<p>PLEASE take her to a counselor ASAP!! It’s not a race to see how fast she can graduate from college. A counselor can help her figure out what she wants to do and evaluate whether she is depressed.</p>
<p>From personal experience, I know how hard it is to let your child take a break, but it can mean the difference between long-term failure or success.</p>
<p>I agree about the counseling. Something about the story just doesn’t compute–somebody that active, in those particular ECs, would, I think, but a surprising example of somebody who was unhappy and wanted to transfer.</p>
<p>But it is true that weather can be a huge issue for some people.</p>
<p>Not fitting in/enjoying one’s choice of college does not equal depression. As a So. Cal transplant I completely understand your DD’s p.o.v. As another poster mentioned upthread, east coast culture is different than the west. If after a year, she realizes she’s happier at home, then what’s wrong with USC?
If she wants film she should also consider UCLA and Chapman.</p>
<p>It does not guarantee that she is depressed, but she COULD be! A layperson cannot tell.</p>
<p>I’m betting that she’s not depressed, just an hyp student with a 3.8 GPA and a good head on her shoulders who wants something else, and with reasonably good reasons.</p>
<p>I think talking about “depression” is premature. Maybe she knows exactly what she’s doing, but asking to move from an HYP to a CC seems very unusual, no? </p>
<p>With regard to counselor, therapist, etc, credential is not as important as experience and maybe word of mouth. But you want somebody who calls themselves a “therapist”, not a counselor, since “counseling” credentials tend to be pretty narrowly focused. Lots of kids struggle in school, so there should be at least a few therapists who have good experience sorting this out.</p>
<p>My D had an awful first year, although I didn’t didn’t realize how bad until she was heading back after winter break. She wanted to transfer, but by the summer, wanted to give it another go. She did therapy, and some things got better, or she adapted.</p>
<p>If your daughter is willing to use therapy, I would jump on it.</p>
<p>I think talking about depression is also premature. OMG I’ve agreed with mini more than 3x in the last two days. Good grief, the OP’s D doesn’t like her school and wants to transfer. If the OP had not uttered a word about HYP ask yourselves if your answer would be different.</p>
<p>It’s not that she was at HYP that makes me wonder if she’s depressed, but the fact that she was in such high-energy activities, and is now comtemplating going to a CC.</p>
<p>Of course, she may have been disappointed by cheerleading at those schools, and with sports and school spirit in general.</p>
<p>^ The good news is, we don’t have to try to evaluate her from here! (insert smiley face with a wink).</p>
<p>I think many kids and parents underestimate the power of “fit” into the college decision. I do think that almost all freshman have some adjustment issues into their new environment and it is only when they find their “people” that they tend to really start enjoying the experience. This could very well be just a poor fit socially for the OP’s daughter. At the end of the day, IMO, the kid should be in an environment that satisfies them academically and socially…education is not all academic.</p>
<p>“OMG I’ve agreed with mini more than 3x in the last two days.”</p>
<p>I must be slipping ;), or you’ve found religion. :)</p>
<p>I had a friend in HS transfer from Northwestern back to a school in NYC because </p>
<p>“minus 87 degrees with the windchill does not support human life”. </p>
<p>What you can handle is all relative. </p>
<p>Your D needs to make herself happy. HYP isn’t cutting it. USC probably would - fer sure. </p>
<p>Have her do one more semester at HYP and transfer back to USC in Jan, when we on the east coast are freezing our butts off.</p>
<p>I’ve known several student who took leaves from the ivies and gone to community colleges. Eventually, they went back, but I believe it is called burnout. In other words, I don’t find the talk of a cc weird at all. Her first choice is to transfer to USC. A second option is cc and then USC.</p>
<p>I suspect the school is Yale rather than Princeton.</p>
<p>Yale has sororities. They’ve been more popular in the past few years than they used to be, but members are decidedly in a minority and, frankly, a lot of Yalies write off anyone who goes near them. It’s fairly easy to get to be a cheerleader because not all that many people want to be. </p>
<p>I honestly can see why someone who enjoys sorority life and cheerleading might be less than thrilled to be at Yale. At other colleges, participating in those activities would increase your social status a lot more than doing them at Yale does.</p>
<p>Having said that, your D should recognize that if she switches to a school like USC, she might not be able to be a cheerleader. I don’t know how easy/hard it is to rush as a sophomore.</p>
<p>I agree completely with the posters who are in favor of transferring and feel this daughter has good reasons.</p>
<p>My closest friend in college was from Southern California. Our college was fantastic - - a wonderful, top 10 liberal arts education in a fantastic northeastern city. She just was NOT happy. The weather was really hard on her. She stuck it out, but I can totally see how she probably would have been much happier had she transferred. I don’t necessarily agree that your daughter is depressed, but she may just not like the northeastern culture and weather. Trust me, I lived in upstate NY for 20 years, and it wears on even the most tolerant. For those who aren’t used to it - - the lack of sunlight and outdoors time can be very rough. I’d definitely encourage her to transfer to the very excellent USC and see how she does. Always time to see a counselor after that . . .and if she has to go to a CC for a little while to effect the transfer, I’d let her do that too.</p>
<p>Also, I lived for three summers during my college years in the San Diego area and the people are very different . . .it’s a warm and friendly culture. Northeasterners can be pretty cutthroat. I went to a lot of parties at Harvard . . .hmmm. . .I seriously doubt the vibe there is in any way, shape, or form comparable to USC.</p>
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<p>Many students and parents do not have the luxury of considering fit beyond the minimum of affordability and suitable academics. However, if the student can get into a super-selective school and has parents who can comfortably full-pay anywhere, such a student can be much pickier about fit than most can (although options become more restricted once the student has attended college and is now thinking of transferring).</p>
<p>Jonri, Harvard and Princeton both have sororities now. But I think what you say would be true at any of the schools.</p>
<p>However, Princeton officially discourages affiliation with fraternities and sororities, and prohibits frosh from affiliating with them.</p>
<p>[Fraternities</a> and Sororities at Princeton - Office of the President](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/president/pages/20111026/]Fraternities”>http://www.princeton.edu/president/pages/20111026/)</p>
<p>Friend’s daughter had similar experience. Disliked elite college and much to Mom’s dismay transferred to state flagship, was happy as a clam. Ended up at Harvard for grad school. Sometimes the kids actually get it right.</p>
<p>Based on what was written in the original post, it sounds more like the HYP school was not a good fit, rather than anything related to depression or something you’d see a psychologist about. Getting good grades and actively participating in ECs certainly does not mean the college is a good fit. You said she is looking for better social life, better greek system, better sports and school spirit and better sun; which are certainly not unique reasons for preferring one college to another. If she is indeed interested in being a film producer, USC has one of the best film schools in the world.</p>
<p>If you want to balance prestige with sun, sports, and school spirit; Stanford may be a better a fit than HYP. It has highly ranked division 1 programs, winning several national championships most years. The football team has gone to a BCS bowl each of the past 3 years. It also has a good marketing programming (another possible career she mentioned), ranked above HYP. However, it doesn’t have the degree of greek life that she’d find at USC.</p>