Hi everyone! So I’m planning to transfer out of my current college (large, public university) because although it’s an excellent school it’s not at all the best fit for me. I am making a list of schools that I’m planning to apply to. UChicago is one of the schools, but recently I read articles about how poorly transfer students are treated. So for all you UChicago transfers, how was your experience?
TL;DR: Thinking of applying to transfer at UChicago and want to know what the transfer experience is like.
Are you a first year student, or a second year student?
If the former . . . give your new university a chance! Most “large public universities” have first-rate academic offerings if you figure out where to look for them, and part of that “large” is a diverse group of students that no doubt includes many of the same sort of people you would hang with at the University of Chicago. You may not need to transfer at all.
If the latter (if either, really) . . . pay attention to how the Chicago core curriculum will affect you. You can’t place out of most of it, you can’t get credit against a big part of it for courses taken anywhere else, and it doesn’t count towards any major requirements. In effect, if you transfer in to the University of Chicago as a third-year student you are almost guaranteed to need 2-3 extra quarters to graduate. Even people who transfer in as second-years have to do some serious planning to graduate on time without taking (and paying for) extra quarters,
That said, there was a period when Chicago was housing all transfer students together in one unpopular off-campus dorm. That wasn’t optimal, and people complained about it, but I think that period is over. My son’s last girlfriend at Chicago was a transfer (after one year elsewhere), and she had few complaints other than the dorm and being very limited in the electives she could take if she wanted to graduate on time. It doubtless helped that she is a very outgoing person and that she immediately got involved with the University Theater, which at the time was (and likely still is) the largest, most active student organization there,
Hi! Thanks for your insight! I guess I wasn’t super clear in my original post about some things - I am a first year student, and while my current school has a great student body (I enjoy the company of many of my peers), it’s far larger than I’d like and missing some of the key things I’m looking for in both its program for my major and many of my extracurricular interests.