Transfer to academic school in mountains?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I wasn't sure to put this thread here or in the transfer thread but I think this is more appropriate. So I'm currently a freshman at Tufts and I'm thinking about transferring for next year. I chose between Michigan, Tufts, and USC last year and I think I made the wrong choice. There are a couple of things I don't like about Tufts. </p>

<p>For one, I really dislike the campus. To me, it doesn't feel at all like a college campus. The people also feel very intellectually snobby to me, but there are also people I like a lot so that's something I can live with. </p>

<p>As for academics, it's a step up from high school, but I'm definitely adapting to it. </p>

<p>My ideal college for next year would be University of Colorado at Boulder, not taking into account academics. I heard it's one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, and in addition I LOVE the mountains. I realized recently that I want my next college to be near the mountains if at all possible. </p>

<p>So, do you think it would be a terrible idea to transfer to CU? I know the academics aren't the same, but is there an honors program or something to increase the difficulty? My friend who goes there loves everything except the academics which he thinks are too easy for him. </p>

<p>If CU isn't a good idea for me, are there any similar college campuses/settings with stronger academics that I'd be better suited for? Also, I'm planning on going to graduate school, so does anyone have information on how Tufts and CU compare as feeder schools?</p>

<p>Thanks and sorry for the long post.</p>

2

<p>Here’s a CC thread on schools near mountains:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/723568-colleges-near-mountains.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/723568-colleges-near-mountains.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>CU does have an honors program:
[Honors</a> Program | University of Colorado at Boulder](<a href=“http://www.colorado.edu/honors/]Honors”>Arts and Sciences Honors Program | University of Colorado Boulder)</p>

<p>I suppose whether CU is a good choice (apart from the mountains and beautiful campus), partly depends on what field you plan to study.</p>

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<p>I don’t get transferring out of a highly ranked shool for a large step down just for something so frivolous as you don’t like the campus. I see it as a immediate gratification issue vs a longer term payoff. This is just for 3 more years.</p>

<p>Tufts will likely serve you better, it likely has a higher grad school admit rate. Check the stats for each school. </p>

<p>Research grad schools in the mountains. Research companies in th mountains for later. School location is a benefit sometimes, but it isn’t like choosing a vacation destination there are lots more considerations more important than location.</p>

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<p>I’m inclined to agree with BrownParent but in case you aren’t convinced, I’ll suggest a school where the location is an important element of the academic quality.</p>

<p>For general arts and science education (not engineering etc.) the strongest school in Colorado (and probably all of the Rocky Mountain West) is Colorado College. It has a beautiful campus in a mid-sized city at the base of 14,000 foot Pikes Peak. It is similar to a New England liberal arts college but follows an unusual, one-course-at-a-time “block plan”. You take the same number of courses per semester, but in series not in parallel. This schedule takes advantage of the spectacular setting by accommodating field work in subjects such as geology, life sciences, and archaeology. In anatomy classes, students can observe surgeries in a local hospital or perform their own dissections on human cadavers … all without worrying about beating the clock to the next class. Students seem to be a friendly mix of preppy, hippie, intellectual, and midwestern BWRKs (bright well rounded kids). In place of snobby, you get outdoorsy (sometimes with a rather intense, risk-taking bent). The school partially empties out every 3.5 weeks for a 4 day “block break” (which many students use to enjoy winter sports, camping, or service trips).</p>

<p>UC Boulder would be a more or less typical flagship state university except that its campus is indeed one of the most beautiful in America, and the city of Boulder is such a great college town (walkable, bikable, safe, affluent, youth-oriented, with mountains looming overhead and world class skiing a short drive away.) Think about what it would mean, though, to transfer into such a sprawling school after first year friendships (and off-campus living arrangements) already have gelled.</p>

5

<p>Are you an outdoors type? Or are you just looking for a pretty natural setting?</p>

<p>If you enjoy outdoor activities, at least give WVU a look. I doesn’t rank high as the other schools on your list, but it’s a really great college environment. Great campus, very “college town” and is set in the Appalachian Mountains range. If you aren’t familiar, West Virginia is nicknamed the “Mountain State.”</p>

<p>Within 15 minutes of your dorm you have rock-climbing, white water rafting, hiking, camping, fishing, hunting - you name it. I enjoy wildlife photography as a hobby and it’s a great area for that also.</p>

<p>WVU has a really unique student club/program that you may be really interested in! It’s called Adventure West Virginia, and it’s basically a student organization that explores nature that gives class credit in the process. Your classes are outdoors (in the mountains) and it consists of back-packing, rock-climbing, photography, and other opportunities to learn about nature.</p>

<p>[MAP:</a> Adventure West Virginia | Programs | West Virginia University](<a href=“http://adventurewv.wvu.edu/programs]MAP:”>Programs | Adventure WV | West Virginia University)</p>

<p>To explore the different program options, click on the programs link on the left, then use the links on the right of the screen to read the descriptions (Explore WV, Wilderness WV, Habitat WV, Odyssey WV).</p>

<p>There is also a photo gallery on the main page.</p>

<p>There are also planned trips, which are REALLY COOL! They have four international trips (I assume most people just go on 1 or 2) that are completely awesome.</p>

<p>[MAP:</a> International Trips | Home | West Virginia University](<a href=“Adventure WV at West Virginia University”>http://www.adventureinternational.wvu.edu/)</p>

<p>The international trips opportunities are something you really need to look into. If you enjoy mountains, the Adventure WV club recently had trips to the following locations:</p>

<p>Fiji
Patagonia (probably the most incredible mountain range in the world)
Peru
New Zealand</p>

<p>I believe each trips gives you 6 credits.</p>

<p>Explore the link I gave you and take a look at each trips and the photos. They are breathtaking environments, something a mountain lover like yourself would die to see.</p>

<p>Morgantown was recently ranked #10 on Forbes.com best small cities and I believe it was ranked #1 in a different publication.</p>

<p>[#10</a> Morgantown WV - Forbes.com](<a href=“Forbes List Directory”>Forbes List Directory)</p>

<p>WVU has one of the top atheltic programs in the country. BCS Bowls, Final 4’s, ect. The fanbase is known as being on of the most passionate in the country and if school spirit is something you are looking for I’m not sure you could find a school with more of it.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the responses! I am an outdoors type. I think that I’m going to apply to Colorado College among others. I’ve heard that the claremont colleges are near the mountains, is this true? From what I know (I visited them briefly as a sophomore) they’re just outside of LA…if they are near the mountains though and I could get in I think that would be the perfect fit for me.</p>

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<p>Also, I plan on studying econ</p>

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<p>Colorado College is also not on the level of Tufts and may not serve you well if you want to work in Boston or NY. Take a hard look at what you don’t like and make sure you’ll get it, that it’s not a pipedream, before you trade in Tufts!</p>

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<p>Colorado College certainly has a interesting program sure to appeal to like minded students. I have heard good things about it and did meet a happy confident student from there. I suppose there are advantages and disadvantages, but you can delve completely into a subject and the class may even relocate off-site.</p>

<p>The Claremont Colleges enjoy a very good reputation academically. They are located in a suburban part of Los Angeles County, to the South and East, just on the edge of San Bernardino County. It is fairly upscale, with a cute historic downtown and a Village of a few streets that don’t really cater to students, just a little. It is artistic, but fairly conservative.</p>

<p>It sits near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range and Mt Baldy is about 12 miles away. It gets snow but is only ski-able with snow machines and is just basic. There is hiking but you have to have a car to drive up the mountain. Further is better skiing in Big Bear, maybe an hour and a half away.</p>

<p>The beach is about 45 minutes away. You can get there, but you aren’t going to go often and you need a car.</p>

<p>Downtown LA is 40 minutes by car. There is a metro line. Takes longer, isn’t cheap. West LA is more daunting without a car but Santa Monica and Venice Beach sure are fun. Better go to UCLA if that’s where you want to be.</p>

<p>For Econ, look at Claremont McKenna in particular, and Pomona. But I have a feeling that you will also find students at Claremont to be ‘intellectually snobby.’ I think these schools are as selective as Tufts, except for Pitzer and Scripps, so the intellectual component will be high. Also I find that people who use such terms as ‘intellectually snobby’ for college students are self defining a personal attitude or feeling of inferiority. Just my experience, think it over. </p>

<p>At any campus, there are people to take or to leave. It can take a year to '‘find your people’, so expect to go through this year again at a new school.</p>

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<p>Harvey Mudd, Pomona, and Claremont McKenna are all more selective than Tufts. The 75th% M+CR scores for Mudd and Pomona are right behind HYP, and equivalent to MIT’s (1560). So yes, you might be jumping out of the pan and into the fire.

Colorado College is less selective than Tufts, particularly in terms of scores. In selectivity it is comparable to eastern schools like Bates, Colby, or Mt. Holyoke.

I suppose it would vary somewhat depending on the career field. But once you’ve spent much time in the Colorado front range area, you may not have any interest whatsoever in living and working on the east coast. Colorado College is the top school of its kind within a very large region. Tufts is one of many excellent colleges in the northeast.</p>

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<p>DH attended Colorado College as did his sibs and some of their kids are there now. What he would tell you is there’s not a particularly motivated culture there as compared to a Tufts or the Claremont college…and also the similarly rated LACs on the East Coast. Internship and job placement is weak. That said, all appreciate the block plan.</p>

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<p>Sigh…the usual round of freshman follies and transferitis has begun. Which is why its so important to CHECK OUT SCHOOLS THOROUGHLY before you apply and accept an offer of admission, taking a seat from someone else who really wanted to go there in the first place.</p>

<p>If you are that unhappy. Leave. But generally I advise kids to buck up, grow up and buckle down. Focus on studies, not on histrionics and dorm drama.</p>

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<p>Williams and Pomona are not the norm for the entire country.
I agree that the OP should think carefully about why he wants to transfer, and definitely give Tufts a chance. But for some students the mature thing to do is to manage the situation by making a change.</p>

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<p>“I don’t get transferring out of a highly ranked shool for a large step down just for something so frivolous as you don’t like the campus.”</p>

<p>Well, I dunno that I’d go that far. (BTW, got my Master’s at Tufts and actually loved the campus…go figure, LOL. In the immortal words of Prince Orlofsky, chacun a son gout.)</p>

<p>Anyway, though, your comment reminded me of an incident in my own life: I transferred out of a Catholic girls’ academy where I was getting a full ride back to the mediocre public high school in my then-blue collar Massachusetts suburb. My reason? I hated the unform. I was a clothes-horse and wanted to be stylish. DUMB reason! I had great friends at the Catholic academy, and, while the nuns were strict and occasionally downright mean, they were also great teachers. BIG mistake. Oh well, live and learn.</p>

<p>The OP should at least think twice before taking such a huge step. :)</p>

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<p>If Tufts has given you a very good Financial Aid package, it is highly unlikely you will receive the same at another school. Transfers usually do not get same consideration as an incoming freshman does. If you are a full pay student, then maybe FA is not a concern to you & your parents.</p>

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<p>Apply to Dartmouth as a transfer, after having spectacular grades the rest of this year. Hanover is even more beautiful than Boulder, and you might have a chance coming from tufts.</p>

<p>And really? You like pretty campuses and you chose Tufts over USC? Meh</p>

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<p>Thanks again for all the responses. I really didn’t know what I wanted in a college, which turned out to be a big mistake for me. I am a financial aid student, and I wouldn’t go if I didn’t get enough aid so that my family could keep me in schools.</p>

<p>To some of the posters, I’ve thought about the issues surrounding transferring a lot. I think about them all the time. The biggest drawback for me would be to lose my close friends, but I think that I’ll be happier at another school and meet just as good friends. </p>

<p>I’ve also changed my mind somewhat. I’ve been convinced that I shouldn’t choose to go to a school of lesser academic standing just for the setting. That said, I still want to find a school that is of roughly the same standing. I’ve been thinking about Claremont Mckenna and Pomona, because they’re also near the mountains.</p>

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<p>Good luck to you, flightlessbird, in your future endeavors! You may find that Claremont McKenna & Pomona will not be as generous as Tufts was to you as an incoming freshman.</p>

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<p>Washington & Lee should be added to your list as well.</p>