<p>My DD is a freshman this year and has mostly decided that she wants to transfer somewhere closer to home. She is very unhappy with the drinking and the parties where she is currently attending. She understands that drinking is everywhere but at least if she is closer to home, she can come home on weekends, etc. She is homesick and just not happy being so far away. Very disheartening because this was her dream school and it breaks my heart that she is so unhappy.</p>
<p>We do not know anything about the transfer process. Does she need to start from scratch with the common app if she already was accepted by the schools she is wishing to transfer to last year? Obviously the scholarships will be null and void, right? There are two school near home that she was accepted to but chose not to attend..will she need to do the essays, etc all over again? She is trying to decide if she wants a hometown school or a school about an hour or so away.</p>
<p>Please guide us in what the process is..I have researched but have not came up with any definitive answers.</p>
<p>Each school will have different requirements for transfer students. She’ll have to look at their web-site or call them. All will require some application. Some might still have her app from last year so she might not have to send SATs, etc. Most will look at HS transcript and require recommendations. Few schools offer scholarships to transfer students.</p>
I understand how she could be unhappy at a school where the environment favors those heavily into drinking and parties. However you should have a serious discussion with her whether she really wants to spend her college years essentially treating college as a day school and coming home on weekends. Part of the joy (and growth) in the college years is making new friends, exploring the area, taking part in all the activities from clubs to sports to what-have-you that colleges offer. In other words the college experience.</p>
<p>Sometimes kids that want to hang out back home on weekends just aren’t ready for the demands of college in terms of interpersonal skills, shyness, etc. I hope that isn’t the case here.</p>
<p>mikemac - If the OPs daughter is shy or lacks some interpersonal skills, then being home is the best place for her. Everyone develops at different rates. There is no switch that goes off at around age 18 that allows kids to go off and be independent (and the fact there is so much drinking on campuses is proof of that BTW) People do not become less shy or develop interpersonal skills by being tossed into uncomfortable social situations. If that were the case, everyone coming out of public school would have wonderful social skills. </p>
<p>Once she gets settled in her local school, she may indeed decide she wants to stay on campus during the weekends, but that will be her choice. </p>
<p>If someone would rather be home than at school, for whatever reason, they owe no explanation beyond it is their preference. There are much worse things that a 19 year old could be doing with his/her life. </p>
<p>To the OP, I am sure it is very hard to see your D unhappy, but so many kids make the wrong choice, fix it, and move on. Good luck to her and you!</p>
<p>There is a very useful thread titled “Transfer Admissions 101” at the top of the Transfer Forum. You can find that forum by clicking on “Discussion Home” in the upper-left of this screen and then scrolling down.</p>
<p>I would suggest that your daughter pick up the phone and call the admissions offices of the places where she was accepted last year that she still has an interest in. She can ask them what she needs to do in order to apply for transfer. If she is lucky, they may simply re-activate her acceptance.</p>
<p>Happykid is at our local community college, and to be honest, not only is it affordable but it also is tons of fun to have her at home a while longer! Two of her good friends transfered there this winter after unhappy semesters at what they thought were their “dream” schools. Both are delighted to be home. I hope that your daughter is as delighted with her new college as these kids are!</p>
<p>Since she is interested in college near home, there should be relatively few you have to research. You should first go to each college website, go to Admissions and then Transfer Students. The first thing to determine is if your D fits the schools definition of a transfer, this varies between schools. If she is a transfer, she should look at whether they use the CA or their own application. The main CA essay is different for transfers, it is about why they want to transfer; and supplemental essays are often different too. Some schools may keep her past scores, transcript, etc., others dispose of them. If she is interested in changing schools for next fall, she should be actively researching now, because transfer application deadlines will be coming up in the next couple of months for many schools. She should start thinking about 2 profs/TAs to ask for LORs, most likely from her first semester.</p>
<p>Good luck to her, my D1 also had a fr experience that was different from what she expected, so I understand you concern. Transferring can be a difficult process, but sometimes it works out for the best.</p>
<p>You might go back and check any communication those schools that offered your D a scholarship said when she declined. At 3 or 4 that my D was offered nice scholarships from, said they would keep her file open for one year, with merit intact. Fortunately she stayed at the same uni all four years.</p>
<p>As others have said (I think), there are some schools for which a phone call might gain her an acceptance.</p>
<p>There are, then, some schools who will re-activate her application.</p>
<p>Others will have her start from scratch. In this case, imo, she should NOT re-use essays. There will, of course, be the “why transfer” essay - which she won’t have done previously. But even for other essay prompts, she should respond anew - she should have grown a lot since those freshman apps and the new essays should show it.</p>
<p>Re whether scholarship $$ are gone up in smoke? In our experience, DS did NOT receive merit $$ from a school which had previously offered it. He did receive merit $$ from a school where he had never applied, but it was not a top choice and he didn’t go there. Merit $$ for transfers… precious little is available.</p>
<p>DS was accepted to the couple or three schools where he had also been a freshman admit - some people worry that it will be held against them that they didn’t matriculate the first time. We didn’t find that.</p>
<p>It can be an onerous process, but if she is wanting to be close to home, maybe - as another poster said - she won’t really have that many apps to do.</p>
<p>If she is willing, you might advise her to not totally “give up” on the current school. Has she joined the type of organizations which are likely to attract students less dependent on the drinking/partying culture? I would want to see her do this along with the transfer app process.</p>
<p>You’ll learn from the Transfer Admissions 101 thread that many apps have March deadlines. A very few have earlier ones (she may have even missed some - but that is rare at this date) and some have later deadlines.</p>