Transferring Universities as a Senior

Hello, everyone, I will admit I’m nervous being on a forum, but I’ve seen a lot of good advice given here, and I am in need of some of that right now.

Background:
I attended a community college in Texas for two years; graduated with an Associates Degree in General Studies with Honours, Phi Theta Kappa, Sigma Delta Kappa, etc. I had gone to China my last semester to get my certification in TEFL, and I did. I changed my major to Art from English before graduating.

I then transferred to a public four-year university, in Texas, that had a new art major that matched exactly what I wanted. After the first month of attending, I regretted coming. No feelings changed, instead, I became extremely depressed. I have been taking online classes (not through a university) to supplement the education I’m not getting in the classroom. There is only one professor that I can talk to, the others are normally hostile or uncaring. I talked with my prof about it, they said to keep taking my online classes, since the classes here are geared for the most part towards the skill level of the majority of the class, which is mostly lower-level/beginner.

I have a 3.675 GPA, a paid internship not related to the university that I love but the love I originally had for the university and town is gone, and I’m very tired. Every time I go out of town, I literally cry knowing I have to come back. Then I shut down when I am back.

This being said, I want to transfer universities. I have 108 credit hours, only 30 coming from my current university. I researched the number of credits I would have to take at my other potential schools, and they are all 30. Since I take 21 hours a semester generally, I know I could get it done by May, if my current credits transfer (and after comparison, most of them seem to, though I know I’ll need to talk to advising and deans about it). I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to graduate in May, that I will have to attend the future school at least the Fall 2018 semester.

At this point, there is one year left. I want to value my own happiness, as the past year has been hell and nothing seems to be getting better. I do want a Masters degree and don’t want to be in Undergraduate studies longer than I have to be. Believe me when I say I’ve tried, I really, truly have. I worked with my prof, I turned in work I learned in online classes for them to critique (which they were happy with), got a paid internship when none were available, I went to club days, I got a job on the newspaper, went to competitions with my university, I tried the Honours program, I got mental help for past and present issues, I got a cat (which I don’t regret), I moved apartments within my complex to see if that was the issue, etc.

Questions:

Does anyone have advice/experience transferring as a senior transfer student in university?

Does anyone have any advice/experience regarding my current school?

Many colleges require that you complete 3 or 4 semesters at that college regardless of how many credits you have already earned. Check each college.

University of Maryland University College and Penn State World Campus both offer extensive online (and live classes near militery bases) programs. Both will accept up to three years of transfer credit toward thei degree programs. Check out their websites, and then see if any of your own homestate public universities offer anything similar.

Does your university offer the option of a “guest senior year” at a cooperating institution? Sometimes that is possible - especially when a student is ready for advanced work that is not available at their home campus.

Just echoing what Tom said. Most universities will require either 3-4 FULL TIME semesters, or half of the credit hours completed at the institution you’re graduating from.

IF what you really want is to just get it over with and then get a masters degree, then staying at the institution might be your best bet. The other thing is that transfer students get lousy financial aid - is that an issue for you?