<p>Okay, so here's the deal. I'm currently a freshman occupational therapy major at Ithaca College, and after a good deal of soul searching and a lot of angst, I realized that my life is on the completely wrong path. In fact, I realized shortly thereafter that I really want to be doing engineering. </p>
<p>I've been looking into transferring to various institutions, but it seems that all of the schools I'm looking at have some sort of minimum requirements to transfer into engineering, and having majored in OT, I have none of these requirements fulfilled. That is, these requirements are for entering into the program as a sophomore or junior standing.</p>
<p>I'm doubly confused because I have missed the deadlines for fall transfer (unfortunately I had this epiphany two months too late), meaning that I am stuck somewhere that I don't want to be for at least a semester. Additionally, now I am really upset because I don't understand how this transfer thing is going to work. Will they accept transfers into a school as a freshman status? Because it appears that all of my current credits and my 5k in loans have been a complete and utter waste of time, and have additionally really screwed up my chances of admission into an engineering program. </p>
<p>I'm really, really confused as to what to do now. I'm concerned about taking a gap year or semester because if I am no longer a full-time student, I will lose my health insurance, and my parents really don't have the means to pay for any sort of care out of pocket. I'm also not sure whether it is possible at all for me to enter an engineering program at this point either. I mean, I'm sure it is possible but I have no idea how to do it and nobody to help me figure it out. </p>
<p>I would simply continue and switch to engineering at my current school, but the closest thing they offer is a 3-2 program for dual degrees in science and engineering, which really isn't what I want to do, especially since my school is not good for engineering at all and at its current price, I would not be getting my money's worth. I've looked into the prerequisites for sophomore transfer to other schools and it just isn't possible for me to fill them here.</p>
<p>I'm also really concerned because I thought I knew what I was going to be doing, and I took high school courses and did things according to what I thought that it would be. Inadvertantly, my planning ahead caused me to show no apparent interest in anything engineering related, and I feel like this will sabotage my chances at most institutions, if I can even transfer in anyway. I have a really good GPA and I did very well in high school, including in math and science. What can I do to salvage this situation, and get my life on the track that I want it to be.</p>
<p>I'm sorry for any inconsistencies and lack of organization. I'm extremely distraught at the moment and I really, really need your help.</p>