Running out of time to make a decision, still unsure what to do.

I’m currently at a small liberal arts college, and am thinking about transferring to a large public university which admittedly does not have the same level of academic reputation.

I haven’t been able to find any extracurriculars that I really love here as they are essentially strictly the kinds of things you might expect your “average liberal arts college student” to enjoy, and that’s not really who I am. I feel like I’d really benefit with the wider range of opportunities at a larger university, but can’t deny I’m a bit scared of leaving the small environment.

Ultimately I’ve just never really felt at home here. The summer leading up to this year, my freshmen year, I really just didn’t think about what going way to school would mean because it made me really uncomfortable. Despite my school’s strong reputation, I really hate telling people where I go to school and often avoid the question.

I’m willing to admit that a fair bit of this is probably on me for not doing everything I can to get the most out of this experience, but at this point I’m not sure I’ll be able to get things right in this environment.

Either way, May 1st is coming up quickly, and I find myself sort of paralyzed. I’m scared that I’m going to regret leaving the academics here behind, and that I won’t be able to successfully start over at the new school.

I know a lot of people who transferred from smaller schools to bigger ones, some for financial reasons but most because they really needed a bigger world, more choices of majors or internships, their friends from high school . The big schools weren’t perfect and they did lose some of the good things about a small LAC, but they gained more for themselves.

I don’t think you’ll lose the academic opportunities, but you might have to search a little harder for them. Ask for help when choosing classes or professors. Go to office hours to meet your professors. Look for a job in your department of working for a professor.