Hey Everyone!
I am currently a sophomore attending a medium sized state school in my home state. Freshman year, I attended a medium sized private school a few hours away in a different state. I loved the school I attended and had a great freshman year, however, due to COVID, it was cut short. During that time, I decided it may be in my best interest to transfer. Even though I had the best freshman year imaginable, the cost to attend my private school was outrageous, and would leave me in a ton of debt once I graduate. On the other hand, a few friends of mine transferred out due to the same reason(Keep in mind I am also looking to go to law school as well as graduate school after my undergraduate years). In addition, I decided to leave due to the fact that I did not think it was worth paying all that money to attend this semester with all the restrictions there are due to COVID. The school I am now attending is extremely cheap, and will not leave me with any debt whatsoever. In addition, it has a BA/MA dual degree program for my major, and my previous institution did not which is great. Also, I decided to join greek life there, and have meet some awesome people, which is great as well! All the classes here are online, so I am currently taking my classes from home. However, an old friend from high school and I are talking about getting an apartment together within the next month, which would be awesome! But at the same time, I find myself missing my previous institution a lot! I honestly do not know if I should stay at the school I am at now, or go back to my old one…Maybe I will not miss it as much once I am actually on campus at my new school? I am not sure, I would appreciate any advice anyone may have.
i literally think you already answered your own question lmao. it seems you are just nostalgic for the traditional college experience you had freshman year pre-corona. you have friends at your current school, are involved in greek life (which i presume you like), and you will literally graduate debt free in a degree program that is perfect for you.
i don’t see how transferring back to your own school would benefit you in any way. by the time you transfer you will most likely have two years of school left, and would have to start fresh socially, not to mention you will have to shell out more money for a BA that could be used for law school.
i hope you stay at your current college, as leaving seems like a mistake.
good luck!
It’s understandable that you miss your first school, but it sounds like you have a good thing going where you are, for a much more affordable cost. Does the private U have a summer session? Maybe you could go back just for a summer, for old time’s sake - maybe talk some friends from there into doing it with you?
“in a ton of debt”
You were very wise to transfer out and avoid the ton of debt. Debt can haunt a university graduate for a long time.
“BA/MA dual degree program for my major”
This is also a good thing. It is good if you want to get your masters. It is also good if you just want to take one or a small number of graduate classes as an undergraduate student (perhaps as a senior).
“will not leave me with any debt”
This is huge. This will make it significantly easier to afford law school and/or graduate school. This will make it significantly easier to just live on your own when you get a job after graduation. My oldest daughter was frustrated that I would not let her take any debt at all for university which meant that she could not attend any university that exceeded our budget. Now having graduated and gotten a job she is very happy to have no debt. You will be also.
On-line classes are not ideal. However, this is something that students are experiencing all over the world. This is something that you would need to deal with regardless of which university you attend.
I think that you will miss the original school much less when you have on-campus in-person classes. I think that you made a very good move in transferring.
@transferx @aquapt @DadTwoGirls Thank you guys for the advice! I just wanted to add one more thing. The current state school I am attending is not as well regarded as my previous institution. Does this matter?
no, just do well on your LSATs, get some good experience, and maintain good grades. you don’t need to go to a prestigious college to get into law school. graduating with little-to-no debt is far more important considering the insane price of law school.
Re: school reputation - it’s not nothing, but it’s not important enough to saddle yourself with debt before you even start law school. Distinguish yourself where you are - get top grades, get involved, get good experience - and you’ll be fine. In fact, if going to a less “elite” school results in a higher GPA, getting the BA/MA, and standing out more in terms of leadership and faculty mentoring, you could come out ahead. It’s all about what you do with it. It’s understandable that it’s hard to let go of the other school that you loved and the prestige that came with it. But graduating in “a ton of debt” isn’t worth it, especially given that you seem to be doing great where you are. And law schools will see that you got into the other school and did well there, before the pandemic, so IMHO you’ve already reaped the benefit of the prestige, admissions-wise.
Congrats on landing on your feet and making the most of a tough situation.