<p>I'm a junior at a second or third tier private university. In the time I've been here, I've amassed only around 40 credits. I've failed a few classes in my time . I will most likely do a fifth year but I don't like the idea of adding another 15-20k of debt by doing so. Also, I want to be closer to home, my school is over 300 miles away. My alternate path would entail spending 2 semesters at my local community college and hopefully transferring to a more local university, fine with either private or public. I also like the idea of having a fresh start. My GPA from my current school haunts me and I would like to start over again. Because it haunts me, I'm always scared or anxious about my classes in turn making me perform even worse. I plan to transfer my 40 credits from my current school and the credits I earn at the community college to the school I will transfer to, hopefully graduating in spring 2016. Do you think this will work out? Or should I just start at my current school and tough it out?</p>
<p>-Another detail, I still haven't majored in anything. I think I want to do CS.</p>
<p>It sounds like you want to transfer, and getting a fresh start couldn’t hurt. Your current GPA might affect your transfer chances, btw, but I think if you go the CC route the school you transfer to afterwards will reset your GPA.</p>
<p>But you do need to realize that transferring won’t magically fix your problems. Take a step back, look at your study habits, look at your grades… figure out why they’re in their current state. What can you do to prevent it from happening again? How can you change your habits? Unless you can figure that out, and make an effort to change, transferring won’t help a whole lot. If you end up going to CC for a year it’ll give you time to adjust and build up good habits as well, in an easier/less pressure environment.</p>
<p>Also, if you’ve only got 40 credits completed, most schools consider you a sophomore right now. I mention this because a lot of schools want junior transfers, that is, 60-70 units completed. Figure out your transfer goals, and take a look at their policies. If they have some policy against taking senior transfers, stay under that limit, or find a way around it. If they have a minimum credit requirement, well, make sure you can meet that.</p>
<p>Side note: If you’re thinking you want to do CS, you’ll probably need a lot of technical classes. Most of those require certain classes to be taken in series. Make sure you’re keeping up with the appropriate math/science sequences so it doesn’t slow you down later. :)</p>