Should I stay or should I go?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am a freshman at Howard University and looking back upon my first semester, I didn't have very much fun and haven't really made any friends. I did attend events during Homecoming week and I was even on the debate team for a time, but dropped it in order to focus on my studies.</p>

<p>Throughout the semester, I have felt like Howard is just not the right place for me. I've been disappointed by many things about the school. For instance, the fact that there are always hundreds of flyers for parties strewn across the quad and walkways, yet few people knew that our Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, spoke at the law school.</p>

<p>I'm underwhelmed by the fact that I can write a six page term paper for political science the morning that it is due and still receive an A. I'm disturbed by a paper that I peer reviewed for a friend; his writing was no better than ninth grade level writing.</p>

<p>I find it distasteful that candidates for student government spend thousands of dollars to fund their campaigns, yielding few results with regard to the myriad problems that Howard faces.</p>

<p>I'm disappointed that instead of being a truly competitive debate team, our squad has had to focus much of its energies on finding money to attend tournaments.</p>

<p>On the other hand, there is one bright spot to my short time here, I have found the most amazing professors in the classics department. I came in as a political science major, but fell in love with how the classics department treats its students like family.</p>

<p>I have been vacillating all semester about whether I should transfer to another school. I managed to pull a 3.69 GPA and one of my classics professors has told me that I would be a good fit at Yale (always been my dream school). At this point, I have already begun applications for Yale, Georgetown, Columbia, and Cornell. I'm getting cold feet about jumping into this process however, because I wonder if I haven't given Howard a real chance. If I stayed, I could model myself after a past classics graduate who was a Rhodes Scholar, studied at Oxford, and is now a Yale Law student. Other times, I tell myself that if I know I could go to a better college and receive a better education, I shouldn't hold back. I am simply at a loss for how to move forward. It would be lovely if posters on CC would help talk me through this decision. I am pretty unhappy at this point.</p>

2

<p>If you get into Yale, which only accepts 24 transfer students, you should definitely go. Yale is Yale, you cannot go wrong. Your GPA is a bit on the low side but you just never know. The other schools on your list are prestigious and if that is what you’re looking for overall, then you should not stay at Howard.</p>

3

<p>I would throw your hat into the ring and apply. You’re obviously motivated and you’ve given concrete reasons why you are unhappy at your current school. You could either apply for Fall 2010 or Spring 2011, and that would give you enough time to really think about whether you want to leave or not. </p>

<p>However, if you’re truly committed to the Classics department there, I would reconsider transferring. Making close ties with faculty is wonderful, and you may lose out on that at another school. Even though you would make positive gains in other aspects of your college career. It’s always a toss up. </p>

<p>I would put in the applications. You can always decline the offers of admission if you suddenly decide not to leave.</p>

<p>I wish you all the best.</p>

4

<p>@Fightingillini: I simply want to go to a school where my classmates are as excited about what they are learning as I am - people who question assumptions and ask simple questions that get to the heart of the concept in front of them. What I really want is a school that will help me foster a strong intellectual life and I think resources like the Brown-Yale Classics exchange and the St. Andrews-Yale program are things that will allow me to really dig deep into my studies and to be the best student I can possibly be. Ha sorry if it sounds like I’m talking to the Yale admissions committee.</p>

<p>@Missamericanpie: I would describe my time at Howard as being in an unhappy marriage. I can still see why I married my wife (Howard), but there are things she has done that have really made me unhappy. Plus, I have found someone who really draws out my passions (Yale) and I want to be with her. I’ve already filled out a great deal of the Yale applicaton, so it looks like I will follow your advice. I have awesome professors, but sometimes it’s worth throwing up the cards in the deck in order to be happy. The fact that I’m even considering applying is a little crazy, but I’m going to give it all I’ve got. Thanks for the support.</p>

5

<p>A 3.69 doesn’t sound like the school is not challenging you. That’s just my intuition. And I’m sure if you conveyed the sentiment that your school just isn’t challenging to an admissions committee, they’d look at your application with a similar degree of skepticism.</p>

6

<p>@flowerhead: I made a B in Arabic which is a 4-point course. It was pretty challenging. I’ll put out the applications, but I’m going to work my tail off this second semester and I will try much harder than I did 1st semester to make Howard work and I’ll just see what happens. I will be honest and say that some of my desire, maybe even a large part of my desire to leave Howard is rooted in my disappointment with my performance in high school and the realization that I have significant capability, but squandered many opportunities by not using it. Anyhow, I think I’ve seen you around before, Flowerhead. Do you enjoy taking craps in people’s threads?</p>

7

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<p>Not at all. I’m simply giving a candid perspective. I wouldn’t be very useful here if I peppered applicants with false optimism. </p>

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<p>Then this explanation should represent your reason for wanting to transfer. Your application is going to tell a story. The story won’t be credible if you state that your school isn’t challenging you, yet you managed a 3.7. A 3.7 is a great GPA, but if I was reading an application (and I have read many of them) under the notion that the applicant is trying to go to a more challenging institution, I would want to see that the applicant not only did well, but completely exhausted the university’s resources and academic rigor. A 3.7 doesn’t tell me that. A 3.9+ or maybe even a 3.8+ would do that.</p>

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<p>I attended one of the schools you are applying to, and I can tell you that there were many occasions on which I earned an A/A+ for papers I wrote the night before and the morning of their due dates. Many your potential classmates will be doing the same thing. Though top universities do present an intellectual revolution over regular schools for the student who is transferring, don’t expect kids not to be kids…</p>

<p>On the more positive front, if you can pull that GPA above a 3.8, you’d have a more credible shot as a junior transfer. It really doesn’t matter that you’re trying to pull your grades up for the spring, as admissions officers won’t see those grades in time for your decision. Even if they did receive midterm grades, those grades wouldn’t be credible, since they wouldn’t represent your final grades for the spring.</p>

8

<p>@flowerhead: I have gone to my room, taken some deep breaths, and I apologize for my snarky comment. I’m just so overwhelmed by being in a school that is the wrong fit that I don’t know what I’m saying much of the time. However, I do appreciate that you are helping me go into this process with eyes wide open. This past semester, I felt really alienated and painfully alone. Not all Howard students are like this, but I’ve just met so many people on campus who come across as self-serving, dense, and in general, not the kind of people I expected to find in college. I see a lot of ambition, but little passion and little engagement.</p>

<p>Am I delusional in my desire to go to a school with a stronger intellectual life? Can you share with me your college experience as far as the people you met, life on campus (speakers, forums, etc.?).</p>

9

<p>Go if you can. Apply for a transfer, and go. If you realise at this early stage that you are in the wrong place, then don’t waste any more time.</p>

<p>If none of your transfer applications come through for you, then at least you know that you tried, and then you can make the most of Howard and a great Classics department.</p>