This is the situation that I’m in now: I’m going to be a junior next semester in the fall of 2016. I did post secondary at Kent State while I was in high school. I graduated with an average GPA (3.3) and a good ACT score (30). I did the stupid thing of not checking out other colleges because I was too lazy to drive or fly to them all. All of the people in my family chose to go to Kent State, so I was like, “Screw it. I already did my post secondary here. I guess I’ll attend.” I live 35 minutes away from campus and commute every day. With each passing semester, I’m growing more and more disdainful with Kent. I don’t feel like the quality is here. The professors are often unorganized and kind of scummy. I’m run into multiple problems with professors changing their syllabi after the drop date to make the class harder (one of them doubled the length of all of the essays that we had to write right after the final drop date was over.) The prestige of the university isn’t good. Kent State is looked at as the last resort for people that don’t get into Ohio State, University of Miami, or Ohio University. I feel like it’s just high school 2.0.
I struggled my first two years in finding a major that was right for me. I changed it multiple times and did poorly in the classes because they didn’t interest. That was probably the worst decision I could have made, but I learned a valuable lesson: it doesn’t matter if I dislike the class, I still have to get it done no matter what. However, I have found a major that truly enjoy. I’ve finally settled on a BA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) with a minor in Japanese so that I can teach English to non native speakers (possibly in Japan but also possibly here in the US.) My cumulative GPA is pretty crap because of me acting like a kid and not taking the responsibility of doing well in the classes I didn’t like. I currently have a 2.52 with 48 credit hours completed. However, this semester is coming to a close, and because I found a majort that I’m interested in, I’m ending it with a 3.76 that included two upper division courses. After factoring it in, my GPA is going to rise to a 2.78 after this semester.
What’s gnawing at me is the fact that Kent doesn’t have a lot of prestige. I want to go to Ohio State since it incredibly superior in every way in terms of rankings. However, I have a scholarship that lasts five years that’s making Kent nearly free to go to. I doesn’t cover room and board costs, though, so that’s why I’m commuting. I’m a junior now, so I’m not sure if transferring is even an option anymore. If I do go to Ohio State, my parents will be footing the cost of room and board, meal plans, etc, but they want me to stay at Kent since it’s basically free.
I guess it’s more about finding the prestige that I want as well as college that I like. I feel that if I graduate with a 3.3 from Kent State, it’s not going to be as good as graduating with a 3.3 from Ohio State. Ohio State is ranked at #52 in terms of national universities and #34 in terms of global universities. Kent State, however, is ranked #175 and #609 respectively.
What should I do?