 3 pages but not more.</p>
<p>One of my favorite lines from an old Michael Nesmith song is, "Keep in mind the difference between courage and will; don't be afraid to stop what you've begun." I think it's ok to do a second transfer. I also don't think you said you hated Dartmouth or Northwestern--just that you're looking for a better fit closer to home. Go for it!</p>
<p>Yeah, I did not ever state I "hated Northwestern and Dartmouth" as Cheers implied. That was never even stated in anything I wrote. In fact, I made it clear that I really liked NU and felt comfortable with the school in general. I guess, no matter what I can do, he/she is one employer that would not like me...but I hope others will have a different view....</p>
<p>Sorry confused, but I took your review of Dartmouth as a verbal thrashing of the first degree. You not only trashed Dartmouth--you basically said you couldn't develop relationships of substance there, implying that Dartmouth students were beneath you.</p>
<p>The snobbery doesn't add up. Hundreds of bright kids go up to Dartmouth knowing that the rural/frat/drink scene is too big. Think of camellias. Think of sybbie's D. Heck, think of Dorothy_P (now a published literary critic as a rising Dartmouth senior). Non-fratties find their people at Dartmouth. They find their intellectual niche. It's there--as it is at almost any unviersity.</p>
<p>You said yourself that you didn't allow your relationships to develop at Dartmouth. </p>
<p><a href="I%20always%20felt%20adverse%20to%20the%20location%20but%20at%20the%20time,%20it%20seemed%20that%20Dartmouth%20was%20the%20best%20choice%20for%20me">quote</a>.
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I just felt socially isolated, even though...I had made some connections with students at Dartmouth. However, I considered most of those relationships short-term ones and nothing of much substance.
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I have transferred before, which was for good reasons.... I attended Dartmouth College in NH ...and could not stand the location of the school
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I felt that the social scene entirely revolved around fraternities and drinking, things which were not for me at the time.
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<p>To me, your whole outlook hasn't matured past the outlook of the competitive high school senior. Not once did you decribe a single intellectual aspect of the transfer schools--instead you talked about the prestige of each, the brand worth of the degree. For someone with so many gifts and opportunities, wouldn't it be a shame if you never developed past being the perennial applicant?</p>
<p>As for the therapy...your description of the non-friendships at Dartmouth and the mention of meeting up with high school friends at Penn makes me think you have not adjusted well to college social life. I think you would do well to address the reasons for that maladjustment.</p>
<p>Social adjustment and intellectual flight are the two powerhouses of university life. Those are the sparks that fuel human happiness, sometimes well into old dotterage ;). Yet, even with what is clearly a very big brain and a very supportive family, you seem to be struggling with the social adjustment. Most university students don't want to go back to hanging out with their high school friends (with the exception of Manhattanites). </p>
<p>Also, you didn't write a single word about your intellectual flights--flights that might tempt you into staying at one university or another. In my experience, uni students get caught up in their intellectual flights. They get caught up with professors and peers and opportunities. Those connections attach them to their schools. A bright, motivated student will find amazing opportunities for intellectual flight in almost any university--nevermind Dartmouth or Northwestern. </p>
<p>Perhaps one of the reasons you are not properly attached to a university is related to the fact that you do not appear to be properly attached to an intellectual pursuit. Instead, you seem to be merely reporting a superb GPA and subsequent acceptances--an approach that is more like high school than univeristy. Perhaps a professional can help you navigate through your confusion.</p>
<p>*For future reference, if you trash Dartmouth in an interview, mention the word prestige or list three undergraduate schools on your resume, you may put off future employers.</p>
<p>I don't see any reason to think that the OP would trash Dartmouth in an interview. Why would it even come up? But, just in case, curious - now you know not to trash D in an interview ;).</p>
<p>Several of us have suggested that it is neither necessary nor advisable to list all colleges you have attended on your resume.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, were any employer to know that you attended three, it is certainly possible that some of them might be "put off." Cheers would. I wouldn't.</p>
<p>But, you know what? If a kid went to only one school, say, Harvard. Some employers will be put off. Figure you're a spoiled rich kid with a chip on your shoulder. I have experienced this as a Stanford alum. Or, if you went to only one school and it <em>wasn't</em> HYPS, some employers will be put off because they figure you didn't cut the mustard. You can't really win on the "some employers might be put off" criterion. I certainly wouldn't advise making college choice decisions on that basis.</p>
<p>Mostly, what will matter to employers is how you performed where you did go. What you might bring to their organization. I wouldn't let the "might be put off" speculation worry you.</p>
<p>I would advise confused to list the school that is ultimately graduated from only. If I saw a resume with 3 colleges on it for an undergraduate degree I might be concerned that the person might be a malcontent and a job hopper. If confused lists all three colleges then confused should be prepared to answer the question "how come you went to 3 colleges?."</p>
<p>I agree with the advice being given.</p>
<p>so, I should not show all three schools even if I had a 3.8+ from each school?</p>
<p>It seems to me that your biggest problem here (and its really not that big of a deal at your age) is your inability to make a decision!</p>
<p>My advice to you is, you can't go wrong with any of your options, so just make the decision yourself, put your heart into it, and move on!</p>
<p>I can't see it would be a problem to have 3 superb schools on your resume. Your explanation would be easy, something like, "I chose Dartmouth for its fine programs but found that I really wanted to be in a city. Then, for family reasons, I found I had to be back east."</p>
<p>No. You put the college you graduate from on your resume. Do not include all three schools. That's asking for trouble. Seashore's answer is the best you could give, and that's worth about -5 points.</p>