<p>I am currently a freshman at an extremely selective, tiny liberal arts college. I'm considering transferring to Rutgers University. This is mostly because I really don't like the environment a small school produces. I feel incredibly limited in terms of opportunities by both the isolation and closeness of my school - I don't enjoy having my life limited to a square mile space and feel very constrained. It just makes me feel like a child more than a college student. Part of that is my school specifically (location, my lack of a car, and the structure of things here in general regarding freshman social life & etc), but I can't help think that I'd feel similarly at any other small college. I really don't enjoy knowing everyone i pass by and getting a ton of personal attention - I generally learn better through listening to lectures than class discussions either way, and am a pretty determined person so I am not worried about having to make an effort to get to know my professors. Also, the academics here are kind of underwhelming and fairly easy (the only people who seem to be having a really hard time are science or math majors.) I don't feel challenged here at all and remember working much harder in high school. My general disappointment with this place is making me question of it's really worth the extra money when I could be attending a state school, where I probably would have been happier in the first place, for close to free.</p>
<p>Mostly I am just wondering if anyone has ever made a similar transfer. It seems fairly unusual as I never hear about people transferring out of top LACs (especially mine) - I think it's much more common to transfer out of a big university. It's also a huge drop in prestige and this kind of worries me as well. I'd like to hear about your experiences, why you decided to transfer, and if things worked out well. I don't know if this is the best place to ask about this since most people seem to be pretty enthusiastic about small schools, but my experience with one has showed me that it is really not for everyone.</p>