Searching for a school to transfer to

Transfer Students
1

My background:

19-year old female studying Chemical Engineering, looking for the right school to transfer to. Applied to colleges without really knowing what I was looking for and based my selections off U.S. News rankings… looking back, I had the wrong idea.

Accepted into UPenn, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, Northeastern, chose Northeastern because of complicated personal reasons. Did decently well my first year, ended up with like a 3.7 GPA. Problems arose when I returned this fall for my second year and experienced multiple panic attacks and other depression-related issues (diagnosed with both anxiety and depression) and withdrew on medical leave for the semester.

My issues with Northeastern:

Students were overly stressed about getting co-ops, which created a cutthroat atmosphere. I was once mocked for having hobbies and interests that couldn’t be used as a resume booster.

Boston induced claustrophobia; I missed seeing trees, animals, and happy people. Everyone I saw on the street was either caught up in a phone call or running to class, i.e. no lounging on the quad like the college campuses in my imagination.

Students were commonly from wealthy, extremely privileged backgrounds, and were even out of touch with the reality of working-class America. Asked a student for tips on organic chemistry 2, the response was “Just hire a private tutor!”

What I am looking for:

A college where students are ‘real people’, who do fun things in their free time to enjoy themselves, not pretentious or overly concerned with resume building.

Students and professors dedicated to learning, passionate about their studies. I still want a good engineering program, but not one that will kill me.

Campus and location that is generally enjoyable to live in, but I am open to any region of the U.S. as long as it’s not Boston (lol).

A student body that is unique, but a strong sense of togetherness and belonging. I am a member of the LGBT community, so please don’t suggest schools that are too conservative.

Any suggestions are welcome, but additional information and justification would be appreciated!

2

Do you have any financial restrictions?

Are you still interested in any of the places from your initial list? Were yu accepted to any of them? If so, contact those admissions offices and ask what steps you need to follow in order to be considered for transfer admission.

Do you have an affordable home-state public U that offers your major? That might be your best choice. Often those have so many students that it is easy to find people who share hobbies and out-of-classroom interests.

3

It sounds like you want a small rural or small town liberal arts college. Few if any offer engineering.

Resume building is important in engineering and coops and internships are valuable and competitive. How committed are you to a career in engineering?

You may want to look at Clarkson University in upstate New York.

4

Second Clarkson. Where do you live? State U might make sense. All of the New England state universities are in nice locations and would have a diverse student body.

5

“A college where students are ‘real people’”

Your in-state public universities might be worth looking at.

One thing about public universities, they accept a wide range of students whose main things in common are: (i) They were above-average high school students; (ii) They come from that state, and (iii) They are looking for an affordable education. Other than these three things, there is a huge range of students at good public universities, and whoever you are there will be other students who are like you.

Most prestigious and highly-ranked universities will have quite a few students who are from a wealthy background, and who are stressed about getting high grades and internships. When I was a student at MIT most of the students were from working class and middle class backgrounds, but the school largely made up for this by being even more stressful than most universities. Free time was in very short supply.

“Students and professors dedicated to learning,”

You will find a significant number of these at any “top 200” university in the US, or equivalent outside the US.

6

CU Boulder might be a good fit. The college of engineering is well regarded and was recently ranked #15 by USNWR for chemical engineering. CU Boulder students work hard but also know how to have fun. The student body is liberal and Boulder itself is a vibrant small city with plenty of trees, animals, and happy people. However, tuition is quite steep at nearly 60k/yr for oos students.

7

WPI immediately came to mind… Unfortunately it’s in a Boston suburb. :confused:
What about your state flagship?
See if UVermont, VTech, Miami Ohio, and OhioU would be affordable.

8

The “Boston suburb” is actually the second largest city in New England and is 50 miles from Boston. The WPI campus is in a suburban setting within the city limits and does have a real quad as well as adjacent “institute” park.

Check out this website regarding transfer FA. It does meet a lot of your criteria. See https://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/how-to/application-deadlines/transfer-students/transfer-student-faqs