<p>I'm planning to send in some transfer applications this march, but I am not totally positive that I will be transferring in the end. However, at my current school, I am supposed to be considering my housing plans for next year. I'm not totally sure that I am going to be here next year, but a few people have been asking me to room with them and such. I feel like I cant turn anybody down, because then I might really lose out if I end up staying here, but I also can't promise them anything (also... I don't want to be telling anyone that I might transfer... I wouldn't tell anyone until I got in and was really positive). </p>
<p>I could try to get a single, but you have to be really lucky. I'm not sure what to do. Help!</p>
<p>omg i am in the SAME situation! It's getting really awkward because my friends asked me to live with them but I don't want to make any promises. however, if i end up staying I won't be able to live with them which will suck :(</p>
<p>In the end, I decided to go abroad next year if I end up staying. NYU (my current school) allows sophomores to study abroad so I'm going to jump on that opportunity. I would definitely advise you do to the same! It's a great option since almost no one goes into study abroad with friends. Explore that at your school--it would be totally worth it!</p>
<p>Wow, I'm in the same dilemma too, lol. Chances are I won't transfer though seeing how my grades first semester were ok, but not really "good" enough to get to anywhere I'd consider. But who knows. But I wish I could consider the study abroad option, but I can't do that through USC's (current school) business school until I've completed certain classes, which I won't have done until sophomore year.</p>
<p>BTW, NYU is actually where I really wanted to go, but I was rejected unfortunately :(</p>
<p>I would love to read a response here from someone who actually has transferred sharing their experience of how they handled this issue and how their handling of it worked out for them. I think the issue the three of you have raised is a key concern for any student who has friends at their current college but for whatever variety of reasons may ultimately decide to transfer. My daughter is considering applying to transfer just so she'll have options if she is not happier by the end of the spring semester. Loves her program at her school and its location, has good friends...but its not a total fit for her. Housing lottery is coming up, she and a friend have talked about rooming together...she would hate to set her friend up for a difficult rooming situation if she ultimately does decide to go to another school. Yet no one should choose to stay somewhere when they feel they would be happier elsewhere just because they feel committed to a rooming arrangement. What to do that won't hurt feelings but will still protect the privacy of the student to make their own decision, as well as their friendships during the spring?</p>
<p>My D transferred this fall, so last year she was faced with the same housing problem. There was a friend that wanted to room with her for the next year. The first thing my D did was to call the housing dept. and ask what would happen to her roommate if she didn't attend school the following year. With that information, she told her friend that she was applying to transfer and so didn't know whether she'd be there the next year and explained what would happen if she did pull out. She told the friend that it was completely up to her if she wanted to take a chance with choosing her as a roommate or going with someone else. Her friend decided to keep my D as her roommate choice, but if she hadn't my D would have tried for a single.</p>
<p>Thank you, entomom! This is helpful information. I hope your daughter loves her new school! Do you know whether, once your daughter's friends at her previous school found out she was considering transferring, they distanced themselves, even just a bit, from becoming closer friends with her throughout the spring? Has your daughter remained in touch with her friends at her first school this year? As difficult as it might be to tell friends, I would think ultimately they would appreciate knowing in advance (maybe not right away) and would feel that the transfer student had been a better friend by being open and honest.</p>
<p>I have to tell you, her friends have been great! Initially she only told a couple of very close friends that she was applying to transfer. That was because she honestly didn't know what was going to happen: whether she'd be accepted anywhere and if so, whether she'd decide to stay or go. It was Christmas when she decided to apply for transfers, and she was unhappy with parts of her experience but she wanted to give it the full year before making a final decision. In the end, she decided to transfer for academic reasons, her friends were really the biggest reason to stay as she'd gotten involved in clubs and had a close social group from her dorm. In the spring when she told her friends about transferring, I don't remember her saying that any of her friends were upset or drawing back, if anything, she was the most upset about leaving them and having to make friends all over again at her new school.</p>
<p>Since she transferred, she's gone back to her old school three times to visit her friends and even spent Thanksgiving with her old roommate and her relatives. Her roommate also visited us when she was near our home last summer. I know it's not the same as if she was still there, and it will be difficult if not impossible to stay close to all of her old friends, but she's working at it and knows that it will take a lot of energy on her part to keep the old ties alive.</p>
<p>She's doing well at her new school, and it sounds like she's starting to make new friends, many are themselves transfers and so have that experience in common. I would never say that transferring is the optimal way to go, there are many difficulties and unknowns along the way. But sometimes it's the right path to take, picking a college is a difficult task and not everyone is going to be satisfied with their first selection.</p>