Hi! I’ll get right into it! I’m from Missouri and I applied to 4 big state schools because money was my #1 priority. I had a good high school record and knew I could get a full ride or close to it at a decent school. I ended up picking Mizzou (University of Missouri-
Columbia) because it gave me full tution and was close to home. I’ve been here two weeks or so and totally regret my decision. I wanted to go to a more difficult school, but I knew it would be expensive. At this point I would have rather paid a little to go to a school that I love. The bottom line is Mizzou is losing money and the quality is decreasing. There are little to no activities and the classes (despite taking higher level courses) are not challenging. I am use to take all honors and AP classes and I don’t even feel a need to show up to class. The courses feel like a remedial class from my high school, not a challenging college level course. Additionally, it seems like everyone here goes to class and then goes to frats/bars at night. It’s the same routine everyday. This is not at all how I pictured college. To be fair I enjoy drinking and party, but not every day. I thought there would be other activities. Maybe I’m just getting all my ideas from T.V., but I’m kind of miserable. Should I stick it out or try to transfer? I’m in a bad position because I found out there are giving me full room/board/tuition next year. I’m not happy, but that is hard to turn down. Thank you for reading!
It’s been two weeks. See how your first year plays out.
That being said, ATTEND YOUR CLASSES. Whether you transfer or not, it is imperative that you KEEP SHOWING UP.
Just a disclaimer: no matter what institution you go to, Greek life is almost always the hub of student life. By transferring, you won’t get away from the drinking and the partying.
I totally understand what you mean by course rigor. A lot of students feel the same way with their current institution. However, stick to your curriculum, and work your butt off. Attempt to make friends, and get along with your professors! Having a negative outlook on you college career is a self-fulfilling prophecy; if you think you’re going to have a bad time, then you definitely will.
It is still very early in the semester (classes haven’t even started yet for some schools). In my experience university classes, and especially first year classes, start off slow. Things will speed up considerably as you get into this semester and as you get further into your university experience. This might take a few months, might not happen until your second year, or might happen next week. You really do need to show up at all classes and keep ahead with your homework because at some point university WILL become challenging, and you need to be ready when it happens.
For classes where you have a very strong interest, you can go to your professor’s office hours and get additional work to do. This will result in your learning more and in the long run can be quite valuable.
When the classes start getting harder later in the semester, or perhaps next week, many of the students will stop drinking and start studying. Those who fail to do this are likely to be gone within a year (or less).
Financial pressure is common to most universities. This is part of being in the real world.
“At this point I would have rather paid a little to go to a school that I love”
The problem is that transferring to a top school is likely to leave you as full pay. This is not “a little”, but rather is more like “insanely expensive”.
Stick with it, attend all classes and pay attention, and stay ahead of your homework. I am pretty sure that things are going to get better.
Every state university has classes for those who want to party their way through, but they also have tracks for those who want to work hard and make the most of their academic opportunities. Talk to your professors and advisors and find those.
Seconded. I’m in senior engineering classes and everything’s still pretty tame so far.
According to their website (https://getinvolved.missouri.edu/find-an-org/), Mizzou has like 500-600 organizations? (I don’t go there so let me know if that’s not the right page.) Surely you’d like a couple of them.
Personally I’d be interested in the Poetry Club, the society for my major, and one of the volunteering opportunities. Go see what appeals to you.
Show up to class, go to office hours, look up professors doing research and interview with then to see if they take you on in their lab.
You must be in the Honors college - take mostly honors classes.
Doing all this, joining clubs that do productive things, and getting straight As will go a long way toward
(How many credits do you have? You coukd try and push to 17.
What classes are you taking right now?
You could even add a challenging class, like first semester in a foreign language - that will surely test you.)
There’s also a false sense of “ease” at first in college classes. First exams tend to kick freshmen butts.
Have you gone to office hours for eaxh of your classes, pointed out something you found interesting from the text, the lecture, or the discussion, and asked the professor about it, whether s/he has reading recommendations about it, explained why you found this really interesting?
Join clubs, especially clubs that do things together - Habitat for Humanity, tutoring elementary kids. You’ll make friends with positive values and by doings things together you’ll create a culture that’s centered on something else than drinking. Join a choir, if you play an instrument join a band. Go to the gym, register for intramural basketball or broomball or flag football or whatever.
See if there are films and plays scheduled on campus and drag one of your new friends. Step out of your comfort zone, pick something you wouldn’t have gone to as a HS student, even a musical or something in a foreign language.
(Most foreign language departments will have a film series, go and ask.)
What’s your EFC? How much can your parents contribute?
This will come into play if you wish to transfer.
If you feel like this in December, use your break to reach out to adcoms and see if you could transfer.
For a more intellectual atmosphere and good financial aid, look into Grinnell, Macalester, Carleton, perhaps St Olaf, and further away NESCAC colleges and top universities that meet need (< your EFC, GPA, and on campus involvement will play heavily into your odds so get going, start TODAY.)
What was your HS GPA? Scores? Achievements?
Stick it out for now, remember that everything you do there this year is proving yourself for the next school.
My son is in a school right now that he hates. But we have told hm the same thing…he hopes to attend his dream school soon, which is fine, but the dream school won’t take him if he blows off this semester/year just because he hates this place.
I will also say that I have friends who have chosen the higher cost places because they seemed better in their minds, only to later regret spending so much money when they had opportunities for cheaper places/better scholarships, etc…
Ultimately, your parents will most likely have the last say in the matter, assuming they’re the ones who’re going to pay for your education at your new school.
If you do end up applying and having options as a transfer, hopefully you’ll make the most prudent and financially sound decision.
This is a big state U. A whole bunch of those kids who aren’t going to class, aren’t studying, and are partying every night will be gone before Thanksgiving vacation. Even more of them won’t be back after Winter Break. As tehy fade away and the academic year progresses, it will be easier for you to identify serious students like yourself.
I appreciate you wanting to challenge yourself intellectually. I think that is a good reason to consider transferring.
Here’s what I would recommend in the meantime: USE your time at Mizzou to your advantage. That means, going to class, getting GREAT grades, establishing real connections with your professors. Make an effort, and you’d be surprised how faculty is appreciative/responsive to students who reach out to them.
If by the end of the year you still want to transfer, go for it.
But you may discover that, in time, you’ll “find” your intellectual tribe at Mizzou. That there’s a major benefit to a great scholarship (no debt! looks great on your resume!) That the As you will get as a hard-working freshman will be a great advantage, GPA-wise, once you hit the harder upper division classes. That, as a serious student surrounded by many less serious ones, you can make valuable connections through Mizzou’s faculty which will pave the way to a very good grad school program.
Adult life is all about how you react to difficult situations and less-than-perfect realities. Make your experience at Mizzou work FOR you, whether you’re there all 4 years, or just one-two.
Good luck.
I have taught at Mizzou (as a doctoral student), and although the current climate there is obviously, um, challenging (enrollment is down, which means revenue is down, and from what I understand from my friends who still live/teach in Columbia, everyone on campus knows it), you are in a good place, a prestigious place even (in MO).
After all, it is the state flagship, meaning that it attracts the state’s brightest students (not all students can afford or want to go out of state). As others have noted, you have two options. Hang in there; things will get better. Or you bust your tail and then try to transfer somewhere “better.” BTW, what schools do you have in mind that you would have preferred to attend? Can your family afford them? I do think that it is fine to take on low amounts of debt to attend college (most students do, after all), and if you’re okay with that, I understand, but if you’re attending Mizzou with full tuition paid (and next year, room and board as well), that’s a pretty big thing to turn down.
Finally, college adjustment takes time! There’s a reason why move-in day has so many families hugging, crying (the guys might not literally cry, but that’s because they’re holding it back), and saying goodbye. It’s a massive change, although older adults, looking back, wonder what the big deal was. Some struggle at first to fit in personally at college, while others struggle to find their place academically. Give it a year (or at least a full semester), but also try to change that mindset! Mizzou is a good school! You will find that the courses, usually, are plenty rigorous and challenging. If you feel that they are not, then the onus is on you to carefully choose classes (and, if possible, professors) that will give you this challenge. After Washington U. (and, arguably, Truman State, a school that no one outside of CC seems to know about), Mizzou is where you want to be in the Show Me state.
Not true about fraternities and sororities being the center of student life, since participation is minimal or none at many colleges. However, drinking and partying certainly does occur outside of fraternities and sororities (some private schools that ban student participation in fraternities and sororities still have a hard partying reputation).
Missouri has 31% of women in sororities and 24% of men in fraternities, which is relatively high, but nowhere close to a majority.