Transfer AWAY from prestigious school?

Hi CC,

I’m finishing up (virtually) my freshman year of college at one of the top LACs. While I had some good moments there, I don’t know if it’s the place for me.

Background: I only wrote one college application and applied early decision the beginning of October my senior year, and I think my expectations and desires for college evolved a lot in the time between applying and actually attending. Further, my mental health really suffered being far from home in such an academically intense environment, and thinking of the isolated and small, somewhat socially-stifling campus, I don’t feel good about going back. I’m on a sports team, and I made friends, so that’s not the problem, and I know freshman year is a rough transition for a lot of people. However, I’m still considering transferring to a larger state school in the midwest, probably UW-Madison or Minnesota (Not Michigan bc see below).

I have two questions:

  1. I had a rough first semester (A, A-, C, C-), and while my second semester would have brought my GPA up significantly, because of the coronavirus all of my classes this semester were changed to P/F. Will I have trouble getting into these schools with a 2.85 GPA? (hence no Michigan, as they have a 3.0 transfer GPA req)

  2. Am I an idiot to throw away an education at an incredible school because I don’t like the location and I want a more “normal” college experience?

Life is short. Go where you will be happy.

You are not a idiot, at the end of the day you have to fit the school and the school has to fit you. Talk to you friends and family and see if they felt you di don’t really fit in there.

It’s not about being an idiot- but it is about not making the same mistake twice!

You made a choice which didn’t turn out quite as you hoped. Now you want a more “normal” college experience- but you do understand that contained within that “normal” are the words “to me”, right? You imagined what your current college would be and you are imagining what UW-M or UMn would be like. That is true even if you actually know lots about those 2 schools, b/c what you don’t know is what they would be like to you.

So before you leap from one extreme to the other, do some more thinking:

= Tease out how much not feeling ‘good’ about going back comes from the comfort of being at home? Many students who settle slowly find that it is the spring semester when they finally feel ‘at home’ at college (every year we see students on CC who apply to transfer during the winter, and either when they get their acceptances or shortly after they accept a place somewhere else they realize that they are actually happy where they are- and in the autumn we get posts from people who decide that the transfer was a mistake).

= Think specifically about what worked- and didn’t work for you at your LAC. If you leave, what parts would you like to keep? Your post reads as 'didn’t like LAC / small / East / academically intense, so the solution is everything opposite: State U / large / Mid-west / less intense academics.

= If you had the grades you would have expected this term, and thus a stronger GPA where (besides Michigan) would you look to transfer? What do you really want from the rest of your college experience? What are your priorities for after college?

Covid has messed so many things up, and it is really unclear how things will play out.