Hi All,
Firstly, my apologies for the pretty bad first world problems, but I need some advice. I’m a second semester sophomore at Bentley University majoring in Management. I have entrepreneurial aspirations with regard to film, entertainment, sports media, etc, so I’ve long believed business school was the way to go, and I enjoy that field. I started my own company in high school which does really well, but that’s not my long term focus, but it’s where this romance with “business” began.
After a rough start, I applied to transfer to some prestigious schools for Communication, since I figured it was more geared for what I wanted to do. I did not like the people I was around, felt like I was not hitting my potential, and the strong focus on accounting/finance in business school was too dry, narrowly focused, and did not allow me to play to my strengths.
However, a semester later, by the time the decision letters came in, I really started to like what I was doing at my current school, and enjoyed my business classes. The courses I did not like were over, and blue skies were ahead. I did some research on the communication major and found out that it would not help me that much career-wise, and some top people who work as national journalists that I spoke to (won’t name names) told me that you won’t stand out with that major, and it’s best to stay at my school.
Weeks later, I found out I got into the places I applied, even the illustrious Boston College, which I had long fancied being able to attend. As this was January admission and the decision letter came in December, I had about 6 days to make a decision. Considering the fact my current school had been ranked #1 in the US in college career services (which is what matters in the end I suppose), I liked my current and future classes, and the logistics of changing schools/having to make up some courses was quite an encumbrance, the addition of some new course requirements that historically gave me problems (lab sciences, foreign languages) and the fact some top people in the field recommended staying put, I decided to do so. At the time, in the back of my mind, I also considered Political Science as an alternative to Communication, as it’s also something I’m very good at, enjoy, and it carries more weight than “communication.”
When it came time to make a decision, I decided that the majority of things that made me want to transfer (in addition that which is outlined above) were in the rear view mirror, so I decided to stay.
A few short months later, the cumulative cognitive dissonance of this decision has caught up with me.
I now find myself thinking about whether or not this was the right choice.
The prestige of BC, more specifically the pomp and circumstance of being able to tell people that is my alma mater, makes me wonder if I made the right choice, also the fact I could have gone for the Political Science instead.
I don’t have a crystal ball, nor a time machine, but what it comes down is whether or not forgoing the messiness of transferring that I would have to deal with in the next couple of years leading to graduation was worth forgoing being able to say I went to a more well-known school. Or perhaps it does not matter.
If the collective dissonance of all that which is contained above does not suffice, the fact I could probably still transfer if I wanted to, adds to the angst.
I’d sincerely appreciate any and all advice anyone has, and it would be my pleasure to answer any questions.
Thank You.