<p>It seems like there are so many posts with transfer questions. Are there really that many people that are unhappy in their current college, or is there some other reason for so many transfers?</p>
<p>Attended a CC.
Want to transfer ‘up’ to a more selective school.
Unhappy with social atmosphere/location/etc. of school.
Change of academic interest, current school does not offer.
Want to be closer/further from home.
Too expensive.
And on and on.</p>
<p>entomom pretty much covered the big reasons behind wanting to transfer. Honestly, there are so many factors that goes into the decisions making. For me, transferring would make life easier on my family’s part, so I decided to apply to a school closer to home.</p>
<p>I’ll add that I’m not surprised by the number of transfers. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s necessarily an easy decision to make for a 17/18 yo who may at most have visited a college for a day or two to see what it’s like. When one considers financial aspects, fitting in socially, changing academic interests, etc., there’s a lot that may not work out with the first choice.</p>
<p>And as a CC transfer myself, some of us slow starters are much better off transferring to a 4-yr college after spending some time to figure out what we want to do when we grow up.</p>
<p>For me, I go to a commuter school which is 5 minutes away from my house and I want to transfer because:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Not much of a social life no matter how hard you try, everyone stays with high school friends and if you went to a small high school then you are screwed.</p></li>
<li><p>Not a lot of majors available, we don’t have an engineering program.</p></li>
<li><p>To get a feel for a new place and see how it is like there, I go to college in the same town I went to high school in, can get very boring</p></li>
<li><p>Transfer up to more prestigious school for a better degree which can market a person more. (I don’t do this but a lot of people generally do so really I have just given you 3 reasons).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’d add because many have an unrealistic view of what college will be like. They are searching for the college they saw in movies.</p>
<p>Many kids have thoughts of transfer. All of mine did and a lot of the kids I know from this years freshman college class considered it, asked questions, started the process, and then dropped the whole matter. I only know one kid out of the bunch who actually went through with it and is now accepted and si going to NYU. The rest are staying put.</p>
<p>There are also those kids who are being forced to transfer due to lack of funds or lack of sufficient gpa. You don’t always get the full story on those.</p>
<p>There are also people like me who dropped out of a prestigious college program a decade ago and now don’t have a choice but to start over at a community college.</p>
<p>What you have to realize is that there are tons of people that are not the least bit prepared for college. When you read this site, you get the impression that most everyone out there is in some way knowledgeable about the college experience. that is simply not the case.</p>
<p>There are tons of us that are learning as we go. People that are the first in their family to go to college have to really figure things out from the level of having no experience at all. It is like you don’t even know all that there is, that you don’t know. So, figuring things out can make for a lot of regrettable decisions along the way.</p>
<p>Not everyone has a concrete plan either when it comes to going to school. They get started and see how things go. There are plenty that don’t even follow a plan of curriculum and then end up finishing beginners classes in their senior year.</p>
<p>Transferring can come from do many things. Going to school takes so much time and such a big commitment that often there will be those times that you stop going and then go back a while later.</p>