<p>Hello! I am a freshmen at Columbia University this year, and a very conflicted one at that. I applied ED to CU in hopes of studying creative writing and lo and behold, I was accepted. However, I’ve come to find that I don’t really want to pay so much for a creative writing degree. I am taking a class on gender and health this semester and have come to absolutely love public health, a concept which combines my current love of nutrition and so on. </p>
<p>BU has a really good program for that. MS/MPH in 5 years. I have a lot of credits according to BU (AP/IB) and I would take care of pre-med requirements much more easily. It seems like a really awesome program.</p>
<p>Is it even worth applying? Is this a bad transfer for me? Also, if I did, when would be the best time? Right now for spring or should I have a whole year here? I love the atmosphere at Columbia but I don’t want to study anything here. I really want to do nutritional sciences and public health. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that when I applied ED to CU.</p>
<p>I agree that it makes no sense for you to stay at a school in which you aren’t happy with what your studying, college after all is about learning first and foremost. I can’t answer too many questions about the exact transfer process since I don’t know much about it. I would advise that you contact whoever is in charge of the program and explain your situation. The people are often very nice and helpful. Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>I’m in Sargent (the college for health sciences at BU) and the nutrition/public health program here is amazing. Two of my good friends are in it, and love it! While BU is a big school, Sargent is small and provides a more close-knit community and some really interesting classes. Not only that but there are also great internship and clinical opportunites if you are into stuff like that. So anyway, if you are looking to transfer, I really think you should. It seems as if you are just going to Columbia because you have to, but if you come to BU you can pursue your passion and what you are interested in. I definitely think it’s worth it. Although Columbia is a better school overall and is an Ivy, you don’t want to be there studying something you aren’t interested in. Sargent as an awesome program like I already said, and it seems as if you will fit in better academically. Plus, Boston is still an amazing city like NYC so no worries about that!</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t know the best time. If you want to get started now and don’t want to wait another year, then definitely apply for the spring semester. It may just be easier to wait a whole year though too, so I really don’t know about that.</p>
<p>Maybe give it a little more time - leaving Columbia is a very big deal and you could be throwing away a perfectly good opportunity that you worked 4 years to obtain. BU is a great school - but its not Columbia, you will find many many different advantages there that you will NOT find here. </p>
<p>See if you can find another program at Columbia - or even transfer to a lesser ranked Ivy (Cornell maybe?)</p>
<p>It’s all about being happy. If you truly are not happy at Columbia then you should look somewhere else. I attended Fordham University last year and did not enjoy it. I transferred to BU and I’m loving every minute of it. However I would suggest waiting the whole year. School just started and I think the second semester could really affirm your decision to transfer or it could make you think twice. The transfer process is quite painless though and I cannot attest to the process in Sargent in terms of transferring classes and what not however the School of Management accepted all my credits and I’m right on target to graduate on time without any extra classes or anything like that.</p>