<p>Senior year, after being rejected from two of my dream colleges, I somewhat reluctantly went out of state to the University of Michigan. It's a fun school, but after spending a year there, I don't know if it's for me. With 25,000 undergrads, Michigan is HUGE. Although many people say it's easy to make a big school small, I feel overwhelmed. I have 400 person lecture classes, and my smallest class was about 35 kids. I want a campus with a smaller sense of community, and a sense of community that doesn't just derive from sports. I want a school that's focused on the undergrad experience, and where I don't just feel like a number. I'm not really all that excited about going back to school, but I'm worried that I won't be happier anywhere else, since every school has its problems. Also, I'm scared to transfer, which I also know is not a reason not to do so.</p>
<p>So, I have been accepted to Tufts and Northwestern (one of my dream schools), and I'm stuck on what to do. Do I transfer, and if so, to which school? I'm interested in English and psychology (i know, Michigan has great departments for both). If anyone can tell me any thoughts on any of the schools or what I should do here, I would really appreciate it. I'm so stuck.</p>
<p>Agree with Hanna. The things that you complain about at UM are not going to be problems at your two possible transfer schools, so transferring will be an improvement. Have you visited Tufts and Northwestern? What do you see as potential problems at either school? </p>
<p>I’d suggest posting about this on the Tufts and Northwestern forums. People will be delighted to tell you why they chose either school, what they love about it…and what they don’t like, for that matter. My older daughter just finished her freshman year at Tufts, and is thoroughly in love with the place and all it has to offer. She’s been talking to friends who attend University of California schools, and says that it makes her incredibly grateful for the benefits of attending a smaller, more nurturing school. I’m sure there are plenty of Northwestern students who’d say the same about their school. Go figure out which school you might love more. If that fails, pick based on being near Boston or Chicago. Then screw your courage to the sticking place and get ready to move somewhere new.</p>
<p>If Northwestern is one of your dream schools, and it’s a fantastic school (above Tufts in terms of reputation), and if they are equally affordable, then why not go to Northwestern?</p>
<p>I would transfer to Northwestern since it was the OP’s dream school. This said, I would urge him to manage/tame his expectations. Universities with more than 3,000-4,000 students will not have a campus-wide sense of community unless it is driven by a major athletic program (Michigan, Notre Dame, USC football or Duke, UNC basketball). Otherwise, schools with more than 3,000-4,000 students will be made up of many small communities, usually clubs and organizations, academic and research or social (Greek). Whether one attends a small school like Tfuts or a large university like Michigan, one’s non-athletics driven community will be small and not campus-wide.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I am not sure if Psychology classes at any university will be small. Psychology is generally one of the most popular major at most universities. That is certainly the case at Northwestern. I would definitely check advanced level class sizes in Psychology at Michigan and compare them to Northwestern. I doubt there will be a significant difference. </p>
<p>I think that transferring is probably a good idea, but like I said, managing expectations is key in order to avoid disapointment.</p>
<p>Alexandre, I disagree that universities with more than 3,000-4,000 undergraduates cannot have a campus-wide sense of community. I can’t speak for Tufts or NU but my alma mater which has 6,600 undergraduates definitely enjoyed a distinct sense of campus unity that stretched outside the athletic realm since its easier to have more “shared experiences”. </p>
<p>For instance, according to its CDS, 73% of NU classes have 20 students or less while the corresponding figure for Michigan is only 46.1%. Since they have more intimate interaction with fellow students, stronger bonds will develop among the NU student body.</p>
<p>Also, private schools tend to have more unified campus traditions so a place like NU will have a lot more “class unity” events such as fundraisers and senior bar crawls. More NU students stay on campus for a longer period of time so ties will develop among students due to their shared residential experience.</p>
<p>In short, NU is no Williams or Haverford but is certainly no Michigan either.</p>
<p>concur with Alexandre. Average class size is a worthless statistic if you are in an extremely popular major (or STEM). The English/Philosophy classes may be really small, but that is not of much consequences in Psych where classes tend to be larger.</p>
<p>If it wasn’t for the ‘dream school’ comment, I would have guessed Tufts would be a better match. OTOH, the Mildcats are not exactly BIG time in attendance. lol</p>
<p>OP, your premise is wrong. Neither Tufts nor Northwestern are focused on the undergraduate, any more than a big state school is. They’re all research universities, whose lifeblood is research, and the grad students who do the grunt work to support that research. For a school whose raison d’etre is undergraduates, look to a LAC.</p>
<p>Hey OP, riffing off of annasdad’s post, let me offer you two cents worth of advice no matter where you end up. If you go to professor’s office hours and make yourself known to them, you’ll improve your college experience about ten thousand percent. Yes, go when you don’t understand something…but also go when you do, to say you enjoyed a lecture or were curious about something that got mentioned in class. Ask for suggestions on what else to read, or other classes to take in the future. </p>
<p>No matter where you end up, there will be professors who are deeply interested in working with undergraduates. My D1 has certainly found this at Tufts. I’m sure there are professors like this at NU and Michigan.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice, it really helped! After a lot of thinking, I am pretty sure I am transferring, and most likely heading to Northwestern.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with your assessment. Big state schools simply have less resources available per capita. There’s a reason why they have things called “honors programs” and why many private research Us don’t.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree with his generalization regarding “large research universities” vs LACs but also note what he said: “Most students at these universities become a face in the crowd, particularly in the larger and more popular majors …”</p>
<p>So the extent of that trade-off depends on the number of students.</p>
<p>Yes and the trade-off is even worse at big state universities because of the sheer numbers.</p>
<p>At NU, there are 250 English majors. It’s not small but not scarily large either. In contrast, Michigan conferred 346 bachelor degrees in English in 2011 which translates to approximately 1,000 (346 x 3, assuming no the freshmen class has no English major) English majors in any given year (the number for psychology is ~1,600!).</p>
<p>Sam Lee, Michigan is not a typical public university where resources are concerned. When you factor in state appropriations, Michigan has the private university equivallent of ~$300,000/student, and that does not factor in the benefits of economies of scale that a university of Michigan’s size and complexity enjoys. Very few universities, pricate or public, have significantly more resources than Michigan, either in the absolute or in the relative sense.</p>
<p>On average, Michigan will have 3 times the number or Psychology majors that Northwestern has (according to the Northwestern CDS, 9% of Northwestern students major in Psychology)…but it will also have more than 3 times more professors. For example, Northwestern’s Psychology faculty has 37 professors while Michigan’s Psychology faculty has over 120 professors.</p>
<p>Similarly, Northwestern’s English faculty has 57 professors while Michigan’s has over 120. </p>
<p>Again, I definitely think the OP should transfer to Northwestern as the university seems to be a better fit, but he should manage his expectations.</p>
<p>At NU, students declare majors by the end of sophomore year. But even if what you wrote applies to UM, you have to factor the fact that not everyone graduates in four years. So multiplying by two is going to understate the number, perhaps fairly significantly. Regardless, I actually just found the actual numbers for direct comparison (see below).</p>
<p>Alexandre,
In 2011, NU conferred 70 degrees in English and 141 degrees in Psychology. So it’s more like 4 times (5 for English) instead of 3.</p>
and get ready to move somewhere new.</p>
If you go to professor’s office hours and make yourself known to them, you’ll improve your college experience about ten thousand percent. Yes, go when you don’t understand something…but also go when you do, to say you enjoyed a lecture or were curious about something that got mentioned in class. Ask for suggestions on what else to read, or other classes to take in the future. </p>