Hello, I am a current Northeastern freshman. However, as it turns out, Northeastern is not a great fit for me: I do not like the pre-profressional, big-city atomsphere. I would like to transfer somehwere smaller, preferably outside of a large, coastal city (however I would like to stay in the Northeast).
I am CS student at Northeastern and I quite like the academics here, they are not too rigourous. I am definitely not looking for a “downgrade” in terms of academic rigor, but I don’t care all that much about rankings. I would just like to find somewhere with the right fit for me. Unfortunately, a lot of the liberal arts colleges that I was interested in during high school have <2% acceptance rates. Any suggested will be much appreciated. Thank you.
Look into Hamilton, which appears to meet all of your criteria, and accepts transfer applicants at a rate equivalent to that for first-year applicants.
Thank you for the reply! I actually applied there and was accepted during high school, unfortunately their aid was very lackluster. Would that be subject to change (I wouldn’t expect you to know for Hamilton specificially, but for colleges in general)?
How urgently do you need a change, and how are you feeling about co-ops at this point?
I ask because NEU really front-loads their CS curriculum in order to prepare you for your first co-op. And you sound as if you’re doing well academically. You could potentially hang in for two more semesters, finish the CS core sequence, do a whole valuable co-op experience, and then transfer. You’d have your lower-division CS stuff done in a cohesive way (it’s hard to switch sequences mid-stream as different programs use different teaching styles, arrange the material in a different order, teach in different programming languages, etc), and a whole paid co-op under your belt, but you could still enjoy at least two years of a more traditional college experience. (It would likely be more, as you’d only have completed three academic semesters, and most LAC’s have broader distribution requirements than NEU CS has so you’d have a lot of “liberal arts” to backfill.
This might also give you more breathing room financially, if your current aid package is good - you would have your co-op income, and you’d have gotten your lower-division CS sequence done under the favorable aid package at NEU.
What’s your home state?
Also, are you male or female? (As women’s colleges may have transfer potential if you’re female, whereas being male could improve your odds at some LAC’s.)
Regarding your prospects for financial assistance at another school, @asgdrfasef, I recommend you seek available resources (e.g., https://myintuition.org/) to estimate costs. Schools that award need-based aid may use the same calculation for transfers as they do for first-years.
@aquapt Thank you for the reply! That doesn’t sound like a bad plan at all, I’m not really in dire need of transferring right away, I would just like to eventually have a better college experience. Also, I am a male from Upstate NY.