I’m a second year at UCLA, and am very grateful to go to this school. The professors are amazing and there are so many opportunities here when there isn’t a pandemic. However, my real passion in life is training horses, and I can’t bring my horse in training to LA. I tried to stick it out my first year but my mental health took a major toll. I buried myself in school work and was extremely overwhelmed, making very few friends and struggling. Now that there’s a pandemic, I’m back home working with my horse and balancing school and my small social life very well.
I’m a biology major and have a 3.74 GPA as of the end of my first year. I know I sound super ungrateful but I applied to UCLA on a whim, and somehow got in here and not the University of Wisconsin where I was planning on bringing my horse and studying biology or animal science. Deep down, I didn’t think UCLA would be a great fit, but I tried to make myself fit here and I don’t think I do. UCLA does not have an animal science program and there isn’t much I can do with a B.S. or Masters in Biology. I don’t see myself being very happy in a medical career which makes a lot of money to support my horse hobby, so I think I want to try working towards making my passion into a career while still going to college.
Sadly, this means I’ll need to transfer out of UCLA. I want to go to a school where the outdoors are readily accessible and am asking for suggestions of where to apply to transfer.
(Alternatively, I could stick it out two more years, get my B.S. in biology, and earn a Masters somewhere that’s a better fit. This would lower my chances of following my passion, but I may get the chance to study abroad (I couldn’t do that with a horse at college). Please tell me what you think.)
Where would you intend to transfer to?
What state are you from? Are you in-state in Wisconsin?
What do you want to be doing 10 or 20 years from now? I will admit that this is not really a fair question since there are so many options and almost No One knows what they will be doing that far in advance, but I am curious what your current thoughts are.
U.Wisconsin is a great university. I have worked with people from there, and visited a few times when we were doing a joint project with some very strong faculty and students there. Regarding any perceived “prestige” difference between UCLA and U.Wisconsin, personally I would not worry about it.
I don’t know, I’m looking for suggestions. I’m from Illinois. I want to stay out of the Midwest. I’m considering University of Washington Seattle; it was my second choice after UCLA and probably a better fit for me. I have friends at University of Wisconsin, and it seems like the party (and drinking) culture is huge which is a drawback for me. The university waitlisted me early action, regular action, in June, and then denied me in August 2019 so I’m not very eager to try applying again. In 10 or 20 years in an ideal world, I want to be working with horses in Europe.
Why not seek out an animal science program here on the West Coast?
Here in CA, I believe UC Davis, Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona have Animal Science programs.
What about Cornell? They have an equestrian team, an equine hospital, an animal science program and a veterinary school. And they accept transfer students.
I concur about Cal Poly SLO, Pomona or UC Davis. All have Animal science programs, Equestrian centers on campus, UC Davis has a Vet school and Equine Research and all have horse boarding facilities nearby.
UW-Seattle does not have an Animal science major.
Agree that UC-Davis might be a fit for you.
Consider Colorado State University. Has a great vet school; not sure about undergrad programs.
Back here in the northeast UVM (University of Vermont) has a very good animal sciences program. It has a farm relatively close to campus (I remember cows, but since they have an equestrian team there must be horses somewhere). I think that UNH and U.Mass Amherst are also worth looking at. I am pretty sure that they all have equestrian teams.
Out west I know that Colorado State, Oregon State, and Washington State all have very good veterinary schools. To me this suggests that it is worth looking at their animal sciences programs.
Quote of the day:
“…since they have an equestrian team there must be horses somewhere.” 
Thank you !
Colorado State, Washington State, Iowa State, Kansas State, UCDavis, all have good vet schools, equestrian teams, horses, animal science programs, For example I know Kansas State has an equine certificate program within the animal science degree.
Several of my son’s friends were in that and training their horses while they were in school. (He is now in vet school there). I know Colorado State has a great program too. https://catalog.k-state.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=28&poid=7888