So I’m currently a sophomore (class of 2023) at a T20 school in the South, and I’m seeking advice on whether to transfer from my school. I committed here because I thought it would help me get a better job in the future (and it was the only T20 school where I was accepted), and I really only applied in the first place because I got a free application, so I thought “why not?”
I am a linguistics/psychology double major, and the college I currently attend for that (for lack of other words) sucks. I want to study psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, or something along those lines, but there’s not a lot of people who have done something like that or opportunities for being a research assistant here, and I’m looking for to go somewhere where I can accomplish that.
The end of my senior year of high school, I was waitlisted at five schools (among them were Barnard, WashU in St. Louis, and UNC Chapel Hill). I really, really wanted to attend Barnard, and so I sent their admissions committee multiple follow-up letters after I had been waitlisted as well as additional recommendations from teachers, my high school counselor, and a friend. With no response to any of those additional letters, I was rejected the following July. I went into my first semester thinking that I would just be there for one year and transfer to Barnard the next year. My grades weren’t absolutely terrible, but they also weren’t stellar - I was going through mental health problems and was also trying to deal with a toxic friendship. When college started, I told myself my unhappiness would end when I left. I applied for transfer my second semester of freshman year. I was rejected by Barnard, but I did get into WashU (where I had previously been waitlisted and rejected after sending follow-up letters) and Tufts (where I had been previously accepted and probably should have attended freshman year). It was super upsetting to get rejected again by Barnard, and WashU and Tufts would not provide any financial assistance, so I had to stay at my current institution. I had a lot of trouble getting professors to sign papers, especially at a time when the world was falling into chaos. Later over the summer, I learned that more than one of my professors had not signed my Mid-Term report despite me asking them to WEEKS in advance. My mid-term report showed up as “waived” on Barnard’s application. I have NO clue if this may have contributed to that rejection, but it certainly did not make me feel any better.
It’s sophomore year now, and I’m still VERY unhappy with the quality of education I’m receiving. I want to attend a college I’m actually excited to go to and get involved with. But I’ve noticed that if I were to risk my happiness for one more year, I could graduate early. While I’d be saving a ton of money that I could use to apply to law school in the future, I’d still be receiving a degree from a school I HATE. What should I do? I seriously want to leave the college I attend, but is it worth it? Should I just put a pause on my goal of being happy and shove it into the future for law school? I feel like I’m the only one not having a good time in college, even though I should be. The transfer process was an exhausting nightmare, but I’d do it again if it meant I could go to a school where I would be happier and could get more experience with both linguistics and psychology. I feel like I might be leaving a lot out, but any advice you may have is GREATLY appreciated.