Transfer back to University of Miami from Tufts?

Transfer Students
1

Hello everyone,

I recognize how this sounds considering in the last thread I posted everyone said moving to Tufts was a bad idea given how much I loved UM. The truth was, I was confused. I was dissatisfied with the International Relations department at UM and although I was pre-med as well, I was undecided between the two fields. Furthermore, I got so mad after I got denied by the Medical Scholars Program (automatic admission to their medical school) because two professors decided not to send their recommendation letters last minute because they were ā€œtoo busyā€. After I got mad at them and lost my relationship with them, I felt I had nothing left at UM and needed a new challenge. Two days after this whole thing, Tufts accepted me and I felt that for these reasons, despite being generally really happy, it was time for a change.

After transferring to Tufts, I have realized that medicine is the only field for me and I got an A+ in Organic Chemistry that I took at Tufts. But the truth is, despite my academic success at Tufts (I have a 3.76 GPA last semester there and had around a 3.9 average through my 3 sems at Miami so not too different), I am so unhappy. I tried making friends and joining clubs, but itā€™s SUCH a liberal school and I have been shut down and somewhat ostracized for not having the views most students have. I do enjoy the IR classes a lot, and learning about South Asia, particularly learning from Professor Ayesha Jalal. Although Medicine is my career path, I do want to eventually transition into something to do with politics/business later on in my career with respect to my home country, Pakistan. Everyone influential in Pakistan knows about Tufts and Tufts could well end up helping me in other aspects of my career particularly if I donā€™t get accepted to Medical School. The backup plan I would have would be phenomenal. But at this point, with my science GPA being around 3.88 with Gen Bio 1 and 2, Gen Chem 1 and 2, Stats and Orgo 1 completed, Iā€™m quite confident about getting admitted to Med School (Iā€™m not an international student FYI, Iā€™m both Pakistani and American).

I miss my friends in Miami so much, and the Pakistani Students Association which I founded there. I tried to start one at Tufts, but it failed miserably because there isnā€™t much desire to create one there. I was an Honors Foote Fellow Student in Miami too, which was the highest honors program and had no gen ed requirements. On the other hand, Tufts hasnā€™t been all bad, the classes have been enriching as I said before, and I am way happier academically for sure. Itā€™s just thinking about going back next week is giving me so much anxiety because I felt so alone there.

I would go back in a heartbeat, but I have some questions that I hope some people can answer here
1.) How bad would it look to top graduate programs and Medical Schools if I did transfer back? Despite my good grades, would it be a red mark? If so, I will not risk my future. I am very ambitious, and perhaps this ambition was part of the reason I decided to move to Tufts in the first place, and I will not let anything risk my overarching goals and aspirations.

2.) Organic Chemistry 1 is taught weirdly at Tufts, in the sense that it covers material that is traditionally Orgo 2 but skips some Orgo 1 chapters. The goal is to allow for a substitution of Orgo 2 with Biochemistry and shorten the pre-med chemistry route. Apparently, this works quite well and students get accepted to Medical Schools without Orgo 2. But in Miami, Orgo 2 is generally seen as required. Furthermore, they changed their Chemistry sequence up so much too that I would be grossly underprepared for their Orgo 2. As a result, I was hoping if I did transfer back I could skip to Biochemistry and explain to Medical Schools that Tuftsā€™ Orgo 1 prepared me for Biochem and that it allows for a substitution but not sure if this is possible

Sorry for the long post, but I have very few days to decide. Iā€™ve been talking to UM and although Iā€™ve missed the readmission deadline, I have a really good relationship with the University and so theyā€™ll let me in as long as itā€™s by early next week.

2

Drop the issue of Organic 1/Organic 2/Biochem for the moment. Picking up missing classes is what summer school is for.

Do you believe that you have given Tufts a fair shot?

What will you do if you decide you regret transferring back to U of Miami?

How do you plan to take advantage of what U of Miami, and the city of Miami have to offer you if you do return there?

Would it make best sense of all to take a leave of absence from Tufts and just do something non-academic for a semester so you can let your emotions sort themselves out?

3

@happymomof1 I dont think taking a gap semester is ideal as it wouldnt sort out the overarching issues Iā€™m having at Tufts. Itā€™s more that I tried hard for things to work at Tufts and they didnt and I miss my life in Miami. Im not sure taking a gap semester is something thatd help sort either of these problems out and in fact may well exacerbate them. If I return to Miami after the gap semester, ill have a whole two years left and most of my friends would graduate at the end of Spring 2021 while I would graduate in Spring 2022. I plan on studying abroad if I remain at Tufts next Fall in Lahore, and taking a gap semester would delay that. Thank you for the suggestion though, and certainly if the scenario was more directly correlated to my mental health state I would have strongly considered it.

With respect to your other questions, yeah I could regret coming back to Miami. However, my biggest regret would be if it hampered my candidacy to top graduate programs and medical schools. If this is not a problem, there would be otherwise no regrets I think since I was quite happy there. If you have any insight into this, it would be very helpful! I have put a lot of effort in building my GPA and extracurricular work that it woyld be frustrating to see something like this create red flags on my application. If the effect is insignificant transferring back suddenly becomes much more plausible for me!

The reason Orgo 2 is slightly pressing is because in general Organic is not advisable to take over the summer (its a LOT of material) and the second thing is the traditional Orgo 2 class will not be offered in Miami past this spring and itll switch to something entirely different next Fall. So the issue of substituting remains and does appear to be one of the pressing issues. With respect to this, if you or anyone else has insight into medical admissions and can comment on it, Id be appreciative.

4

Itā€™s not Miami itself that would hurt your chances, but I do think the back-and-forth stuff will raise some eyebrows, might cause some people to question your committment, loyalty, ability to adapt, stability. Might make you look like a wishy washy flake who canā€™t make decisions or who canā€™t be happy anywhere. I would be nervous about returning to Miami for that reason and would try hard to make Tufts work. Maybe do a semester abroad.

5

As a reminder, on your Vandy / USC / Cornell / Tufts transfer threads you wrote:

Although you donā€™t say it, I suspect trading ā€˜upā€™ in prestige was a part of the reason for transferring as well.

Now, in a classic ā€˜the grass is always greenerā€™ way, you are comparing your memory of Miami with your (January) reality of Tufts.

And, from Boston in January, Miami does look pretty good! so itā€™s tempting to imagine just picking up where you left off, remembering all the good parts. But when you get back you may find that

ā†’ moving back into your friend group is more difficult than you expect: even though they are happy to see you, group dynamics change and now you have to fit in with them, where before you were the leader of the group;

ā†’ seeing everybody in the Medical Scholars group may be salt in the wound of you not being in the group

ā†’ the broken relationship with the 2 professors you fell out with may have longer term effects.

Fwiw, there are ā€˜what itā€™s like to be a conservative at a liberal schoolā€™ articles in both the Tufts and UMiami student papers. ā€œLiberalā€ can mean a lot of different things- socially liberal, in terms of gender / sexuality / reproductive issues? politically liberal in terms of US (D/ R) politics or about political systems of government? economically liberal? and so on. Whichever of those are important to you, you can still find your people at Tufts.

6

@joecollege44 I understand, this is precisely what I was worried about. If this is truly the case, and others also think so as well then remaining at Tufts will be the best move.

7

@collegemom3717 thank you for your response! These are all true points. That said, I have visited Miami around 3 times last semester and saw my friends in Lahore over the break as well, so fitting in might not be such an issue. Also a huge chunk of my close high school friends from New York went with me to Miami. However, what you say about the professors is probably true. I had intentions to get reccomendation letters from them and they were constantly providing me with oppurtunities in the STEM field which helped me a lot. Unfortunately, now, if I did return to UM iā€™d have to start from scratch to develop relationships again. For what itā€™s worth however, I am also an Honors Foote Fellow at UM which is the highest academic honor and comes with a lot of perks with respect to first dibs on opportunities, and having no gen ed requirements.

I would also be lying if I said prestige was not a factor in my decision. However, if the events with MSP and my professors had not occurred I probably would not have left. At the time of posting the forums when I said UM wasnā€™t my vibe, I was being honest. That said, things really changed socially for me in Spring 2019 with the creation of the Pakistani Students Association.

With respect to prestige, in Pakistan, where I want to eventually settle, university prestige for students especially studying abroad, is especially important. Miami has a reputation for being a party school, and part of me was not satisfied with this. That said, the IR department at UM was pretty trash and I do still stand by that statement. It is much more refined at Tufts, and as I said before, I have enjoyed my academics outside of pre-med far more at Tufts. At the same time, moving to Tufts helped me realize that IR is not going to be my primary career path and that I also believe now that itā€™s time to stop living for other people which is what transferring for prestige really is all about. Had I not transferred, I wouldve likely still been pursuing IR and have been undecided between pre-med and IR and regretting not going to Tufts. So in this regard, I dont entirely regret leaving for Tufts as well.

My main issues are really about Organic Chemistry and how transferring back would look to Medical Schools or any other top graduate school Iā€™d apply to at this point. Moving to Tufts has taught me a lot, and I have certainly grown a lot as a person and have been enriched by my classes in a way that was not really the case at UM. At this point, Iā€™m basically choosing between academics and happiness and am willing to choose happiness as long as it doesnā€™t hamper my future goals. Academically I have maintained a high level at both Tufts and UM. I was expecting a 3.85 this sem but managed to miss the A grade in my Epidemeology class by 0.4% lol. So Iā€™m not considering transferring back because my grades suffered or I got scared of the rigor.
My grades at Tufts were
Organic Chemistry - A+ (4 Credits)
Epidemeology - A- (3 Credits)
Modern South Asia - A- (4 Credits)
Medievel Mediterranean Art - A- (3 Credits)

Also Iā€™m not really politically liberal or conservative in the traditional American sense. In fact, socially Iā€™m quite liberal although Im fiscally very conservative. I am just very patriotic towards Pakistan and these comments often times do not sit too well with others.

8

Reading this, I think Tufts has delivered, and will deliver, on what you wanted in terms of academics and prestige, and you are savvy enough about how that will matter to you in terms of medical school admissions and opportunities in Pakistan. On that front, my advice is to stay put.

Where it has come up short is on the social front for you. I think you can work that out but success may look different than it would in Miami. You may need to learn how to listen better and express your positions in a less divisive way, and this is a life challenge we all face. (Trust me!) So take it as an opportunity to work on an important life skill. Work on ways to make personal connections first so people will be receptive to your political positions and work on a light and funny way to say ā€œPakistan is like my mom. I flip out when other people say bad things about her even though I probably know the flaws better than they do.ā€ Iā€™d keep working on forming friendships. (This is water over the dam, but itā€™s possible that your profs at Miami blew you off for similar reasons. I would suggest some serious self-reflection about your interpersonal dynamics. You sound like an amazing person with amazing promise - you donā€™t want this getting in the way.)

Maybe join some clubs with the goal of being a good group member and simply participating. You may find that you are going off campus with 2 or 3 friends rather than heading to a party on campus. Also remember that freshman social life evolves into upperclassman social life, and that is rarely the same. What you miss from Miami may not even be available to you anywhere now. Going abroad will make a big difference as well. Iow, you may need to adapt to the change, both in your expectations and in how you handle your interactions.

As for classes, pre med advising at Tufts is top notch. Work through that there.

I think you will be fine at Tufts and indeed excel.

9

I think itā€™s best to stay and make your life at Tufts, cut your ties with Miami, establish relationships with professors at Tufts, get involved in research, join a group focused on community service, it will unite you to a common purpose and in time you will find friends

You only have 4 semester left, donā€™t waste them on waffling back and forth.

Concentrate on making yourself the best med school candidate possible.

10

I think youā€™ve gotten good advice. My only addition is to ask if you can talk to your parents about this or a friend who knows you well. Itā€™s hard to get advice from people online who donā€™t really know you, no matter how wise and experienced they are.

I also want to second or third the need for a little self reflection. Going back and forth and back again does come off as childish. As does not being able to make friends because youā€™re a champion of Pakistan. I have a very good friend from India and we talk a lot about her conflict of knowing thereā€™s a lot of very bad and corrupt stuff happening there vs her strong national pride. I tell you this only to show you that many people come from countries that do really bad things. If you canā€™t accept right now that Pakistan is a flawed country and that people are going to talk about that, you need to come to a place where thatā€™s ok with you. Itā€™s maturity that I think will serve you well in general.

11

As I understand it:

  1. You are now at a school with a better reputation in your home country, where you enjoy the courses and are doing well academically.

  2. You are having trouble adjusting there socially. Like many transfer students initially, btw.

  3. You are encountering more students there who donā€™t share some of your values, and are perhaps on the whole more articulate about discussing issues relating to these values.

Under these circumstances if I were you I would stay, because #1 is really the most central to your mission for college.

But you need to address #2 and #3. Focus more effort there. Search out activities and groups that are not politically focused. Both within your college and within the metro area. Recognize that part of college is expanding oneā€™s viewpoint- both yours and other peoples. Everybody not agreeing all the time is not neessarily bad. Of course nobody wants to argue all the time, so make more effort to develop a group of people who most closely share your values.

There are a lot a smart, accomplished kids there. I think you can probably make it work, without ā€œblowing yourself upā€ and unrooting yourself again.

I would think differently if you werenā€™t doing well there academically.

1 Like
12

Helly everyone thank you for your responses!
@mommdc is cutting off ties with Miami a smart move though? Ive made some if my closest friends there, and I would never cut off my HS friends who go there anyhow. Not sure if thatd help my situation but please do elaborate on what you mean by this

@gardenstategal : my professors at Miami didnt blow me off for that reason. Those were Bio and Chem profs that had nothing to do with politics. One of them straight up forgot to send the letter and the other one said that I shouldve reminded her a few days prior even though I did 2 weeks prior becayse she was too busy with finals week and forgot as well. This is what irritated me. Furthermore, my social circle in Miami wasnt ever really traditionally freshman and has stayed more or less the same. It was just my high school friends and I having a good time, or my Pakistani Students Association friends just meeting up and chilling. It was never a party life because my friends arent like that and thats more or less stayed the same. But yes, pre med advising is good at Tufts. I think the only thing that hurts is that because Im not going into IR, I couldve achieved the same pre med goals from UMiami and have been happier too because my grades are fine and I work very hard.

@one1ofeach : I donā€™t just defend Pakistan on anything and everything and actually discussions rarely happen outside of class. Ive earned this reputation in Modern South Asia when Ive defended the creation and legitimacy of the state against the majority Indian class who essentially call the border between Indo-Pak temporary. Iā€™m not that dogmatic and I have also said that Im always open to changing my views if I can be proven wrong. But because I have defended Pakistan in the Kashmir problem and countered the constant discussions about 1971 in East Pakistan with Indiaā€™s own human rights abuses, i managed to stir up controversy that spread throughout the South Asian community since the school is pretty small. What I have found that the culmination of these factors has straight up led to people having opinions of me when they dont even know me. Ive never had this problem ever before, and have never had trouble making friends either. I fully recognize Pakistan is vv flawed and have set up an NGO specifically to tackle issues in Pakistan such as Education. I recently donated $800 to sponsor a school and send $200 dollars a month and plan to up that. So donā€™t get me wrong, I see what you mean, but I dont have an airy image of Pakistan of it being a perfect land with no problems. My comments are related to this constant back and forth between Indians in the classroom specifically and the debate between authoratarianism and democracy in the development of a state such as Pakistan. My dad said heā€™d support me whichever way, although he went to Tufts himself and would like me to stay. I was a bit pressured to go there for a long time by him but he said now that if Im truly unhappy at Tufts, hed let me go back as long as it doesnt hamper my admission to graduate school.

@monydad : this is quite spot on and very good advice. I think I will attempt to do this at Tufts now im the Spring semester. I ideally do not wanna switch back and forth either, but I also hear that college is the best time of your life and I feel like that certainly isnt the case for me right now at Tufts.

13

Although I didnā€™t say it, I would never advise cutting off contacts with friends, wherever they are.

And I know Tufts well, and the social life there can be weird. A lot of students like that it can be as springboard to the rest of Boston, but that can siphon energy away from the school. And that can be particularly hard as a new arrival on campus. But the only folks you are having trouble with are those in your P.S. class, right? So find some other outlets and make some new connections.

I know what it feels like to be less than thrilled about oneā€™s college. Ages ago, I made a great choice for myself academically. Not so socially. I wasnā€™t miserable but I realized that there were a lot of things I should have considered that I hadnā€™t known to consider! But I found ways to be busy and be with people I liked. Many of them were not at my school, btw. Not to say it was perfect all the time, but on balance, it worked out. But those were not the best 4 years of my life. Donā€™t fall for the hype.

And FWIW, it sounds like you have found some clarity around your interest in IR and your future with it. Not a small thing.

14

This drives me nuts. How sad would that be if the ā€œbest time in your lifeā€ was over before you were 23?!

College can be a great stage of life. So can grad school and early career and creating your own family and growing in your profession and achieving things you can only dream of now and navigating the ups and downs of life with friends and family.

And it is passing rare that any human gets from 18 to 22 and graduates from college with no rainy days / weeks / months along the way. Life is always complicated and growing into adulthood has challenges for everyone.

15

I mean put your focus on making your life better at Tufts.

If you keep visiting old friends at Miami, you might miss out on making connections at Tufts.

Of course itā€™s fine to visit with good friends when you are home during semester and summer breaks, especially high school friends.

16

I agree that the back and forth is not a good look. I also agree that self reflection is key Most times we are not objective about ourselves and based on some of your responses to some of the great advice given I feel your resistance /push back to input even though you created the thread seeking objective input. Though we may not agree with the ideas and positions of others sometimes itā€™s best to allow some time to let advice marinate for a while and clarity comes. This may be a reason why you are struggling socially as well. I agree also with the joining club as a member not necessarily a leader.

17

Medical schools will not care whether your degree is from UM or Tufts. The GPA and MCAT will be king.

Medical school is a slog. Agree with the above posters. Sounds like you should stay at Tufts.

18

I wouldnā€™t do anything that will require a special explanation on your med school app. Donā€™t give them a reason to reject you. And I wouldnā€™t transfer to any school and ā€œhopeā€ that you can place out of a course, especially one thatā€™s required for med school. If you return to Miami Iā€™d plan on completing all their requirements.

1 Like
19

re #11:
ā€œā€¦ college is the best time of your lifeā€¦ā€
IMO this is quite often not the case and you should not sweat it if your experience does not seem to be reaching this lofty a standard.

Moreover, such conclusion about what was ā€œthe best timeā€ is made in retrospect, and is frequently not recognized as such while it is happening.

There are other candidates for ā€œbest timeā€. Your best time might come in graduate school. Or the period between engagement and when kids reach adolescence. Or when kids are out of the house. Orā€¦

One should strive to make every time of oneā€™s life as ā€œbestā€ as possible. (hence suggestion to improve social situation now). But not to the neglect of investment in longer-term objectives. For example you might have more time and be less stressed if you dispense with a pre-med track. My guess is many MDs do not consider college the best time of their life.

Many students are living for the first time as ā€œadultsā€ without their parents, learning to think and choose for themselves, facing tremendous new social and academic challenges, starting to carve their way in the world. The initial responses to this process are far from universally positive. What is particularly unique about this time is that all oneā€™s efforts are spent towards improving oneā€™s self. That does not necessarily mean the experience in totality will be perceived as the ā€œbest timeā€.

20

Not for nothing but academically and reputation-wise, Tufts blows the doors off Miami, especially when considering Med school and IR, both of which are among the better programs in the USA. If you can gut it out that will increase your options for med school and beyond. If I am a Med school and see you start at undergraduate school A and then move to a significantly better school B and then return to lesser Aā€¦ that is a red flag for me. BUT in the end, do what makes you happiest. There is a shortage of students attending medical schools so aside from Tufts being a better program you should do fine wherever you go.