<p>My son is a sophomore and just talked to me about two transfer students coming in! I asked him about retention over break, and he said, that a small group left last year, mostly richer students and they could go anywhere accepted. They all didn’t go into why they wanted to leave, but some said they wanted a bigger, more “party” school. Some students partied so much they were asked to leave or were put on probabtion. That unfortunately happens everywhere. Some intially “undecided” found their major was better represented somewhere else.
If you don’t need aid, and he was surprised how many didn’t, you can transfer much more easily than if you do. Some on aid, left because they decided to go to a state school and save when they decided on a major and it was going to be 6+ years. Maybe because he’s male or overly logical in nature, he thought a lot of complaints about the building of the new dorm, etc, noise, was superficial and some students would find faults everywhere. Some though, just didn’t feel a fit once they were there a year. Many love it though and will be sorry when they have to leave.
My son didn’t do overnights, he thought a bad experience would make him tainted in his view of the school and that happened to 2 students I met at Holy Cross. Their overnights were awful but the $$ made them go…luckily they both loved it later and one became a host to help other prospective students. Another female student at Wheaton (MA) told us she had a wonderful, fun overnight but hated it later…the same friendly students didn’t talk to her in Sept. So, I say visit more than once if you can, stay overnight if you’d like, trust your gut and hope for the best. Most of the time, it works out fine.
My son would like to change some things, but loves his professors and is doing well. I hope your daughter find a good fit in as many areas as possible and I’m sure she’ll do well wherever she goes.</p>