<p>Have any of your kids transferred when they actually seemed to be doing fine freshman year? My daughter seems to be having a good experience at her school. She says she is frustrated because the school won't let her take an extra (fifth) class. Other than that, things seem to be going well. She says she will apply to transfer if her school doesn't let her get credit for a fifth class next semester. Part of me thinks she will most likely <em>get over it</em> and not to worry. But, the other part of me wonders if any of you have experienced any thing like this? Have any of you any words of wisdom to consider when thinking about this? So far I haven't offered any <em>advice</em>, just listened.</p>
<p>edit: she just walked in the room (home on break) and asked what I was doing. My reply, "just typing something about you on CC for those folks to consider . . ."</p>
<p>If she transfers, there is no guarantee she will get credit for all of the classes from her current school, so may not gain anything in the end anyway.</p>
<p>As far as the bigger picture, this is not a big enough issue to transfer over and it was either a non-serious comment by her or she has other reasons she is not happy in addition to this one.</p>
<p>A lot of people talk about transferring, fewer fill out applications and apply, and fewer out of those actually leave. Some of the people who talk about transferring aren't actually unhappy, and others are unhappy because of factors that probably aren't related to the college (more of a general depression, if you will). This was my experience first year.</p>
<p>You may want to inquire whether the restriction on numbers of courses applies to all students or just to freshmen (or even just to first-semester freshmen). If it doesn't apply to all students, and your daughter was aware of that, then perhaps her reasons for considering transferring are more complex than they seem.</p>
<p>Amherst has such a cap (4 courses plus a half course for tutorials such as music). If you go onto the Amherstie site at CC and look into the thread on Q&A for incoming students where several current students discussed how miserbale it was to go over the cap. My own D had the same experience. She was literally overwhelmed at time. She, like others, will similarly advise students not to go over the cap.</p>
<p>Padad, I agree, I think the cap is probably there for good reason, and while things may seem manageable now, could get to be too much toward the end of the semester. Not sure why my daughter has such strong feelings about this. Perhaps as she finds other ways to fill what might seem like a little too much time on her hands right now, this issue will not seem as pressing to her. Time will tell.</p>
<p>Mstee, there is a possibility that your D truly is feeling less than adequately challenged. Not all colleges offer the same level of academic challenge. Perhaps your D needs a bit more than others around her seem to need. My college required 5 classes a semester + labs, and we generally carried 19-22 credits (23 credits at times). Those of us who didn't flunk out survived (and actually thrived). Each student has a different experience, and each school offers a different level of challenge (even programs within the same school offer varying levels of challenge). </p>
<p>It may be that the lower level classes are pretty much review for your D. I can understand why she might want more if that is the case. Classes will probably get more challenging as she moves along. However, it is possible that she is one of the top scholars at her school & she just might need "more." She may not only feel that she is still in high school academically ... she might actually feel that it is easier than high school. It doesn't sound like she feels the need to go elsewhere for the challenge she craves. She just wants a bit heavier load. </p>
<p>My D's school doesn't allow overloading, at least not for freshmen. However, her roommate is taking an overload. Maybe your D can get the rules "bent," like my D's roommate did. It is worth investigating. At worst, she can drop before the drop/add date if it turns out to be too much.</p>
<p>Fall semester of my freshman year at college (Harvard), virtually all of my friends talked at some time about transferring. I did the same. I think that such talk is a part of the adjustment process. By spring, the talk had died out.</p>
<p>My advice would be to listen to your D, and let her know that the decision about transferring is up to her (do let her know about any financial considerations), and she'd be expected to do all of the research, etc. into it. Mention to her that it will be important to make sure that wherever she decides to go will accept her credits from her current college.</p>
<p>If the the college isn't a good fit, she'll do the work to transfer. If she's just venting, she won't bother.</p>
<p>kelsmom -- I think that's how she feels. I'm hoping they'll let her add a fifth class next semester. She was so perturbed by this, she says, that she bugged some of her professors, and one of them gave her some extra work to do on a research project about some frog DNA. Which actually sounds pretty cool. So, kinda hoping she finds enough to do to want to stay at her school. She has met some nice kids, has a roommate that she has hit it off with, and has even found a church that she likes going to there. It seems that once she gives it some time, she'll find the challenge. I hope so. I think she may be in some sort of restless stage in life, searching for something.</p>
<p>Northstarmom -- yep, it's totally up to her to find another school, if she wants to transfer. I invested a lot of time and energy into helping her find this one, quite a process -- it's really up to her now.</p>
<p>It's probably just talk. We'll see how she feels next Feb.</p>
<p>My S, a jr. has to taken at least 18 hours (sometimes 19) every semester except one, not by choice but necessity. He also works a part-time job 3 days a week(25 hours). He would LOVE to have more free time. Maybe your D could take advantage of her spare time to try some new things that might interest her...clubs, intramurals, or even pick up a part-time job to fill her hours..that is unless there is something else there that's she's unhappy with.
I transferred after my soph. year and did lose some credits, ended up taking 5 years to graduate.</p>
<p>She told me yesterday that she might need to take a bigger suitcase back <em>home</em>. I said, are you talking about school? She said yes. Already calling school <em>home</em>. And she can't wait to get back to school and tell her friends about going to three operas in the five day break she was here. Doesn't really sound like someone that wants to leave. I'll be surprised if she follows through on this transfer talk.</p>