Problematic Indecision......!

College Search & Selection
1

I’m really not sure what to do.
As it is, I have been admitted to a four year LAC. I don’t want to go there, but my parents are very fond of the idea.
I could end up transferring from this school. The downside of this is that I would have to attend it for a while. I would want to transfer as soon as possible and I’m not sure this is a good idea, or plausible. It seems like sometimes colleges don’t like freshman transfer students…

I earned an AA during high school, so another possibility is that I could transfer to my state university and graduate two years early. I have looked into this and it is possible with a number of degrees. I am not really sure what I want to major in, although I have some ideas. My parents don’t want me to do this because the school is very large and they think I’m incapable of doing well in this type of huge university environment. This might have some truth, but I could do it.

I could also take a gap year. My parents have said that if I get a job, they don’t mind if I take a year off. In this case, I think I would just apply as a freshman to different universities. I can also remain deferred at the LAC as a backup… They don’t care if you apply to other colleges while deferred there. I would prefer not to do this, though, as it means delaying for a whole year… And remaining at home is just kind of sad.

Trying to decide between these three choices, does anyone have any advice or relevant experience?
My main problem is that none of the options I can think of are immediately appealing. During high school, I didn’t look into schools very carefully and now I am receiving my retribution haha
Thanks. I hope this is how you ask questions on here…? Willing to provide more information if you want. Thanks :slight_smile:

2

I would encourage the gap year. That will allow you to reconsider all of your options, think a bit more deeply about your long-range goals, get some work experience, and apply to a new set of colleges/universities if you want to. It will also give your parents a chance to see you mature a bit and they might change their ideas about your ability to cope with the big state U if you decide that that is where you’d really like to be.

3

How many of your AA credits were transferable to the LAC? If I were in your position, I would have transfer to the State University which would take all my AA credits and finish my 4-year degree in two years. Is it totally out of the question to transfer to this State U for fall 2015, instead of taking a Gap year? The fact that you complete your AA during high school shows a certain level of maturity and I do not see how you would not succeed at this bigger University. Why throw away 60 (?) credits?

4

My son was in a similar position last year. He took a gap year and got a job. By fall he had a much clearer idea about what he wanted (type of school, major, etc). He applied to a new list of schools that fall and will be attending his first choice (a state school) this fall. If you take a gap year, just remember that you can’t take credit college classes during that year or you lose freshmen status/ability to get grants.

5

Thank you very much for your responses! I think that about half of the credits were transferable to the LAC… I have 90 credits in total for the AA. I could transfer to the state university during Winter quarter, so it wouldn’t be a whole year off, just a quarter. I am leaning towards this decision, really.
Thanks again for reading and responding.