I don’t think I have a best time. I loved my childhood, I loved high school, I loved college, I loved my years after college before kids, I loved having one baby, I loved having 5 kids and all of the stages. Sure, there were tough times but more good than bad.
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I was simply answering the question asked. I did not write it.
Many people say college was their best time. Many say high school or retirement.
Hopefully OP and all of us will have a best time whenever that time is.
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I have never heard a real person say college or high school was their best time. I think that is a myth. I don’t think many people actually say that and I don’t think it’s helpful at all to the original poster to act like they do.
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I’ll assume that future posts will be on-topic. If the OP wants a user to defend their opinion, they can ask. Otherwise, let users express themselves without feeling the need to debate
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I am the parent of a kid who transferred for academic and social reasons. During her first semester at her first school she realized it wasn’t a great fit academically or socially and she started looking for another school.
She looked at some of the schools she had already applied to and where she had been accepted. She thought about one in a bigger city which was very appealing to her, but she felt like she would’ve missed a lot not being there from the start.
She also really missed her old friends, who had scattered in different directions. She didn’t feel like it would be a good fit to go to most of their schools, but she had one good friend at a school she had already been accepted to that was somewhat better academically and offered better career services. It is not in a location that is as interesting to her, but having her friend there made it attractive. She contacted the school in late Nov/early Dec and they said “yes! come on in spring,” so she moved out of her old school at Winter Break and moved into her new school at the start of the Spring semester.
It was a not a super smooth transition, but was made 1000% easier by having her good friend there already. I do not think it would have gone well for her without that friend there. There were already friend groups established and while she did meet a girlfriend they had a near break up recently and she was left feeling like her old friend there was her only friend at school. I think she does have some other friends, but sometimes she feels a little like she is on the outside and these friends do have a history that she is not part of. I think she’s starting to feel a little more in sync now and she doesn’t regret transferring, but it’s not always an easy thing to do.
If the school you are thinking of (W&M) has a robust orientation program for transfer students you might be able to make friends through that, but otherwise I think it can be hard to make friends at a new school.
If your current school is equal academically and offers the major you want I would continue to put yourself out there socially at your current school and try to fix that aspect of your college if nothing else is broken. Ask people if they want to go get lunch together after class (always easier than going out at night) or if they want to study together. Strike up a conversation while you are waiting for class to start or waiting in line. Talk to the people in your clubs. Make a real effort. Hang out with the extroverts even if you’re an introvert. Extroverts are usually happy to get to know folks and they may introduce you to more people you would get along with better if they aren’t BFF material themselves.
Here are some more resources to help you decide if a transfer is the right thing for you:
Student transferring to W&M My Decision to Transfer Colleges: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly | CollegeXpress
USNews FAQs about transferring
Is it Worth It? 6 Reasons to Transfer
(Note to moderators – I looked for “transferring colleges” articles on CC, but there is no easy search function on the front page!)
(Note to @_moneywoise there are some good articles out there if you run a search on
‘is transferring colleges worth it’. I can’t link them all because some are from sites that compete with CC.)
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I assume you’ve already seen this page on W&M’s website? Transfer Students | William & Mary
Looks like they do have some transfer info sessions coming up that might be a good way to explore the idea more: W&M Transfer Information Sessions | William & Mary
Also, I don’t know how close in distance you are to W&M or if you were accepted there before or have a reasonable chance to be accepted as a transfer. I have no idea how many transfers from other colleges they take although I know they have a program with VA Community Colleges and Richard Bland Junior College, but if you are an academic superstar at your current school and are sitting on a previous acceptance to W&M and feel fairly confident that you could get in there and you are close in physical distance it might be worth it to go over there to some public events that you are interested in like a sports ball game or a theater event or something of that nature that the general public is invited to and see if you can get a better feel for whether you would fit in. Maybe strike up a conversation with W&M students and see if they seem friendly.
You can always apply to transfer to W&M and some other schools and still work on your social situation at your current school. You are not obligated to accept a transfer offer so if you find yourself settling in a little better later this semester and in spring you can say no thanks to a transfer acceptance, but it would give you some options to put some transfer applications out there.
My gut feeling from what you have told us is that you may be able to fix the social situation at your current school and save yourself the headache of transferring. Not all of my daughter’s credits transferred but she had some AP credits that made up the difference.
As a parent I felt swayed by the fact that her new school is better academically for her major and has pretty robust study abroad and internship programs. It does cost more so that was not ideal, but she did still get a scholarship. If she had wanted to transfer to W&M and it didn’t cost too much for us (we are not in VA) I would definitely have been okay with her trying that since it is an excellent school.
If the finances and academics work out at W&M for you and your family it is an excellent school and they do take quite a few transfer students, but you will still have to work at making friends there, too. All your credits may not transfer and it might take longer to graduate. All things to think about.
In any case you don’t need to be friendless and miserable for your time at college, but you may have to really work at making friends. Invite people over to your apartment or invite them out to get coffee or to study or to a campus event whether you are at W&M or your current school.
Also check out the r/williamandmary subreddit Reddit - Dive into anything and maybe ask your question there, too.
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