<p>I'm trying to figure out if I should transfer from my current school: a small liberal arts college to a big university.
My current school is a party school. Most of the time, it seems that the only thing that people do it to go out and get drunk on the weekends. All the clubs and organizations are not active at all just because people are generally more interested in Greek stuff.However, my classes are mostly great; I have the professors I love and I enjoy the intimacy of a LAC.
The university I'm looking to transfer to has many clubs and organizations; Greek life is small and most students don't join it. The community looks vibrant and people have a lot to do on the weekends. The campus is beautiful but I also get the sense they people don't really want to know you because it's such a big school.</p>
<p>I already changed a little bit to enjoy the social life at my school but I don't seem myself truly like it. I want to be involved in clubs and stuff but I will transfer as a junior so I don't know how feasible it is to get more involved when everybody else who's doing the same thing might be freshman and sophomores. Also, at my current school, I have the chance to study abroad but here I probably won't because I have to fulfill the academic requirements. Career-wise, the big school would have more career fairs and more companies would come but at my current school, I know people who would probably help me personally to network and find jobs.</p>
<p>I'm trying to make a list of the pros and cons. Any suggestions? </p>
<p>Note that in an academic sense, the small LAC is typically most advantageous at the frosh/soph level (smaller classes) while the big university is typically most advantageous at the junior/senior level (more class offerings). Of course, these are generalizations, and what the actual advantages and disadvantages are depend on the specific schools and your major.</p>
<p>Some big universities have a large intake of transfer students, so it would not be that unusual to be a transfer student.</p>
<p>I agree with Ucb, but it seems like your issue is more with Greek/not Greek than LAC vs Big University. Are there any LACs with no/small Greek systems you could transfer to? Conversely, transferring to a Big U vs. transferring to another LAC is probably considerably easier - there are a lot more slots available to transfer into BIg U than your typical LAC.</p>
<p>FWIW, this sort of dilemma is something we tried to specifically avoid. D is not a partier, so any LAC or small U that was dominated by a Greek system was definitely off the list. (It can go the other way as well, some places are just too quiet or quirky for popular kids.) For parents now looking at small colleges, really, really take a close look at the social scene and do not hesitate to tell your kid that even if they love the school, this school does not fit you. Early on D loved Lehigh, which is a great school, but we had to pull her off that one as it has a huge Greek/party scene that she wasn’t seeing. It would have been a terrible fit.</p>
<p>Thank you for the comments.
I only applied to one, so it’s either TRANSFER or STAY. With my current school, I feel like I don’t have many people to hang out with just because too many people are into drinking. But with a big university and being a junior, I’m afraid it would be very difficult to make friends and get involved.
With academics, I’m just worried that professors at a big university wouldn’t care much about students. Even the higher level classes are small and taught by professors, they might just bot be as devoted to teaching as much as the professors at a LAC do. </p>
<p>As a general rule, professors tend to like upperclassmen, even at Big U, though some hate all undergrads. It’s the basic seminar classes that most hate teaching, once you get down to smaller, more specialized classes, most of them are into it.</p>
<p>What about clubs and stuff? My guess is that it will certainly be harder for juniors to get involved in clubs and other extracurriculars. </p>
<p>Why would it be? Freshmen join every year, it’s not like you’ll have a giant “J” stamped on your forehead so everyone knows to shun you, you’ll just be older and you’ll only be there two years. I’m sure there are plenty of people who were there two years and decide to do something junior year for the first time as well. As far as friendships go, some people will exclude you, but there’s also the advantage of being the new person - new can be exciting and fresh, not the same boring people you’ve hung out with for two years.</p>
<p>In short, you need to get a more positive outlook. You remind of a friend from college who hated his job. When asked why he didn’t change to a different one, he replied “I know what this job is like, a different one could be worse.” Please don’t go through life like that.</p>
<p>I wish you would tell us what these colleges are. How big is the big one? How big your department? Upper division should have good access to profs. I don’t see that it should be any harder to meet people and join things. </p>
<p>Thank you MrMom62, I just realized what you said about your friend is exactly what I’m thinking: I know hoe bad my current school can be but the new school can be worse. I think part of me is afraid of changes and putting efforts into trying to fit in again. But certainly I know I don’t like my school that much. You words are very helpful!</p>