<p>Hi! I am looking for some answers about transferring to another college after a medical leave and withdrawal.</p>
<p>So, my situation is this: In Spring 2011, I was a second-semester junior at a private, prestigious, four-year, liberal arts college. I was put on mandatory (involuntary) medical leave near the end of that semester for psychiatric health reasons. Months later, in January 2012, I dropped out entirely / I formally withdrew (I met with the Dean, signed the form, and everything.) My transcript has a lot of W's on it, but other than that the grades are not bad (except for two B-'s and a C, all the rest of the grades are somewhere between and including B+ and A.) My cumulative GPA is about 3.4.</p>
<p>I've been thinking about this decision I made ever since then, and wondering if I have any hope of transferring to another college. I'm considering various colleges at the moment, but I don't know if I have much of a hope of getting into any of them. When I was put on leave, I was told that if and when I decided to return, I would have to be cleared by Health & Counselling Services before I could do that. I never did get cleared because I withdrew, and now I suppose the only way to get cleared there would be to reapply there and see if I get in again. I don't want to reapply to my previous college, though, but I'm wondering if this question of medical clearance will follow me as I try to transfer to another school / try to apply to other schools. I also don't know if my having been on involuntary medical leave means I am no longer in good standing at my old college and if that would reflect badly on my chances of transferring too.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any information about this subject? I'd really much appreciate any help.</p>
<p>You need to contact your old college and ask whether or not you are in good standing. If you aren’t, you need to ask what you must do to be in good standing. Only the people there can answer that question for you.</p>
<p>Once you have that sorted out, you can look around for colleges and universities that match your new interests and goals.</p>
<p>What school was this if you dont mind me asking?</p>
<p>Also, I am not sure whether you have to be attending a college at the given moment to be able to transfer. What I am trying to say is I don’t know if you can transfer without presently attending a current institution at the given moment. </p>
<p>Why did you drop out? That was a rash decision…?</p>
<p>I used to attend Mount Holyoke. I dropped out because my health was really, really in a bad place. I am now working through recovery. In some ways it was a rash decision to drop out and in some ways it really wasn’t. </p>
<p>I am pretty sure you do not have to be currently attending a college in order to transfer (I think? Other input on this would be appreciated). </p>
<p>I guess I am confused about the standing / medical clearance thing, but on Mount Holyoke’s site they say if you went on a medical leave you are still considered in good standing with the college. I’m hoping this applies for mandatory (involuntary) medical leaves as well. I might try to contact them about this, I’m not sure.</p>
<p>Mostly I am worried about whether the issue of medical clearance would follow me elsewhere, and whether I have any chances of getting in anywhere or not. I plan to be honest about the circumstances surrounding my medical leave and college performance, and hope for the best. Mostly I am posting here because I am looking for advice about what kinds of colleges to consider, what kind of information to give in my personal essays, whether other people have had similar experiences and what they did, and how I should go about this whole process in general.</p>
<p>Adcoms know that you’re human. It’s not like every single transfer student is perfectly healthy without problems. Some end up dropping courses or miss a semester or two due to health problems. They will likely want to know why you missed ‘x’ amount of semesters or why you dropped ‘x’ amount of classes. They may not ask you directly but in your transfer app there should be an additional comments section where you can explain. </p>
<p>Their biggest concern for this is the course work load or if you will have future health problems and may end up missing school or dropping out altogether.</p>
<p>Thank you for the message! I have already dropped out of my previous college completely, so that’s definitely something I’m going to have to explain when/if I apply to new colleges. I do want to talk about my process of recovery (which I’m still going through, of course) and stuff.</p>