Sorry to hear your initial experience isn’t what you hoped. I don’t believe another transfer is in your best interest. Especially if you require a full ride. Not that you’re looking for more school but perhaps a business related masters after you graduate would offer you a more comfortable bridge into the job market:
Transferring can be quite an adjustment especially if you were hoping your experience would be better than your prior school. It takes months to acclimate to a new job, so does acclimating to a new school. Give yourself and your classmates a chance.
I did read a good quote the other day regarding transferring and buyer’s remorse that went something like:
While the grass may seem brown, it isn’t always greener elsewhere, you just need to stay and water where you are.
Columbia has wonderful resources and obtaining a degree in humanities from there will not relegate you to a lifetime of unemployment. You will determine what happens when you graduate. As far as internships make sure you’re casting a wide net.
This whole “humanities students can’t get jobs” malarkey is ridiculous. I know English and History majors from Columbia & comparable who are very happily employed, making mad money in MC, IB and other jobs.
OP, you have an explanation for why everything is impossible- and you are more wrong than right. You are the key variable here, and you seem to be stuck. Take a leave of absence if you need to. Change therapists if you aren’t getting anywhere. But
No, I wouldn’t be. Pretty sure that what I know >>> than what you think. Really, your comment validates my point that your ability to accurately evaluate yourself, your position and your options is problematic at the moment.
You need to talk to your guidance and career counselors. What are you interested in? Surely Columbia can hook you up with an internship and then you will have marketable college experience.
When I toured Columbia recently they emphasized access to NYC and that excepting Engineering majors all kids generally had Fridays free, enabling the students to obtain meaningful full internships.
Transfering is hard, but you will make friends and I bet the transfers student club will take you.
This is so not true. Your logic that being at Columbia will lead to no job post grad and Alabama will makes zero sense. Both colleges can lead to jobs.
I’m glad you are seeing a therapist. I am wondering if you are being overly picky with the internships you are applying to. Is it possible you are missing something in your cover letters, or making a mistake in your interviews? You said the career center is useless. Try again. Ask them to look at your cover letter, your resume, help you prep for interviews, and keep looking at all the offerings that come into the career center.
Throw yourself into anything you can on campus. Or get a job. Or volunteer. Keep busy so that you have less time to dwell on negative thoughts.
You keep running and running. Maybe just give yourself a bit of time to stand still and find a path forward. Try not to react, but rather, respond.
There’s always grad school. They would love a Columbia grad with a 3.5+ GPA. With some effort in humanities it will go higher.
A college friend was a NMF and got a full ride to Cincinnati Law. He’s now a partner in a prestigious law firm in NYC. There are also many one year masters programs.
You’ll find your people at CU if you give it more time and dig into your classes.
I think you should try to bloom where you are planted for the semester. Right now you are planted in an amazing city and at a university that has resources to help you. What you are feeling can be fairly common at this point in the semester, but it sounds like there is a little more in this case.
Getting a job on campus will help you make friends and build your resume to get internships down the road:
Go see your advisor and figure out your major/concentration situation. I can not imagine they could not match up more of the required core classes with your transcript so you can focus on a major or concentration. There will be some overlap in classes with your core and your major/concentration, so that will help you get this done in 4 semesters.
Nearly all of those kids are either very well-connected (unfortunately not me) or very high achieving college students (also not me). Otherwise, the average middle class humanities majors at Columbia are all filled with severe regrets (at least according to the dozen or so Columbia alums I’ve talked to).
No, I wouldn’t be. Pretty sure that what I know >>> than what you think . Really, your comment validates my point that your ability to accurately evaluate yourself, your position and your options is problematic at the moment.
Did you read transfer apps for Columbia? Did you or your kid transfer to Columbia? If not, I’m genuinely curious why you think you have the authority to know more about how Columbia treats transfer GPAs than me.
Any grad school that takes me would leave me deeply in debt, as the fully funded ones require a much better transcript than mine. I’ll take a hard pass on that.
Surely Columbia can hook you up with an internship
HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Seriously, what is it with the CCers who think that Ivies are magical and will somehow magically “hook me up” with an internship out of thin air? I’ve gone to Columbia’s Career Office multiple times and they’ve been NO HELP whatsoever (even when I met with the director) in terms of finding internships. They literally told me to “email around places and see what pops up!” when I asked them if they could help me find internships during the school year and over the summer.
It’s widely accepted among most students Columbia’s Career Office is not helpful at all. The reason why Columbia students get good jobs after graduation is despite, not because, of the career office. That’s mainly because of personal and club connections, all of which are cut off to me. Even most finance and consulting places rarely hold general sessions for the student body at Columbia – instead, they’ll host more intimate sessions with finance clubs like 116th and Lionfund (that also happen to be incredibly selective).
Going to an Ivy if you’re from a middle class background like me is absolutely pointless. The “connections” from an Ivy go to the already well-connected. Not sure why so many CC posters believe these schools lead to connections when it’s the students themselves (again in spite of the school, not because of it) who are able to get connections through the club members and family/friends. Which isn’t available to me. There’s a reason why the Dale and Kruger study showed that there’s no pay-off for an Ivy education for students who are not low-income.
Nothing contradictory in the above post at all. You need to be busy being a student at Columbia. Transferring again and again takes time and energy…and doesn’t encourage you to make the investment in settling in where you are.
There are plenty of Columbia grads in the humanities who get jobs.
Re: internships….get yourself a job…any job. Do this while you are an undergrad at Columbia. There are help wanted signs all over the place. Your job history and commitment to work will be valuable. So get moving. It will also give you a means to meet some people and earn some extra money.
Forgot to mention that I have a work-study job at Columbia and also at my old Ivy. Neither were (nor are) helpful in finding friends, and despite my part-time work experience during the school year, I’m getting rejected from everything left and right. So much for “getting your foot in the door.”
You are missing the point! Having a job gives you work experience to put on your resume.
How do you know that transferring again will change anything you are having difficulty adjusting to….at both college one and college two?
Really. If you are so unsure…take a leave of absence if Columbia allows this. Work full time. Go to counseling. College will be there at any point in the future.
Chasing colleges is not going to solve whatever issues you have with getting used to a college. College number three could have exactly the same issues as one and two.
I already had and have work experience on my resume (from my work-study job at my old school) and I keep getting rejected everywhere. I’m still going to work part-time at Columbia out of pure financial necessity.
One of my kids went to grad school at Columbia and had many undergrad friends through her on campus job. Many of these friends were her age or a few years older who took time off for various reasons and were returning to finish their degree. Not everybody is “perfect” or connected.
My advice: continue therapy, get a job on campus- any job, join a club that is less competitive or get involved in something off campus (the area is very student friendly) such as volunteering etc. Those opportunities DO exist.
It is not difficult to volunteer in NYC, even with Covid. Both of my kids did this. From there… you will build a resume. That resume, combined with your degree, will land you a job. Will it be the perfect job? No, it won’t, but from there you will move on.
IMO you should not transfer, because the issues you are having will follow you and you will not be happy.
If I go to a state school and do CS/Finance/Accounting/Nursing, I’ll be much happier than the pointless path I’m currently on.
And on that note, if anyone here has any suggestions for states that’ll be friendly for 24 year olds trying to establish residency, please do let me know.
So you will be happy in nursing OR accounting? Have you shadowed or spoken to anybody in these fields?
One of my kids majored in something that many on CC do not recommend because it leads to very low paying jobs. She did not have that experience at all. It’s all about what you take advantage of.
I can assure you that your major is not “useless” and “unemployable.”
No, they are not contradictory. There’s a huge difference between keeping yourself busy so you don’t dwell obsessively on your problems, and running away from your problems.
The problem isn’t the colleges.
As far as Columbia only leading to jobs for rich kids….sorry, but that isn’t true. That’s why I said ask them for help to figure out where you’re going wrong. Or are you being too picky about internships, etc…