Transfer Now or Take a Gap Year?

Transfer Students
1

Hi CC!

As my username implies, I’m currently a rising sophomore at an engineering college. Trouble is, after a year here I’ve come to realize engineering isn’t the right fit for me. My current school offers next to no majors outside of engineering, so I’m planning on transferring next year. I’ve got a nice healthy mix of reaches, targets, and safeties picked out, and my parents and I have worked out the financials.

The only problem is most universities require you to pick a major during sophomore year, so if I were to transfer in as a junior I’d have to already have a major declared. At this point, I’m still pretty unsure what I want to major in – all I know is it’s not engineering. At my current school, it’s not going to be possible to explore non-engineering majors during sophomore year. (Although I will be able to explore biology and physics, two of my top choices for replacement major, so there is that.) I don’t want to go into a school blindly declaring a major I’ve never tried before, or settling for one of the few non-engineering majors offered by my current school without a chance to explore other options.

To solve this problem, I’ve been considering withdrawing from my current school and taking the year off to work (I already have a tentative offer from the company I interned with this summer-- yay!), then applying as a sophomore transfer to these other universities.

So, CC, do you think this is a good idea? Would admissions offices see this as a smart move to learn more about myself, or interpret it as me ditching engineering because it was too hard? (Not true, by the way – while I did do poorly in one math class, my GPA is 3.7.) Also, if any of you took a year off mid-university, do you think it was a good move, and do you have any advice for me?

Thanks so much in advance!

2

Why not withdraw from your current university and attend community college while applying? It would be much cheaper and you could get some of your general education units out of the way.

3

I’m lucky enough to have a great scholarship to my current uni – community college would be about the same price as my current school once things like cost of an apartment are factored in. Because of that, if I’m staying in school for next year I’d like to do it here.

4

A leave of absence makes sense in your case. Just make certain that your scholarship will still be there if you should find that you need or want to go back to your current U after the year off. Setting it up as a leave of absence rather than a withdrawal give you more options.

During your year off, you can continue working, and maybe do some exploration of other fields of study with non-credit classes at a CC. Read through the continuing education part of the CC’s website, or pick up a continuing ed. bulletin at your public library. Those classes are often very cheap (or even free). There also should be plenty of MOOCs you could enroll in online for free that would allow you to explore other fields as well.