<p>When I applied to UCSD, I never really even expected to get in. My gpa was decent, but by no means did I have a 4.0, and I was applying for a winter transfer into one of the most prestigious biomedical engineering programs in the nation, not mention the fact that its the most impacted major on campus. I was flattered by their acceptance, and quite frankly, just a little star struck. I had been working relentlessly towards a degree in bioengineering from the moment I enrolled in my first intermediate algebra class at community college almost 3 year prior, and UCSD was just about the best place I could possibly be to realize that goal.</p>
<p>It wasn't long however before I came to the conclusion that bioengineering was not really what I wanted out of my college career. I was excited about the creative aspect of design, but as I struggled fruitlessly to cram extra curricular math and science classes in between my already overloaded schedule of design and technical courses, it became more and more inevitably clear that what I liked so much about studying bioengineering, had actually been the math and science. I slowly began to resent my own major as it became more and more obvious that bioengineering had driven a wedge between myself and what I really wanted to do with my life. In the back of my mind I had always planned to eventually finish my physics education and apply to a Ph.D program anyway, so I said to hell with the reputation of the program, and to hell with the financial prospects of a science degree, and changed my major to biophysics. </p>
<p>When I finally came up for air, I realized that my infatuation with UCSD's reputation had been unfounded and counter productive to my true goals. Don't get me wrong, UCSD is a great school, and I have some exceptional opportunities here, even as a Bio-Physics major, but I'm living in a town that I don't even like, for no other reason than the fact that I was enamored with the school's reputation. The department, while reputable, simply doesn't have the resources to offer core physics courses more than once a year, so I'll probably have to live here for at least another 3 years to catch all the classes I need, especially since I'd really love to extend my math minor into a second major. The thing is, I don't even mind the extra time. I love this stuff, it gets stressful at times, but I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing with my life for the foreseeable future than studying math and physics. My financial aid is eventually going to run out one way or the other though, and considering the cost of living around here, it will be sooner rather than later, at which point I will have to swallow my pride and turn to my parents for help.</p>
<p>My parents are not well to do, so I can't really ask them for money, but they have always had a room for me in Santa Cruz should I ever want to go home, and after having moved around all over California for the last few years, I think I can honestly say that there are few places I'd rather live. UCSC doesn't quite have the reputation that UCSD does, but much like UCSD they have a small but strong physics department, and a math department with some interesting opportunities in bio-informatics. Not to mention that at this point I couldn't care less about reputation; so long as I can study what I want to study, and will be a pretty strong candidate for grad school in theoretical biophysics, I will be happy. At any rate, I suppose my question is whether or not I have any reasonable of expectation of an application for transfer being granted, and whether or not there may be some unexpected complications in financial aid that would arise as a result. I've only been at UCSD for since last winter, and except for math I've only really taken lower div courses, so I figure if I am going to transfer I should do it before I become too invested in the UCSD curriculum.</p>
<p>Thanks
James</p>