What should I do? Transfer and major

I am currently a freshman in my state school. Before college, I did not know what to major in and settled on supply chain since it was very good at this school. My dream school was uga but my parents did not want to pay so much since I was still debating on business and engineering at that time(they didnt think it was worth it going there for engineering and i agreed). I originally planned on computer science, something in the tech field, but later felt as if the major didnt suit me. Right before college, I found out about management information systems, which is similar to computer science in some ways but also associated with business. I believe this could fit very well with what I wanted to do. However, the school I am at right now does not offer this major. As a result, I have had recurring thoughts about a possible transfer to uga (I also do not and did not really like the idea of going to my state school but I guess money played a factor. What should I do? If I apply for a transfer, is it similar to high school where I can see how much it will cost to attend uga before I ultimately decide on whether to transfer? If I get accepted and it costs too much, do I have the option to decline and stay? Will I get any financial aid (I an eligible, I am just asking if transfer students are awarded any) or scholarships? Will the fact that I was accepted early action to uga help my chances?( I am worried my college gpa might not be as good as my highschool one: around a 3.5-3.8 in college depending on how i finish). Lastly, if I ultimately transfer, will it be hard to find a friend group? I worry that entering as a sophomore may make it hard to find a place to live and a friend group because I will be late to everything. Thanks

On a side note, does adding more schools to a fafsa application result in less money? Should I add my transfer school onto my fafsa application right now just in case I dont miss the deadline or will it affect the amount I will get at my current school.

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I think the underlying issue is that you really just want to go to UGA, and you don’t want to be at the university you’re currently at, UTK - for a variety of reasons but it seems primarily because it’s in-state and you wanted go to further for undergrad, and that you perceive that it’s not as prestigious as other options you could’ve gotten.

As for your transfer questions, yes, you can apply first and see how much money they offer you before transferring. Do note, though, that students are generally offered their best financial aid package when applying as a freshman. Transfers are not often offered a lot of aid at most schools, especially students who are attempting to transfer to out-of-state (OOS) public universities. So you can go ahead and apply but if you would need a lot of money to attend UGA, then I wouldn’t be super hopeful about a good aid package.

Secondly, I wouldn’t advise transferring because of one specific major particularly when you haven’t really tried the major out yet. Especially when there are offerings that can fill that niche at your own university. You have a couple options:

UTK has an integrated BS in engineering and business with concentrations in business analytics, supply chain management, and statistics (among others). Any one of those would be relatively similar to MIS with more or less emphasis in specific areas based on which concentration you select.

There’s also an industrial engineering major. Industrial engineering is a mix of business and engineering, since the point is the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations.

UTK also has a minor in information studies and technology.

I’m not saying that these are similar to MIS; moreso that they are also blends of business and engineering/tech, since that’s what it seems like you want to do.

BUT if your reason for transferring is that you’re really unhappy at UTK despite really making a go of it, that could be a good reason to go somewhere else. However, I’d definitely open my mind to try more than just one other school.