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<p>No this happens all the time at University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Some really good thoughts offered already. I feel for your daughter and for you. </p>
<p>If I were in your situation, Iâd let her contemplate transferring, but encourage her to stick out the year. There are a lot of unhappy, homesick, disappointed freshmen everywhere, as has been noted. The college life our freshmen envisioned is often not the one they get for lots of reasons. It takes time to make friends, true friends, in a new environment. Some early dissatisfaction is normal, I think, as she lets go of the dream and finds her place in the reality. </p>
<p>Did you say she was also joining academic clubs, like a physics club? Or an astronomy club? There may be more like minded folks there. If she is a strong math student, is there a group that preps for the Putnam exam? It is over for this year, but for next year. Her research work may put her in contact with more serious students and with more grad students. She may be able to find her circle with them.</p>
<p>My opinion is if she is truly unhappy and determined to transfer, let her figure out where and when. I do think it happens where kids just âdonât fitâ and find another college that works for them, but there are also kids that can never quite find that utopian environment, but do manage to simply put there head down and get undergrad done. I feel for the OP because I imagine itâs pretty hard to listen to when kids are somewhere and not happy.</p>
<p>Violinmama-</p>
<p>I would recommend taking her original application to a counseling professional for a quick review. See if you can find someone whoâs willing to do a consultation without requiring you to buy the whole gamut of services. The reason I make this recommendation is not so that the you can have a professional package your daughter, but so that you can have someone who doesnât know her take a fresh look at what she submitted last time.</p>
<p>I think itâs unlikely her application was torpedoed by a lack of community service. Whatâs more probable is that the tone of some piece of her application was off-her recommendations were blase, her essay came off as false or egotistical. Sometimes itâs hard for someone who knows an applicant well to hear the tone of an application because theyâre reading it through a pre-existing lens. This is what happened to a friendâs daughter who sounds a lot like yours. When she wasnât admitted to her ED school everyone was shocked. The family took the application to a consultant who diagnosed the problem: an extremely serious student, she had written a lighter, more humorous essay in an attempt to balance out her application. Her teachers and college counselor loved it, but when the outside consultant read it his comment was, âOn paper didnât like this kid. She came off as flippant.â</p>
<p>The good news is that these are all things you can change with a new application.</p>
<p>dreadspirit- while I think your post might be factually correct, (there are partying students everywhere) I donât think individual students who feel like mis-fits at their current college would agree with you.</p>
<p>I went to exactly one frat party when I was in college. I went to half a football game (left at half time- I got cold and it was boring.) But I had tons of fun and exciting things to do when I wasnât studying, and never felt marginalized that going to frat parties or sporting events wasnât my thing. So I think a kid who is discovering that the prevailing campus culture doesnât support a lot of the things sheâs interested will have a tough row to hoe.</p>
<p>This doesnât mean that transferring is the answer, or that this kid should transfer. But if the family can afford to help her go somewhere where she doesnât feel like a misanthrope because she needs to spend hours alone, in a practice room, or she doesnât feel like a freak because she doesnât like big drunken parties⊠then hey, itâs worth exploring.</p>
<p>Sue22, thank you for advice. Last year she showed her essays to her English teacher who loved them, but youâre right, a new perspective might be a good idea. Her rec letters last year were great, the teachers showed them to her after the fact. </p>
<p>Dreadpirit, the courses sheâs taking now are Honors English (more of a writing class), Liniar Algebra, Honors Physics( 211), Spanish Lit, Political Science and Violin performance- total 18 credits this semester. For next semester she is scheduled for Honors Chemistry, Honors Physics (212), Math ( not sure what but level 230), Honors English and Violin performance. We strongly encouraged her to keep it a little lighter in the second semester to have more time for her research.</p>
<p>Sue- itâs possible. But more likely that the list was top-heavy, the student was from a geographically over-represented area, and that the counselorâs report (based on what the parent heard from the GC) basically regurgitated the stats and said that the kid was a fine student (duh) with top grades (duh) and great scores (obvious) who would be an asset to any college she attended. So plain vanilla, and not exactly bringing depth and warmth to the application.</p>
<p>Dreadpirit nailed itâ</p>
<p>âthere isnât much of old movies, talking about great books, attending concerts or discussing the big issues of the dayâ</p>
<p>âIn my experience the school that your D is looking for only exists in fiction. You can find sub-populations of kids who share your Dâs interests but your D will need to work to seek out those groups no matter where she goes to school.â</p>
<p>Perhaps what your daughter is really trying to say between the lines is that sheâs having a hard time fitting in socially with her peers. Did she have many friends in HS? Did she socialize with HS friends outside of her music activities and school activities? </p>
<p>Encourage her to leave her comfort zone and open herself up to meeting new people. Hopefully, sheâs not the type of student who feels itâs beneath her to socialize with students who donât live up to her expectations of intelligence. Hopefully, sheâs not the type of student who finds fault with everything outside of her comfort zone. </p>
<p>Listen closely to what she is saying. Is it easier for her to express and you to accept complaints about academics rather than complaints about emotion and social struggles? </p>
<p>It sounds to me as if sheâs going through the typical transition from HS life to college life. It also sounds as though sheâs still hung up on the fact that she was rejected from other colleges. Until she gets over her rejections and accepts the fact that life is full of twists and turns, sheâs going to find fault with any college that wasnât on her dream list.</p>
<p>My son lives on an honorâs floor at a low rated state flagship type school. The average ACT score on his floor is a 32.5. They find lots to do that does not involve drinking. Son says that only 1 of the 75 students on his floor routinely drinks and goes to parties an Friday/Saturday night. The rest go to concerts that the Student Activity Board sponsors, they play BINGO once a month on Friday with about 600 other frosh, they learned how to swing dance, they watch lots of movies, they go to the gym and play volleyball and basketball, they go to university concerts to watch floor mates perform, they run 5k charity races together, they go ice skating, attend sporting events, etc etc. No shortage of things to do on a weekend that do not involve drinking for students that do not want that.</p>
<p>I just have a hard time imagining that any large university doesnât have a pretty large group of students that do not party.</p>
<p>Son has a friend at U Mich in the honors program. Kid had a 36 ACT. Son says his Facebook page is filled with nothing but drinking/drunk pictures from each weekend.</p>
<p>Some of it is just luck based upon your floor mates. Son happened to land on a floor filled with non-partiers and has had a fantastic first year experience.</p>
<p>If there is substance-free housing at any of the places you are considering, perhaps that might help her find more compatible friends.</p>
<p>Also, a lot of kids may have the idea that going to big parties and drinking is the thing to do at college. It may well be that the novelty of those parties will wear off for some of the kids she knows, or that they arenât really enjoying it in the first place, but just going along with what the kids they met in the first few weeks of school are doing, and they will become more interested in doing things sheâd enjoy.</p>
<p>My D will be attending the same school in the fall and weâre waiting for the honorâs descion. Since we had to commit to the school earlier than most, Iâve done quite a bit of research on the school and the honors program in particular.</p>
<p>The honors English class is the generic honors writing class that all honors kids take freshman year. This is a class that is taken by everyone from engineers to history majors - they want to verify that everyone knows how to write but they donât want to kill the non-writers (read engineers) either. Iâd expect something fairly interesting but not exceedingly groundbreaking.</p>
<p>Spanish Lit (Spanish 253?) Intro Spanish Lit class (can place out with a 3 on the Spanish Lit AP). This is a regular track, intro class. Might be interesting if thatâs your thing but I wouldnât expect much depth.</p>
<p>Poly Sci - lots of intro poly sci courses. Again, regular track, intro class. Might be interesting if thatâs your thing but I wouldnât expect much depth.</p>
<p>Linear Algebra - A higher level math course that covers topics that are all fairly easy for math types but also serves as a prereq for many higher level courses that require understanding of matrix algebra.</p>
<p>Physics 211/213 (honors) - What APâs did she take? Iâd expect with 8 APâs and an interest in Physics she would have taken at least the Physics B. If she took the C, 90% of honors Physics will be a review for her. If she took the B, there will be slightly more new stuff - the concepts will still be mostly review, with the only new stuff being how the calculus fits into the equation.</p>
<p>Violin - no insight here.</p>
<p>Chem - will be similar to physics. If she mastered the AP work, it will be review.</p>
<p>Math 230 - Vector Calculus - eventually math gets hard. It really depends on the student. Given your Dâs track record this probably wonât be the class but the next one (diff eq) is a bit harder.</p>
<p>I suggest talking to upperclassmen, advisors, perhaps the honors college Dean (very friendly approachable guy). Get their experiences about when the âgood stuffâ starts. One of the problems with too much AP credit is when kids get on campus they have a lot of college level knowledge but it can be difficult schedule/prerequisite wise to get into the more advanced classes. </p>
<p>I think your D needs to rationally think about what the source of her discontent is. </p>
<p>Classes - These are the courses sheâd be taking anywhere - perhaps the non-honors courses would be more rigorous at HYP, but I doubt Physics/Chem/Calculus would be.</p>
<p>Colleagues - There will be good circles and bad circles everywhere. Sometimes it takes time to find the right group (especially in a large school). Her school has quite a party reputation, but by all accounts the honors dorm is relatively mellow party wise (compared to Cambridge, which can get much crazier than you would expect).</p>
<p>General disappointment - ??</p>
<p>Other - ??</p>
<p>The source of her unhappiness is probably a combination of all of the above. Figure out how different changes will make things better (eg if she changes schools, and still takes Physics 2/Intro to Chem she will still be taking the same material at a fairly similar level).</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>CMU seems like a great option, strong music and sciences.</p>
<p>Oberlin is about 2 hours drive from CMU.</p>
<p>OP, ask her if sheâd like to transfer. There are two excellent schools that would give her great merit scholarship money too, both with conservatories and strong STEM departments: St. Olaf and Lawrence, both in Midwest, both filled w/âseriousâ students. Olafâs considering mid-year freshman transfers this year too. I think super-smart kids do much better on admissions follies if they consider the Midwest âtop 10â for their safety choices. OPâs daughterâs list seems short on safeties, other than that one state school.</p>
<p>I just want to chime in to say that a student like your D being unhappy with this situation doesnât mean she canât adjust, or itâs not different from any other freshman adjustment.</p>
<p>as Iâve posted here for many years, my D was your D (except for yoursâ music accomplishment.) For different reasons, she ended up in an OOS public honors program and had the same feelings of not fitting in , classes too easy, party atmosphere (even among the Honors students). Breezed to a 4.0 first semester, 3.95 the second. Bored and felt out of place. Lack of student engagement in classes. </p>
<p>I could have saidâitâs you, not the college.</p>
<p>I could have saidâtransfer if you like but donât expect help from me.</p>
<p>I did neither. She did the researching and what she could, and I helped with the legwork and what made sense at our end. She had a m uch better idea of what she wanted in college (what she wasnât getting where she was), and her new list reflected that. </p>
<p>She got into all three schools she applied to and transferred to a school that was very different from the one she was at. And her experience was as different as it could beâliving up to her expectations in every way. Her only regret was only getting to spend three years there instead of four.</p>
<p>so, yes, it doesnât reflect anything wrong on your D to feel out of place, and if she chooses to transfer, if I were you Iâd do what I could to help, even as she takes the lead, as long as the transfer is financially doable.</p>
<p>If your D decides to go the transfer route, Violinmama, allow me to put in my two cents for Tufts, which sounds like it might be within her chosen geographic radius. The school has a joint program with the New England Conservatory, I believe. The rigor is certainly there, as my D can attest to (a recent Business Insider article listed the top âsmartestâ colleges based on Luminosity tests; Tufts was an impressive #11), plus the student body is a lively bunch of far-flung, engaged kids who are able to bond and enjoy themselves without the overbearing burden of a party culture. And it goes without saying that Boston boasts great cultural and research opportunities.</p>
<p>Donât know what Tuftsâ transfer stats are, though.</p>
<p>And Iâm averse to the idea of using a college counselor. Adcoms can really smell an overworked applicationâespecially those at a school like Tufts, whose more ârelaxedâ application encourages honest expression.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter through this trying time. Iâm sure this generation will look back as adults and chuckle at how adamantly they defined themselves through their college acceptances and rejections.</p>
<p>^ 
Tufts was one of the three my D applied to and was accepted to. Ultimately, she chose a different school, but all three, we found through research, accepted enough transfers to make it worthwhile (we dubbed them âtransfer-friendly.â) This was a while back, so I canât attest to present day policies, but the other two were Wesleyan and Oberlin.</p>
<p>Another school that I would recommend for a science/music student is Case Western Reserve. Terrific physics and chem, along with the Cleveland Institute of Music right next door. Cross-registration is fairly easy, and their admit rates for transfers are not as dire as some.</p>
<p>I would ask your daughter (as someone upthread has already mentioned) if she wants to transfer, or what actions she would like to take to address her discomfort.
Offer to help her to the best of your abilities in whatever ways she thinks may be appropriate - assisting with some of the functional steps toward transfer, or to just listen to her frustrations regarding her current situation. Clearly some action on her part is whatâs needed here, even if that is just actively seeking out supportive resources on the campus sheâs at.</p>
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<p>Ironically, I know a freshman violinist who is transferring from St. Olaf at the end of this semester. She wants to move back to where she is from to be closer to her boyfriend. She was also a top student in high school. Your D could just take her spot. :)</p>
<p>Tufts is definitely a place where kids who want to sit around talking about books or politics can feel comfortable. I donât know if itâs the best place for OPâs daughter based on her interests, but thatâs for her to figure out! I doubt that community service was the problem. I think these schools just get so many fabulous candidates itâs very hard to stand out. Her essay was probably fine, but just made her sound like yet another smart, earnest candidate. I think itâs fine for her to transfer. If she has impressed any of her current professors she should definitely see about getting a letter of recommendation from them. She should continue to do well and come up with a list of schools to apply to. Maybe some of the same ones that didnât accept her before, and certainly Johns Hopkins which clearly liked her, and some a little further down the ladder. Youâve gotten lots of good suggestions. Music and science scream CMU and U of Rochester to me, but the other suggestions are good too.</p>
<p>A friendâs son is doing physics and music at Tufts and is very very happy. He is already doing research. We have personal experience with the fantastic, and friendly, music department there. And yes, there is a double degree, BM/BA with NEC but it is not necessary to do that in order to have great experiences in both music and science.</p>