lovestx

A friend's son chose to attend the flagship campus of our state system this fall and is very unhappy. Probably isn't just homesickness....he thinks it's just too big and the party-all-the-time atmosphere is not his thing (though he enjoys a party or two).

Due to a nasty divorce in process with the parents, little to no attention or research was done by the family and the student before choosing this college. Here's the student's key admission traits:

2200 on the SAT!
Decent grades in decent classes (this is his weak point)
Athletic - could probably play lacrosse for a small school
Diagnosed with epilepsy between freshman and sophomore years in h.s. Under control w/meds
Could use aid
Public h.s.

Had the parents been more adept at the college process, I think this young man could have received some very good merit money from a host of small colleges (given that my own son, who is the same age, had SATs of 1980 and two small colleges gave him lots of money even when we didn't ask for it).

Anyone have an opinion on whether it would be better for the young man to take a leave now from school and reapply to small privates as a freshman or should he finish a semester or two and hope to transfer and get merit money somehow later?

My friend, his mother, could use some guidance here and I am just trying to help. So thanks, in advance, for any help you can offer.

entomom

1. Whether or not he will still qualify as a fr applicant varies by school. Some colleges consider you a transfer applicant if you have taken as little as 1 post-HS college class (eg. GWU), at the other end of the spectrum, some colleges still consider you a fr applicant if you have less than a full year of college coursework. If he withdraws from school now before completing this semester, I'm not sure how that would affect his status, you would have to call the individual colleges.

2. Transfer rates vary between schools and sometimes can be significantly lower than fr admit rates, check the CB Big Future site for numbers.

3. There are fewer merit scholarships for transfers and they are usually for lesser amounts than for fr applicants. See the Resources sticky thread at the top of this forum for a link to some merit aid opportunities.

4. If he is going to play lacrosse, that may change some of the standard transfer advice, I'm honestly not tuned into how athletics might factor in. You should consider asking on the Athletic recruit forum (under College Admissions, Specialty Topics).

lovestx

Thanks for responding entomom. I am going to encourage my friend to do some very quick research on merit scholarships and whether the types of colleges her son may want to transfer to will view him as a transfer or new student.

Joyces77

Thanks, your answer helped because I have a son with 3.8 GPA and applied late and got very little scholarship. I was thinking of having him leave the current college (Freshman Fall 2012) and re-apply as Freshman to another college and take advantage of merit scholarships. Any further thoughts on this will be appreciated.