Hi I’m a sophomore at Union College in New York. Union’s ranked 36th in US News’s Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings and is known as a Little Ivy. For people in the know in the Northeast, Union is a top notch institution. Would transferring to American University(Ranked 69th in US News’s National Universities section) be a massive downgrade? Would people be puzzled at why I downgraded schools?
why are you looking to transfer?
I’m looking to transfer because Union is in the middle of nowhere, dominated by Greek Life, and filled with rude NeW England prepsters. Plus, i’m looking to change my major from History to Journalism or Communications. That’s not my question though. I am wondering what people would think of it.
I would not be concerned at all with the ‘ratings’ difference, or what people would think. Union is not inherently superior or inferior to American. If Union is not a good personal fit for you, then considering to transfer is a good idea. American would perhaps be ideal for your interests. And because American is a mid-size university, it will have more transfer slots open than a small selective LAC. One of the biggest factors to consider is cost. And any college consiering you as a transfer will look primarily at your first years of college, so keeps your grades up.
I don’t think that the cost difference between Union and AU is huge. However, transfer students may not get as much aid at AU. If this is not that much of a concern, or if your over-arching desire is to be studying in a more metropolitan area, then by all means you should consider transferring.
What is important is that AU has a great Communications program, and their contacts and networking possibilities are much more than you would find in Schenectady. Also, AU does not have the huge amount of New England prepsters that Union has. There are people who go Greek at AU, but NOTHING like at Union. Good luck!
You might want to also check out Marist or Syracuse for your intended major. Good luck!
If a school doesn’t have a strong program in your area of study, no one will question a transfer to another school that does. It is always important to frame a transfer as a move TO somewhere rather than FROM somewhere.
To be honest I really hate to see students make decisions based on “rankings”. A top ranked school is not a guarantee for anything - you may not be happy there (which I think that you discovered for yourself), your particular degree may not be as good or better than others in the same field, and you may not get a great job/grad school after graduation - I guess you get accolades for getting in to someplace selective. One of our state schools is ranked 87th in regional universities but it beats every school in the state for graduate job placement - including Washington University ranking 18th in national universities. Ronald Nelson got into all eight Ivy League universities, but in the end, he decided on the University of Alabama.
With all of that being said American’s Communications Program ranks 5th in the nation, so I think it’s safe to say that their communications program is much better than Union’s. You can say that you transferred for a better education in your field of study. FYI Niche does not separate schools by categories but ranks them all together Union ranks 142 and American ranks 150 and that’s a statistically insignificant difference.