Need help transferring - desperate :(

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello! I'll just tell my whole story because I really need help and I don't know what to do. I am having trouble organizing my thoughts too so sorry about disorganization and length. Also I think I'm in the right forum but sorry if I'm not.</p>

<p>I went to a small, all-girls, private, Catholic high school in Delaware. I now go to The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. There's 3,500 students. It wasn't my first choice but I was pretty open-minded when I realized it was my best option out of the six schools I applied to. I was not accepted to my dream school at the time (Boston University) but I got over it.</p>

<p>I barely have any friends here and it's a weird adjustment for me since I went to a tight-knit high school and I have a close group of best friends from home. I know it's my freshman year but I try to be a nice person to everyone by simply smiling or saying hello, and a lot of people seem to have not been raised the way I was in terms of common courtesy. I know a lot of people are like this in the real world but at such a small school it becomes a problem, IMO. The friends I do have here are "quirky" to put it nicely and sometimes hurtful when they think they're being amusing. I can take criticism but I don't treat them the way they treat me.
Along with the friend issue, I had a long-term high school boyfriend whom I loved as much as a 16-year-old can love. We broke up before the end of our senior year. The breakup was kind of tough for me and I'd like to find a nice guy again. Not that I'm searching for men but I want to experience what I experienced with my ex. I miss it. But none of the guys here are appealing to me at all and it feels almost hopeless. This is probably making me sound desperate but it's the sort of thing like I'm fine being single but I wouldn't mind being in a relationship again. But it feels like it's not going to happen here.
Plus many of the people here are very political, which is expected but it's like I can't go one day without sitting awkwardly while my friends get their panties in a bunch about Obama. I swear 90% of the school is Republican, which is the party I'm registered with, but my friends here joke about how I'm liberal, when it's just that I'm more moderate than almost all of them and I don't feel the need to discuss politics 24/7.</p>

<p>I also thought this place would possibly restore my Catholic faith. I was raised Catholic but at some point in high school I realized I'm some sort of Christian, but not Catholic. I thought I would want to go to Mass or something all the time as a student here but these people are the fakest (for lack of a better word) Christians I've ever met. They talk about Jesus's love but they criticize complete strangers, homosexuals, masturbation, and other ridiculous topics that make them the opposite of what Jesus would want them to be. Many people here are North Jersey/Long Island fake dickheads and closed-minded. And everyone is from the same demographics, which is one of the things I wanted to get away from when I applied to the schools I applied to.</p>

<p>The only happiness I do find here (when I'm not running) is when I go out into D.C. and get off campus. It's a wonderful city, if a bit dangerous at times.
There's nothing to do on the weekends. Half the school is either hungover on a Saturday afternoon, while the other half is talking about how great the Campus Ministry event was last night. I'm in the middle of this because I don't rely on alcohol every weekend but I don't go to church or something like that. I'm not involved in any extracurricular activities because there's nothing to do but I do plan on running track in the spring.
I can only take so much of the idiocy. And this goes to my next point. CUA has something like an 86% acceptance rate. So of course it was my safety school. But every time I say I go here I'm almost embarrassed. Literally some of the biggest tools I've ever met are in my classes. I'm afraid when I want to become a curator (see next point), the person hiring me will be unimpressed by where I got my bachelor's. But maybe I'm wrong.</p>

<p>My major is Classical Civilization with an art history minor. I would like to be a museum curator after my many years of school to come.
These are supposed to be the best four years of my life and they're starting out to be basically awful. As a first-year student I'm required to take two semesters of philosophy, one semester of theology, and one semester of English. This would be cool but I went through 15 years of theology going to the same private school my whole life, I did extremely well on AP English exams, and I couldn't give two craps about the philosophy I'm learning. I don't agree with the emphasis on the liberal arts, either. I think I should be focusing more on my major since I know what I want but whatever, I think this is the same everywhere.</p>

<p>There are other things I could add but I'm forgetting right now so...
My question is where the heck can I transfer to and how do I go about doing that. Not only do I feel alone in general but I feel so alone in this process also. I've been searching for the answer to my question but I'm perplexed. My GPA last quarter was around a 3.00. My high school GPA was like a 3.4. I can't take this anymore. I need to get out of here. Yesterday was the first day of classes and I just feel like things aren't getting any better. I'm also open to transferring to a school abroad because I love traveling and Europe. I've been to France, Italy, Scotland, England, Wales, and (Northern) Ireland so any of those places would be fine by me, as well as schools in the US. I speak a little Italian so I think I'd be fine in Italy and I could pick up on French pretty easily from what I've seen of it.
And I like living in the DC area; I visited a friend at UMD College Park and thought it was beautiful. So I think I definitely need somewhere bigger, NOT religious so I can meet people who are different from what I've grown up with, and in a city so I'll have similar opportunities and experiences that I have living here in DC.</p>

<p>Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for my education and I actually feel so bad about this. I so desperately want to like the school. I got my tuition cut in half in scholarships so it upsets me. My family isn't wealthy and my mom doesn't like this at all because of my scholarships. I feel really bad.</p>

<p>Thank you so much to anyone who can help me. I really can't emphasize this enough.</p>

2

<p>If you have questions about UMD, I am a current student and would be willing to help.</p>

<p>OK so pretty much your reasons for transferring are entirely social. But you see college is pretty much the same everywhere. There will be tools you cannot stand, catty girls who are fake, pretentious hipster-types, anti-social kids and overly-competitive kids who make you feel inferior. It does not matter where you go, you probably won’t like nor associate with most of the kids at said school.</p>

<p>You have to find your niche, try joining organizations, club sports, community involvement etc. that will place you in an atmosphere of like minded individuals, that will make it easier to make genuine friends.</p>

<p>However if you still may want to transfer, you’re GPA is quite low, so you need to bring that up, or else you will limit the number of schools you can be competitive at.</p>

<p>Since I am seeking transfer from UMD, if you want to PM to get more of a sense of the schools in environment I am open to that. hope this helps</p>

3

<p>Thanks. I have a few friends who go to UMD and they seem to enjoy it. Why are you transferring?
And I know the issues seem mostly social. I wanted to join clubs from the beginning and I went to a few club meetings but the people just didn’t click with me. The problem is that most of CUA’s clubs are religious and I don’t want to participate in that kind of stuff. I’m running track later this semester so maybe that will bring me a little bit of happiness.</p>

4

<p>I’m personally transferring for simply academic reasons. Social life here is fine in my opinion but I need a concentration in political theory and smaller classes for economics (my majors). </p>

<p>why don’t you start clubs you are interested in? That’s on opportunity for leadership experience and you can make more friends.</p>

<p>As for Maryland, you have to be aware of the party scene because Idk how you feel about it. While some people really enjoy it, including I, some people arent fit for it. So when making your decision, be cognizant of that fact.</p>

5

<p>Can you stroll across the street to Trinity? Yes it is small, yes it is all girls, yes it is Catholic, but it is a universe away from CU. The focus is on being part of DC rather than just in DC.</p>

6

<p>Well I’m not sure if you would be willing to come to the midwest, but one of my best friends goes to Ripon and she is majoring in classical studies to be a museum curator too. I haven’t visited her yet but from what I hear it’s not overly religious or political at all. Her group of friends definitely strays more towards the democratic side though…Unfortunately it’s in a really small town of like 8,000 people. But maybe check it out, my friend considered schools all over the country and decided Ripon would be the best for what she wants to do.</p>

7

<p>I forgot to thank all of you for the help.</p>