I’m currently a freshman at UW - Madison and am looking to transfer after sophomore year. The school doesn’t suit me well because it’s extremely focused on sports and drinking. It’s hard for me to find others who are as serious about academics as I am. I would like to go somewhere where people are interested in talking about academics outside of the classroom. I joined the honors program to meet other motivated students, but it still just isn’t working out. It was nice to meet some other motivated students, but this just made me want to be surrounded by such people even more.
I am currently planning to major in economics with a possible double major in math or philosophy (with an emphasis on logic) but I absolutely love taking seminar courses in social sciences and humanities, too. Basically, I have a lot of interests. It’s important to me that I go to a school with a good economics program and it would be hard for me to justify transferring to a school that wouldn’t be an academic upgrade.
I expect to end this year with a GPA of 3.8 - 3.94 (3.87 after first semester). I am also involved with student government and am a volunteer algebra tutor for struggling high school students.
Things I’m looking for:
good academic reputation
academic atmosphere, intelligent and curious students
good economics program
located in a city (not super important)
I have a slight preference for research universities over LACs (not a big deal)
I’m looking to apply to one or two reach schools and some more realistic options.
Thanks for your help!
Edit: I left out some possibly important info. My high school GPA was around 3.65 and I got a 34 on the ACT. I know almost nothing about LACs as I didn’t look into them at all in my initial college search. Let me know if there’s anything else I should include.
I think the following schools are worth looking into:
Boston University
Northwestern University
University of Chicago
Rice University
Generally speaking, the average top research university will have more of a partying culture than a comparably competitive LAC. You could check individual programs at a number of Top 25 LACs, but the sad truth is that they don’t take in many transfers. UChicago and Rice are really good options if you’re looking for rigorous academics and an intellectual environment in the middle of a big city, but they’re obviously pretty hard to get into.
What is your financial situation? And to be honest… your post screams LAC… you should visit one if you haven’t. Carleton isn’t far away and seems to fit your bill in every way except the large city aspect.
@intparent Thanks for the suggestion! I am not receiving aid right now and could afford to spend probably up to 35k a year. I have never visited an LAC (except to visit friends) and I like the academic atmosphere but not the tiny campuses and small social pool. One thing I like about my current school is that I meet new people every week. I live 30 minutes for Carleton and have driven through the campus before. To be honest, I don’t want to go there because it’s too close to home. I took a look at some LACs and it seems Claremont McKenna has a great econ program. I’m definitely doing to look into that school. The consortium might make the schools seem larger. California would also be nice.
@TiredQuibbler I think UChicago would be amazing! I will probably apply to Rice and Chicago, but I’m not really expecting to be accepted, so I need some other options as well. I’ll look into Northwestern and Boston!
Unless you are eligible for financial aid, none of the schools discussed so far are going to be $35K/year. You can try running the net price calculators to see if you would be eligible for aid, but sometimes transfer students don’t get as much aid as incoming freshman.
UChicago and Rice are really good options if you’re looking for rigorous academics and an intellectual environment in the middle of a big city, but they’re obviously pretty hard to get into.