Hello,
I transferred from abroad (cultural studies) to Mount Holyoke College with first-year standing. At first, I wanted to do econ and international relations. However, I ended up dislike both of them and enjoy mathematics and neuroscience instead, but MHC’s course selction for both majors are very small. There aren’t a lot of classes offerred each semester. Although I could take math classes through 5 College Consortium, neuroscience isn’t very different from what we have at MHC.
So, I’m considering transferring to another college. I’m looking at UCLA in particular since I heard that the research opportunities are great although the class size is very big. Also, they have done pretty well with grad school acceptance for neurosci students. In addition to UCLA, I’m also looking at Penn, Dartmouth, and UCSD.
However, I kind of worry about grad school admission since some people have commented on CC that transferring more than once would come across as indecisive or the student does not have cope with academics from previous schools and keep transferring to find the easier one.
Aside from that, I’m a bit hesitated to transfer again since I really love MHC and its close-knit community between professors and students. I feel like if I go to UCLA or any other research universities, I might not get the same experience. I have another option is study abroad at UCL and take neurosci classes there but I might have to drop mathematics major, which is the last thing I want to do. Also, I don’t know if I’ll have access to research experience like other UCL students since I’m just a visiting while I’ll definitely have one at MHC if I try (both academic year and summer).
Should I stick with MHC or transfer? I would love some advice since it is very tough for me to decide.
Stay where you are. If you like the school and can get research experience, the fact that you cannot take specialized courses in neuroscience is not as important. If you get good grades and have strong GRE scores and letters of reference, you can get into a solid graduate program and there you can take any remedial courses necessary.
I transferred twice and am curious what others’ thoughts are on this. I think the red flags come out if you’re trading down, inconsistent in your academic performance, or constantly changing majors. In my case, I went from community college to a university. It was too expensive living away from home and the environment wasn’t very challenging, so I transferred again to a higher ranked LAC I could commute to. I’ve received feedback that it won’t matter much, but may be considered if you’re applying to very competitive programs (though this feedback was mainly because I attended a community college at all).
That being said, I agree that course selection isn’t really enough to require a transfer if you otherwise love the environment and have research opportunities. A smaller environment can also help you build more relationships, which can translate into strong recommendations.
Stay where you are!
You don’t need to change your university every time you change your major. Unless you are a sufficiently advanced student in math, there should be enough classes in math at MHC and the 5 Colleges for you to take to graduate with a solid math major. And if MHC has a major in neuroscience (which it appears it does), then it has enouth classes for you to take to get into graduate school. There’s also a neuroscience graduate program at UMass-Amherst where you could take graduate courses if you really crush it in the undergrad ones. You don’t need a super-large bevy of classes to take in your major; there are only so many you can take, and you really only need 10 or so. Since it sounds like you love the community and environment and you have what you need to get a major in those areas, then stay put.
Transferring a lot can look kind of bad to graduate admissions committees - you do look indecisive, and people start speculating on the meaning of the transfers. It’s hard to adequately explain well in a statement, too. But there are some transfers that are different and don’t ‘count’ - like transferring from a CC to a university (people expect that). Someone transferring from a CC to a large four year university to a selective LAC - that’s different; that path seems to make sense even without further explanation. Someone transferring from UCL to MHC to UCLA, I would wonder about that path.
Thank you for all replies! To clarify, I transferred from a university in Asia not UCL. In addition, course selection is not the only reason I want to transfer (even though sometimes a major could not get in a major requirement class because there are too many people and they couldn’t accommodate them all). Although I love the academic environment here, I really dislike social life. People are too far-left for me and I speak as a liberal myself.