Transfer from Luther College in IA to Westminster College in SLC?

Transfer Students
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My son is having a hard time making a decision as to whether he should transfer from Luther College to Westminster in SLC. He had a mixed first-year experience at Luther–he made some friends but they were not that adventurous and, instead, liked to spend quite a bit of time playing video games. He said there was a lot of underage drinking and drug use at Luther and it was hard for him to find other students who did not do so. (We did let him know this is typical at most colleges!)

As far as academics go, he found the first year work easy. On the other hand, he said all of his professors were excellent, and he would love to take more classes with them.

He is considering transferring to Westminster College this fall and would be part of the Honors Program there, so that might offer more “intellectual stimulation.” The location of Westminster appeals to him so that he could go hiking and skiing and have more of an outdoor life and hopefully meet others who like to do that as well. In high school, he was able to handle a schedule of AP classes and an active outdoor life, so I am not worried about balance.

His concern in going to Westminster is that he doesn’t know much about its academic reputation and we’ve also heard they may have some financial problems. We have also noticed that the administration is not as organized at Westminster as at Luther, where all the details have been smooth-sailing.

He thinks that Decorah is a boring place, and SLC might be more exciting. On the other hand, he loves his student job at Luther.

His scholarships make the colleges equivalent in cost, so that doesn’t help with the decision.

He is thinking about majoring in economics if he goes to Westminster and in anthropology if he stays at Luther. Or he may major in history at either place.

He does think he would eventually like to live in the West, so that is another reason for the Westminster consideration.

Any first-hand experiences others have had, or thoughts about decision making, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help!

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The average student is a bit stronger at Luther (Luther students have a 3.75 hs gpa and scores in the same range but with wider margins, with a bottom 25% threshold lower at Luther so more lower level students but a higher threshold for top 25% hence more higher level students too; Westminster’s students average hs GPA is 3.5 and their scores cover a smaller span, 22-27 or 500-600.)

The Honors students at Westminster will be stronger than the average student at Luther (3.8 HS GPA and 27-31act.) There are only about 50 of them per class though.

Does Westminster offer a possibility of cross registration with a larger University?

In terms of fit, it sounds like Westminster, being near skiing and in a big city, would be a better fit, and since costs are the same there’s no reason to discourage his transferring, as long as he understand the academics outside of the Honors college aren’t likely to be more challenging but the environment will be better.

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MYOS1634, thank you for finding all those statistics–it’s an interesting comparison. The conundrum of the week is whether it’s more important to have a certain major (anthropology) or a more interesting atmosphere (mountains and more adventurous students). At the moment, anthropology is winning out. Luther has the major and Westminster does not. Luther also has two great music teachers that my son really appreciates. But next week, the mountains may come out ahead. . .

I’ve never seen anyone take so long to decide. We may have to flip a coin.
Thanks again for the academic statistics.

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Look into cross registration possibilities. Westminster has an anthropology minor BTW.