<p>I'm going into my second year of college and I'm seriously thinking about transferring. Right now I have a chance to meet with admissions counselors from another school and get admitted right away for the fall semester.</p>
<p>The school I go to is 10 minutes away from my house and I'm a commuter. I haven't made any friends here, due to my own shyness but also due to the lack of community. The ethnic groups are cliques and there are NO active clubs I am interested in. My department is small and lacking in quality and research because the school is a hard science school and I'm a social science major. All of the honor societies, clubs and internship are based around hard sciences. I feel like an outcast because of my major and I am miserable. Since the school is so close, I feel like I'm still in high school. This school is a tier one public school ranked highly, and the tuition is $7,000 a year.</p>
<p>The school I am considering is 40 minutes away and I would still commute. The main reason I'm considering the transfer is because of the Honors College. I was told I would be admitted based on my GPA. The honors college seems amazing - tightly knit group of students who take honors class together each semester. The real advantage is the option to make any regular course into an honors course, by adding additional work, including a one-on-one session with the professor. The one-on-one time seems amazing, especially for me because I am shy and would otherwise not get to know a professor. The Honors Colleges also has trips and study abroad programs led by the same professors - this interaction with professors seems invaluable to me. There are lots of clubs and honor societies that are relevant to my major. I feel like I would fit in a lot better there. This school is a tier 3 private school and the tuition is $30,000 a year (but I would get up to a $10,000 scholarship from the Honors College).</p>
<p>My question is: should I apply to the second college for the Spring semester and wait it out/see how I feel? Or should I just go for it, apply for the Fall semester and be admitted on August 3rd and start school on August 30th? I'm not sure how I feel - I do not want to rush into this. But the opportunities seem so much better there, and I really do not want to go back to my school in the fall.</p>
<p>If you’re going to be making up the 10k/year difference (after scholly) in loans as a social science major I’d say there’s absolutely no way you should transfer.</p>
<p>Can you transfer to a school where you can live on campus, and if so, could you afford such a transfer? It’s much easier meeting other students when you live on campus.</p>
<p>Money is not an issue in this, neither is “prestige” or rank. My department is better at the school I want to transfer to - there are lectures and events outside of class and the department is bigger and more established. The point is, I’m miserable here and think I would do a lot better in the Honors College, taking small classes and getting one-on-one time with professors. Even the 300-level classes here have 50 people. </p>
<p>I want to go on to grad school, I need the opportunity to get to know professors, do research and get great letters of recommendation. Wouldn’t graduating from an honors program look better?</p>
<p>GPA and GRE scores are what’s typically important for grad schools.</p>
<p>If money isn’t an issue, however, I suggest that you transfer to a place where you can live on campus and where the majority of the students live on campus.</p>
<p>It can be very hard for commuters to make friends in college. This particularly is true of shy commuters.</p>
<p>It’s possible to get to know professors even at colleges where there are large classes. Office hours are a way to do this. Speaking up in class is another.</p>
<p>What colleges are you talking about? No reason to hide them here. People will give better advice if they know what colleges you’re attending and considering attending.</p>
<p>I can’t live on campus. Either way I’m going to have to transfer eventually - Stony Brook has about 5 non-intro classes available in my major this year because of budget cuts. There are no adjunct professors teaching this semester, so the classes are taught by the 6-7 active teaching faculty members. I can’t stay at this school and watch my major disappear.</p>
<p>Why can’t you transfer some place where you can live on campus</p>
<p>If Stony Brook is cutting your major, it makes sense to leave. However, transferring – even to an honors college – won’t cause you to magically get friends and know professors. You’ll still have to be assertive.</p>
<p>Whatever you decide to do, I suggest that you use the counseling center to get help overcoming your shyness. Shyness is something that is fairly easy to change with counseling or even by following advice in self help books. BTDT.</p>
<p>Also check out the shyness.com website, which was started by one of the world’s experts on shyness.</p>
<p>well if Stony Brook is going to cut your major, I would transfer but like Northstarmom said, the problem of making not being able to make friends is going to follow you and you have to deal with that.</p>
You can do this at any college (minus honors credits of course). That’s what office hours and independent study courses are for. I am shy too and I understand that arranging a supervised independent study course is scary - but trust me, arranging one-on-one sessions for additional work is just as scary. It’s the very same process you have to go through: you need to approach the professor with at least a vague idea of the additional work you would like to do, and ask if they would be willing to supervise the endeavor.</p>
<p>
This is a good reason to transfer. However, make sure that your new college is a better fit in that regard. If there’s a big difference in selectivity, there’s the possibility that the honors courses at the new school will be easier than the regular courses at your current school and the honors students less committed than the regular majors in your current department.</p>
<p>I experienced this first hand. I am a student at Bryn Mawr and I take courses at neighboring Haverford. Both of them are considered tier 1 liberal arts colleges, but Haverford is significantly more selective than Bryn Mawr. Bryn Mawr has three times as many students in my major and a four-year BA/MA program for their most talented students. However, Haverford’s undergraduate courses are more challenging than the graduate courses for the MA at Bryn Mawr. I enjoy spending time at Haverford because even though they have fewer students in my major, those few students are far more committed than any of the majors at Bryn Mawr.</p>