Options for Transferring

Transfer Students
1

Hi all, this is just a voicing of my personal situation in order to gauge some solutions to the feelings I’m having as a Freshman Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Maryland, College Park. First off, I know that it’s a great school, the engineering program is supposedly top notch and I am in it along with UMD’s Honors College. After a semester, it has dawned on me that I just feel uncomfortable at the school and that it just doesn’t sit right with me. To me it’s just been a combination of a lot of small things that have added up to me hating the school but being very much in love with being AT COLLEGE.

As such, here’s my situation:

  • 3.2-3.3 First Semester GPA, the introductory weeder classes at UMD for the engineering program really hit me hard even though I ended high school with a 3.8 GPA. I had enough transferrable credits to make me a second-semester sophomore at UMD. Rigor and academic aptitude aren’t why I want to leave.
  • I took up ROTC at UMD and would very much like to pursue it at other schools/use it as a door to get into other schools.
  • I know that I want the small school feel, but without losing resources and prestige. If I can’t get into a school that is as good as or better than UMD’s Engineering school than I would rather just stay and forfeit a little bit of happiness for my degree.
  • Distance and stretching my wings has definitely become a goal for me, I want my parents to be far away so that I can lead an independent life. So pretty much anywhere in the country I’ll go to school there.
  • I’m a low-income student, for Fall 2016, my family will have 2 kids in college and FAFSA expects my family to contribute around 3000 dollars for each student. So I’m looking for an institution with good financial aid.

What I’m asking:

  • If you all could suggest some schools that would help me feel more at home, less like a number and I guess the word would be “special”.
  • I’m already considering USC and Cornell for their great academics, yet I’m not sure if my credentials can get me in.
  • As a high school senior I was rejected from 8 schools due to me applying for too many reaches and UMD was my only option.
2

The biggest challenge will be to find a school that will provide the kind of financial aid you need for a transfer student. This is going to be a challenge. Given that you are a second semester Sophomore already, it is possible that you won’t have more than 2 years more before your degree. So while you should look at some private schools with good engineering programs, you might also figure out how to make it work there at UMD so you aren’t too unhappy.

There are some smaller private engineering programs which will offer you some merit aid but I am not sure it will be enough.