Withdrawing/transferring freshman year and reapplying

I’m currently a freshman at a very small liberal arts college. I moved in a month ago and it has been non stop problems since. I am already looking into transferring for next year when my mom mentioned that she thinks if I were to withdraw before classes are officially graded/credited then I would have to apply as a freshman again to other colleges. I know for certain if I were to stay the year, a couple of the classes I’m going to take wouldn’t transfer. I am also not doing classes that are very relevant to my major. The college I was very close to going to is a liberal arts college that only admits students annually so I would either have to transfer next year…or reapply as a freshman if that is possible. Does anybody know if I were to drop out/withdraw without getting any credits if I could reapply as an incoming freshman, or is there some type of legal issue that would require me to apply as a transfer?

Check every college you would plan to apply to as a freshman to see their policy. Unfortunately, if you have taken classes as a degree seeking undergraduate student(graded or not) it is unlikely that you are able to reapply as a first year student.

Given that you have only been at college for a month, have you thought about sticking it out for the year or at least semester. Many colleges have a mid year transfer option, such as Cornell, so applying as a mid year transfer is another solution.

I could be wrong but to me, if you just get up and leave, no one at another school would ever know. But you’d lose a lot of money

The National Student Clearinghouse has enrollment info.

That said, if one withdraws now, it is unlikely that the student would have to apply as a transfer. But they need to check school by school.

The National Student Clearinghouse has enrollment info.

That said, if one withdraws now, it is unlikely that the student would have to apply as a transfer. But they need to check school by school.