I have been at a large, highly ranked public university for the past fall and half of spring semester. I struggled a lot in the fall to feel comfortable and could not wait to go home for winter break. I was doing well academically, but could not find a good niche socially, as much of the social life I felt most familiar with was greek life, however I had not joined this in the fall as I thought I would be fine without it. I am a four hour plan ride from home in a very different environment from what I’d ever known before and sometimes truly think I was happier before I came to college. The spring semester has been a bit better as I have some friends I like now, I’ve decided to change my major to something I find more fulfilling, and call my parents less, but I still feel incredibly homesick and unfulfilled socially. I still find myself desperately looking forward to going home. Over winter break I did apply to three schools because I had been so unhappy in the fall and am glad that I did this, however now as the spring semester goes on, I am still so unsure about whether to leave this school or not. I am worried that I will have even more trouble adjusting somewhere else and have to go through finding friends all over again. Also, all of the schools I applied to that I thought I might like better are ranked no where near as well as the one I go to now, making me think that maybe staying here would have the best outcome in terms of my career. I am debating whether to stay here and possibly join greek life to hopefully feel more comfortable (although at large financial cost), or take the risk of going to a far less prestigious university closer to home in hopes of finding a group of people I truly love to be around that I have yet to find here.
I have also tried practically everything at my current university to feel at home by joining clubs, sports, and trying to get involved, but still feel that I do not fit in anywhere. I would not consider myself a very shy or quiet person, and have definitely made an effort to reach out and talk to others, however feel that my efforts never truly paid off and have grown pretty tired of investing so much energy into building a good social life.
In your earlier threads you shared that you are from the Northeast US & studying in Texas. Since your homesickness has not dissipated over the past 7 to 8 months, I think that you were right to have applied to three other schools as a transfer applicant.
Your current school is expensive & uncomfortable for you. Cost has become a clear concern to you & your family. Finish out the academic year & examine your options.
It is easy for me to understand why you might be better off closer to home.
Are you willing to share the names of the three schools to which you applied as a transfer ? I suspect that one might be Rutgers NB.
I would apply to rutgers as many of my friends go there, it is a good school, and close to home, however I knew it was important to apply to schools that are good for what I want to pursue. I am interested in graphic design/advertising, and so applied to Virginia Commonwealth University (which I know isn’t very close, but good for my major and recieved good aid when I first applied my senior year of hs), Temple university (has a very good art program and decent creative advertising program) and Boston university for communication. I personally loved Temple when I visited because of the city and familiar culture, however knew that I could probably do much better academically and therefore chose to come to UT instead.
VCU, Temple & BU are all urban schools in the East. Transfer.
I experienced something similar to what you are experiencing although it was decades ago. I regret not transferring, but I made up for it by attending graduate school in a geographical region that I enjoyed much more.