<p>Hi I am a freshman at UCSD with sophmore standing, with undeclared major though I want to go into bioengineering. I have only been here for 1 quater and am currently in my second. And I am extremely homesick. I hate the fact that UCSD is 2-3 hours away from where I live so I can only go home every other weekend. And I could only spend 1 or 2 days at home with my family. I don't think I can stand another 4 or 5 years of this, so I was wondering if I should transfer to UCLA which is closer to home. Would transfering from UC to UC mean that I would have to spend even more time at school because I also plan on going to Med school? Or would there be a better method to transfer like UC to JC to UC or UC to CSU to UC? Thanks</p>
<p>You have to be a junior at the time you would enroll at UCLA, sounds like you should have no trouble meeting that requirement after one more year in college. Its too late to apply now even if you’d have enough units this Fall, you’ll have to wait until next November to apply. CC students have highest priority for xfer, then UC students, then all others. UCLA gives highest preference to CC students that have participated in the TAP program so you might want to take that into account if you go the CC route. </p>
<p>Since this is an advice forum, here is my advice. If you are going home every other weekend you’re probably not forming strong connections at UCSD. The people around you in the dorm have only seen you around 4 or 5 weekends so might not really know you that well as one of their neighbors, although I bet your roomate loves having the place empty 1/2 the time! Being homesick is not uncommon among new students, but the way many choose to fight it is by building new bonds at school. This means building a circle of friends, taking part in clubs on campus, the social activities provided by the dorm, etc. Going home so often is just reminding you what you are missing, and makes you go thru the separation thing time and again. </p>
<p>I know some families are very close, that’s an admirable thing. Even kids from close families can go away to college, but it is certainly true some kids decide/prefer to stay close to home. In the end you need to decide which way to go. Think thru, though, all the implications of what your life would be like in the various options before you decide.</p>
<p>Bioengineering to go to medical school? While ambitious that seems like an unusually difficult and impractical route to take. Any engineering major is tough and is going to be very competitive to pull the GPA you’ll want to get for admissions into top notch med schools. Also, even more so when your school is ranked in the top 5 in the nation for that major. US News ranked UCSD above MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and UCLA for BioE grad school. It’s also worth considering it has a laundry list of requirements, which in addition to the medical school requirements will likely take a decent while to finish. My guess is 5 years if you’re really focused and committed, but it sounds like you’re still a little unsure of what you want to major in and your plans after graduating. Don’t take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you’re still fairly young and figuring things out in terms of both the social and academic areas of your life. It’s just my opinion, but I think sticking it out at UCSD could be beneficial for you in the the long run and will only help you to mature and be more independent, which is something that will undoubtedly help you later in life. I think you should really try to stick it out at UCSD and really make a genuine attempt to try to immerse yourself into the campus here and if after a year you feel the same way then apply to transfer next November to UCLA. I actually really recently talking to a senior here that just graduated last term, Fall 2012, and she really didn’t like it here at first. Long story short, the opposite is now true and she’s pretty depressed that she’s finished, so don’t feel like you’re alone in that regard. It really is a big change, so it’s natural that the transition to life here isn’t always smooth at first. I think that’s the case for a lot of people that go away to college. </p>
<p>I really agree with what mikemac said, if every other week you’re thinking of leaving and going back to LA then you’re really not giving yourself a chance to get comfortable here and form new bonds with people that would actually help you get over feeling homesick. To me it actually sounds like you’re actually more struggling to make bonds with people hereon campus which is why you feel homesick because you don’t feel like you have the same relationships and support system here. If you’re struggling to find people you really connect with on campus then you need to try to extend yourself more and participate in clubs, orgs, or events that are going to get you to interact with people that you’ll share common interests with and hopefully establish good friendships with. It’s one thing to be shy, I’m a naturally shy person, but you can’t be complacent and expect things to get better if you don’t try to change them. It’s funny I was really in a similar position. Fall 2012 was my first quarter here to and I moved down from LA not knowing anyone. Even worse, I live off campus by myself so I don’t constantly see people in the dorms are anything. What helped me was really going out and trying to participate in everything I could during welcome week. You’d be surprise just how many people you can that you’ll find common ground with just by going to things on campus. </p>
<p>As far as transferring you should be fine transferring to UCLA as long as you’re proactive in figuring out what courses at UCSD satisfy their requirements. To do that you’re probably going to need figure out your major, so you can start on the pre-reqs and you’ll need to finish your GE requirements. If you’re dead set on transferring CC is always the easiest option as classes are less competitive and it’s easy using resources like Assist.org to figure out exactly what courses you need to transfer. It would also be a cheaper option. If you decide to transfer from UCSD it’d probably be wise to get in contact with a UCLA admission rep early to figure out which classes you should be taking here. Anyway, good luck! Whatever you choose I’m sure you’ll eventually find happiness, just remember sometimes it takes time. :)</p>