Transfer Advice in Engineering

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I am a mechanical engineering freshman at Clemson University. I chose Clemson over several more prestigious schools because I fell in love with the campus and the overall feel of the school. Unfortunately, I didn't really think about the world around this school. Clemson is nice, but I find South Carolina (and the South in general) to be too backwards and conservative for me. I am from Colorado, so the culture change has been very weird for me. I have made a lot of friends, and moving this far from home has been a great learning experience, but I don't think I want to live down here for an extended period of time.</p>

<p>Also, the engineering courses (general engineering classes) have been way too easy. Not to disrespect the citizens of South Carolina, but I feel like their students were far less educated than I am when it comes to the principals of engineering (math and sciences). Basically, I feel like I am wasting my time waiting for underperforming students. At the same time, friends back home are telling me about all of the cool projects they are doing in their engineering courses. All we have done this year is build adjustable water balloon launchers, which is something I did in high school physics class. Clemson has a great reputation, but I am not seeing where it comes from.</p>

<p>My plan thus far is to finish off this semester (my finals start tomorrow), and then complete next semester at Clemson also. I want to transfer to University of Colorado - Boulder for my sophomore year. My worry is that I will be behind in the curriculum for mechanical engineering there. They seem to follow a slightly different course path than what Clemson has (they started with 3d modeling and CAD this semester, while Clemson waits until sophomore year to do that).</p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this transition as smooth as possible?</p>

<p>I really regret not going to CU-Boulder initially, but hopefully I won't be too far behind when I transfer.</p>

2

<p>Boulder is ranked 42nd while Clemson is 32nd by USNews, which, IMO, puts them about even.</p>

<p>I think your critique of the program is based out of ignorance and remorse, and most likely homesickness. Now, I am not a Clemson fanatic, nor did I even know about their program until I stumbled on this post of yours, but I really don't think you have given the course, school, nor the area much of a chance. You are freshman, and have only been there, what? 3 months? </p>

<p>If you are finding the work load easy, then great, enjoy it. Join a club, meet people, get used to being in a new school, a new setting, a new state (however backwards it is). The boredom can lead to the feelings you are having, which I totally think are ill-founded and were probably more sought after than real.</p>

<p>Yeah, SC is backwards, but the south can also be fun and beautiful. I'm from California and I have a lot of family in the Denver area and several of my cousins went to Boulder. I have also spent a good amount of time in the south and now live in Cincinnati (which some think is the south). Maybe you should try and enjoy yourself some instead of worrying about your friends are doing. Also, if you want to start learning CAD I am sure there is a club that does this, and if not, there are courses that aren't necessarily designed to give you college credit that can teach this to you (or learn it on your own).</p>

<p>A wise man once said 'don't let schooling interfere with your education'. And, from the sounds of it, that is exactly what you are doing.</p>

<p>Sorry to be harsh, if I came off that way, but I felt the same way my first year of school and would of really regret having left now that I look back on my college career.</p>