<p>I'm currently a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill, having just finished my freshman year there with a 3.89 GPA. The campus is beautiful and there is a lot to do there, but I'm considering transferring to Rutgers New Brunswick. </p>
<p>UNC:
Pros: Great academic, high rankings, pretty campus
Cons: far away, out of state, poor social lifestyle </p>
<p>Rutgers:
Pros: close to home, instate tuition, more welcoming atmosphere, want to apply to Rutgers Medical School
Cons: not as good of a school/rankings as UNC</p>
<p>After undergrad I want to apply and hopefully attend Rutgers Medical School and I'm leaning towards transferring to Rutgers since I didn't have a great time my freshman year at UNC. The only thing holding me back is how much each degree would affect what medical school I get into or if it makes a huge impact when trying to find a job. I know Rutgers is definitely increasing its reputation but its nowhere on the same level as UNC. Is it worth while to suck it up at UNC for a better degree or transfer to Rutgers even though in the future im planning to go to Rutgers Medical School?</p>
<p>Your alma mater matters next to nothing in the eyes of the med schools. That includes going to Rutgers u/g in the eyes of Rutgers MS. In fact, it might be argued that you’ll have less competition if you DON’T go to Rutgers u/g. Transferring for any of these reasons is worthless.</p>
<p>Your unhappiness at UNC is noteworthy, yet it didn’t affect your GPA. Is it possible to identify the causes of your unhappiness and address them without moving home? Also write down how you know that Rutgers won’t have those problems. Then write down why you think your happiness for the next three years cannot be improved without transferring. </p>
<p>From my point of view as a parent, there are better solutions than transferring that might even be better for you than moving closer to home.</p>
<p>Name means very little. Med school depends on GPA and MCAT score. Which would be better for those?</p>
<p>Well I’m unahappy at UNC not only because its far from home but I haven’t really fit in. Majority of kids at UNC are instate so a lot of weekends they either go home or during breaks I’m stuck at home. Furthermore, when I’m at UNC I never have the option to come home whenever I want, it’s only during winter or summer breaks once I book a flight. I dont want to say UNC is super “nerdy” but I still haven’t been able to make a close group of friends. In addition, a lot of life revolves around greek life so since I wasn’t in a sorority there isn’t much to do freshman and sophomore year on the weekends until you’re old enough to go to bars. </p>
<p>If i were to go to Rutgers I’d be a 40 minute drive away which would allow me to come home whenever I please. Plus, as a Rutgers student I’d be able to network more and gain professor recommendations for Rutgers Med which would definitely help more since I’m planning on living in the North East. In addition, I’ve been to Rutgers multiple times and it feels more of a home feeling and fit in more, but I ended up choosing UNC because of its academic reputation. </p>
<p>OP, rankings should not be part of your decision to stay or leave a school. The cons you listed for UNC really aren’t substantial. Aside from being far from home and not having friends, I’m not sure you have any viable reasons. I think you should stay. If your parents have no problem paying for UNC, just enjoy your time there. If you don’t have a lot of friends, you need to be doing more to make friends. Hang out with people when they head home. Take road trips with them. Stay at their house if you need to. You aren’t going to magically make more friends because you are in NJ instead of NC. </p>
<p>Thank you for your thinking. In 2010, 50 freshmen at UNC-CH came from New Jersey. This is the most recent year for which there is data, but there’s no reason to suspect a precipitous drop off in recent years. There were 34 from PA and 74 from NY suffering much the same situation as you. </p>
<p>Are you telling me that you cannot find any NJ residents at UNC with whom you could commiserate, bum a ride home, or found a Jersey Club? Did you put yourself out there to make friends beyond the sorority, local, and NC populations? </p>
<p>I’ll admit that I’m someone who finds it difficult to believe that in a population of over 18K undergrads you couldn’t find a dozen with whom you could find common interests enough to assuage your homesickness and hook you up with rides home. There’s a reason you went so far from home in the first place, and there’s a reason you’re asking for our help. But if all that’s holding you back from going is that you’re afraid Rutgers’ reputation will affect your ability to attend a med school, by all means rest assured that it will not and that you can go to Rutgers without any negative effects on your chances of acceptance.</p>
<p>There is a reason why most of the parents are telling you to stick it out at UNC. The transition from Freshman year to sophomore year can be the toughest. I too was miserable, lonely and angry after Freshman year and a lot of my Sophomore year as well. But I was from Texas and going to school in NJ! I was homesick and poor - no match for the wealthy students and sexist professors at PU - I waited tables at the dining clubs and washed dishes at Commons while the other kids partied in the city and the Hamptons on the weekends. Out of the blue one day I received a letter in the mail from an elderly gentleman from the Class of 1914!! He just simply asked if there was anything he could help me with. That random act of kindness changed my life forever. He talked me into staying at Princeton and told me he had gone through the exact same thing in 1910. Can you imagine?? What a dear, sweet man! He wrote long letters to me for an entire year - I still have them. And he was so happy that women had invaded that ridiculous male bastion. I spent my first two years fighting PU at every turn; and spent my last two loving every single minute. I met my husband there and still talk to my old roommates weekly. Please try one more year at UNC; you just need to find some good friends and find your footing. If you leave now you will always wonder what it would have been like if you had stayed. I wish you the best.</p>
<p>Yep, the reasons stated aren’t good reasons to leave, but you won’t be disadvantaged if you leave for RU <em>assuming</em>that<em>you</em>stick<em>with</em>pre-med.</p>
<p>Key queston, though:
Are finances part of the equation? Do parents care about paying more for UNC?</p>