I am currently a first year student at a small, mid-tier liberal arts college in upstate NY–after being rejected from my first and second choice schools (BU and AU). I am very unhappy here, and my mental health gets worse every day. So, I have decided that I will most likely transfer for the fall 2020 semester.
With my mental health deteriorating (on top of the price of this school), I’m considering only finishing this current semester (fall 2019) and then taking a leave of absence for spring 2020. During my leave I would like to work on my common app, get a part-time job, and possibly work/live abroad for a period of time. You know, stuff for personal growth.
However, I am concerned with how a leave of absence might affect my chances of admission to other schools. I know that it would be best for me to have completed a year of college, but I need to know if it’s worth struggling through every day here. I mean, would it severely hurt my chances of getting in? Would it affect what scholarships I am eligible for? I could suck it up and get through another semester if I needed to, but I don’t want to waste my time either.
My grades coming out of this semester should be fine, I’m mostly receiving A-level grades right now. I’m not quite sure how my high school grades affect admissions either, but I was a slightly above average student at a private, college prep school–3.56 combine GPA, 29 ACT (34/35 ELA, 22/24 STEM?), 1270 SAT (720 ENG, 550 Math).
Also, I can’t transfer for spring 2020 because it excludes me from scholarships to come in mid-year.