A bad first semester, an unhappy student, and transferring. What to do?

Transfer Students
1

Hi! I’m Eli. I’m a first year Freshman at the University of Kentucky. I’m currently a physics and math double major.

I went from a small school that was easy for me to dominate without trying to a state school. At said state school, I have had a little trouble. I’ve always been used to not studying/spending little time in the books and making decent grades (A’s/B’s on tests but I only got one B in high school, no C’s) and because of this, I became lazy/cocky about my grades. This ego obviously didn’t hold up in college and my GPA for my first semester was BAD. Ended up with a 2.73 GPA. My final grades were:

B in Physics (3 credits)
B in Writing (3 credits)
A in Physics lab(1 credit)
C in Calc 1 (4 credits)

As you can see, the C in calc really brought me down, especially being a math major, and usually good at math, I was disappointed with myself. This next semester, I plan to work hard and get all A’s.

That being said, I’m really not liking the state college scene. When I was first applied to college, I applied to private schools much smaller than UK. My first choice was Vanderbilt. I applied early decision to Vandy and unfortunately, was rejected. I kind of was expecting to get in, to be honest. But anyways, that is behind me. I chose UK because of the proximity to home. But as I am further away now, I can start to see myself going further away.

I don’t really know where to apply to. I would like to say that besides my GPA, I have a good application. I have started to build good relations with professors. I am in a STEM dorm for STEM students, I have initiated a project for research for Physics students in this dorm that will count for college credit, I have joined the Society of Physics Students, which is a part of the American Physics Association. ( I ran for leadership in SPS, but as a freshman, did not win, understandable)

I have also joined the chess club and plan on getting a job with work study and maybe working for the student radio station.

The rest of my application should go well, in high school, I did really well. 31 on the ACT, president of NHS and Beta as well as the founder of a film club, started a small initiative of the Kiva club donations. I had my sister help me with my essays, and she said that they turned out really good.(She is a national award winning writer and is currently a 4th year English major at Vanderbilt.)

I would love to transfer to Vanderbilt, but I am afraid that my GPA is too low to allow for that. I feel like I could always pull the card that “my school was not a good fit and that is why my GPA was so low,” card (without whining and sounding like I’m just complaining about the school) which would possibly help my application.

What are some more things currently to do to help my application before March 15th? Where are some schools(preferably close to Kentucky) that I could go to, that I can get in, and that I could be happy at? What can I do about my application that would be beneficial to me?

2

Realistically speaking, you probably need to have at least a really good semester at UK academically before you think about transferring to Vandy. To some degree, one can argue that Vandy made a wise decision of not admitting you given that fact that you “struggled” at UK.

Having said so, you should not be too sad about your first semester’s performance. It is a little bit subpar, but not by too much. You have enough semesters to turn the game around. Just put into good work and you will redeem yourself. Good luck.

3

I agree that saying that “my school was not a good fit and that is why my GPA was so low” will not make the cut for Vandy. Usually if a school denies an applicant and they reapply, they want to see growth and new reason to believe that you are a good fit, unfortunately that alone does not necessarily fit the bill because they have to think about what is best for their student body. It’s your first semester, you have gained some wisdom and have time to improve.

4

I am going to suggest you forget about Vanderbilt. It is well known for being extremely high-stats conscious. Your ACT is good, but as a transfer student with your grades, I cannot see you getting in as a transfer.

The card you are thinking of pulling isn’t a card. You made a choice and you could have done better. Prove yourself where you are now. Get high grades this semester, fill out a transfer app or two if you must, but I wouldn’t waste the time and money on an app for Vanderbilt. Maybe if you ramp it up next year and have two semester’s worth of top grades, you can try again.

5

I’d hold off on making a decision to transfer until you’ve been at the college you’re at for at least a year. Where you struggled with your grades - that’s normal for the first semester at a new school. Especially if you aren’t used to having to manage your own schedule. On top of that, it sounds like you may not have really tried to reach out and make friends. A social life isn’t an option - it’s a necessity. If you’re unhappy, you may not be taking advantage of the resources that your current school has to offer.

6

With this attitude is you had been admitted to Vandy you would likely have flunked out, not just done poorly as you did at UK.

7

@Lindagaf: Well, Vandy cares a lot about high stats for freshman admits. Don’t know about transfers.

8

@PurpleTitan
I’d love to know that, as it’s one of my top choices as well.

I’m preaching to the choir here but in the overall transfer application, reasoning behind the intended transfer is highly valued. Not liking the “state college scene” or claiming that your grades were due to UK not being a good fit are two somewhat weak reasons. You can use them if you don’t have any other better ones, but I would focus on explaining how you would grow at Vanderbilt. Find specific ways you would make the most out of your years there, and you might have a better chance.
Good luck!

9

You definitely need to finish a full year at UK. Your first semester was not great but it will not matter as much if you take the lessons you learned and do well from now on. Since you only have one semester in college, your GPA will easily rise if you take your studies seriously. If, at the end of this year, you still want to transfer, you can start planning it next year and with a stronger GPA, you will have more opportunities. If you really cannot wait, there are a number of good universities which have rolling transfer admissions and can be applied to even in May. The smaller [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools might just be a better fit for you. They are small and STEM oriented so they usually have strong physics and math programs.