<p>Hi! So right now I'm struggling with the idea of transferring from my current college to another school for Fall2011. I'm a first year at Smith College and here's why I'm considering this:</p>
<p>1) Smith is approx. 10 hours away from my hometown. Originally, I didn't think this was a big deal in the slightest and was gung-ho about getting as far away as possible, so that 10 hours didn't seem like a big deal. Now that I'm here, however...I'm at the point where I ask myself "why, again, am I ten hours away from my closest friends and family?" I've moved past the early homesickness, but it's still an issue that's on my mind. I don't get to go home for Thanksgiving, see my family at all for months at a time, and it's hard to keep up with what's going on and, well, that hurts. The idea of having my relationship with my family entirely over the phone doesn't appeal to me, especially when there are plenty of good schools where I'm from.</p>
<p>2) I currently am enrolled in a women's college. I originally thought this would be no big deal -- after all, there's a consortium so there are a few guys in my classes and I can take classes at their schools too. It won't be a big deal, right? Wrong. I genuinely miss interaction with males, and not just on a romantic level, but on the level of friendship. The only time I get to have a legitimate conversation with a guy is via skype about once a week. And I've found that the less time I spend interacting with guys the more awkward I feel when I'm around them. This women's college thing is really affecting my social skills.</p>
<p>3) My intended major is History, and my main interest is Early American, colonial up through the Civil War. Smith's History department is severely lacking in that area and so I'm going to have to go to the other 5 colleges to fill my concentration requirement, which frankly, is really annoying. </p>
<p>But here are my concerns about transferring:</p>
<p>1) FINANCIAL AID!!! Smith has given me the best financial aid package in the entire world. I barely have to pay anything, even though they did take away my work study. Realistically, I doubt I can find anywhere that will come close to what they've given me, between school grants and my federal grants...I ideally don't want to get out a lot of student loans but I don't want to have to stay here just for that reason.</p>
<p>2) I picked Smith because I fell in love with the place...I was so in love I applied ED, and that atmosphere hasn't changed. My classes are amazing and everyone back home is so proud of me for getting into a school like Smith and actually going there. I like the small, LAC atmosphere, where my biggest class is 25 people! But I always just assumed I'd hate university life, and after spending a lot of time on the UMass campus I realized I was being stupid in that assumption, and have found I genuinely like the busy, big, university feel. But that doesn't mean I don't love my LAC feel either...so I would have no idea how to pick between the two if I transferred somewhere.</p>
<p>3) Smith has an open curriculum. There are no distribution/gen ed requirements. I'm kind of afraid of taking gen ed when I transfer.</p>
<p>Schools I am considering transferring to: Allegheny College (Meadville, PA), College of Wooster (Wooster, Ohio), Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), Denison (Granville, Ohio). I'm also interested in the University of Pittsburgh, and even thought it doesn't solve problem number one, I really really like the University of Massachusetts -- Amherst (I applied/got in my first time around with college admissions but got into Smith ED). </p>
<p>So that's the situation...any thoughts, advice, suggestions?</p>