Transfer from small liberal arts college in NJ to NYU Gallatin

Hi,

What is your financial situation? Are you borrowing money now? Would you need to borrow money to attend NYU? Would your graduation be delayed by a year if you were to transfer and would this increase your total debt?

To me your intended path sounds like one that you would be better off starting on with no debt if this is at all possible.

I do know some people who got their bachelor’s at a relatively inexpensive school, and then got a master’s at a highly ranked school. This has the advantage that you end up with a master’s in your intended field, and you only need to pay the “big bucks” for one or two years. To do this you need to do quite well in your undergrad studies and/or other things in your life. For example, some of us got into a highly ranked graduate school more due to what we did between undergrad and graduate school rather than what we did as an undergrad.

“ Is the extra time and money to transfer to Gallatin worth it?”

Unfortunately no one else can possibly answer that for you - we don’t know your financial situation, what you may have to give up, how much anyone can value “experience”, etc. And you seem to already know that you will take at least an extra semester to graduate and possibly more because of the point at which you would transfer in. I’m usually a big proponent of fit but unless your family has loads of cash to throw around - which I’m presuming is not the case judging from the tone of your post - it’s probably better to stay where you are for now, especially as NYU does not give great financial aid to transfers. On the other hand - for the cost of an application fee, you could find out if you could get into Gallatin and if you’d receive enough funding to make it realistic, which would either work out well or at least dampen the “I wish I had tried” regrets that inevitably pop up. Aiming at NYU for grad school is an equally laudable goal and if you pretty much have a decent job/income with lower or no loans - which sounds like the case on your current path - that becomes a more realistic goal too. Good luck however it turns out.

Hi,

I’m a fairly new transfer student at my small liberal arts college in NJ. At this moment, I’m about to enter my Junior year of my undergrad this upcoming semester. After my first semester, I found myself disappointed with the school and the program I’m currently in. I’m an English Secondary Education major and have an internship where I gain experience working in a k-12 school, which I love and receive a reasonable wage for. I have zero complaints about my internship. But as for the English department of my school, it lacks significantly in the learning experience I was hoping to have.

Before I transferred from a community college, I wanted to apply for NYU Gallatin but chickened out of the application. I convinced myself that it was too expensive and that I can make the most of my education at the school I’m enrolled in now. But now I feel like that was a mistake. Yes, I am making the most of it, but I’m not happy with it.

At my current school, I made an effort to be involved and began writing for the campus newspaper. I’ve recently been promoted to Features Editor and scored that internship I mentioned before. I’m also currently trying to start a Literary Magazine because the current one on-campus lacks the profile that students at my school deserve.

I did a fair amount of extracurriculars at my CC in my 2 years there, such as:

  • Theatre club VP
  • Editor of Campus Literary Mag
  • Editor of Honors School Newsletter
  • Editor-in-chief of Campus Newspaper
  • Academic Support Center Tutor

I also graduated with a 3.5 GPA and currently hold a 3.7 GPA at my current school.

At Gallatin, I imagine myself studying Creative Writing, Storytelling, and the Effects of Trauma on the Adolescent body and mind. I do want to teach High School English. I suppose my mission is to teach how creative writing can heal.

I’m fairly confident that I can be a promising candidate for Gallatin but I’m concerned mainly concerned about how long it would take as a transfer student to complete a degree at NYU Gallatin. I’m also concerned about life after Gallatin. If I stay at my current school, I would graduate with a teaching certification, and with my internship, my odds of having a job after graduation are high. If I graduate from NYU Gallatin, the path of life after graduation is unknown because I won’t have a teaching certification.

I’m realizing that I probably committed to my current school because it was a cookie-cutter path, but now I realize how limiting that is.

Questions for you:

I guess the questions I’m asking you and myself are:

  • Is the extra time and money to transfer to Gallatin worth it?
  • What is it like to be a transfer student at Gallatin?
  • What is life after graduation like?
  • Should I just hold off until grad school to apply to NYU Gallatin?

Any response would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time : )