I am currently a freshmen attending Colorado School of Mines right now. This school was never my first choice, but I chose it because I was running out of time when I chose, not getting into my other schools, in-state tuition, and I didn’t want to go to CU or CSU. Anyways, I never really wanted to come and now I really wish I hadn’t come. The social aspect of the school is not good. Most kids aren’t very social and all of them think they’re the smartest and are pretty cocky about how they took AP Calc BC in high school or something like that. The school tries to tell you that you’re the greatest and tries to compare us to the likes of Stanford, MIT, etc. which is ridiculous. Also there are no girls here (Im male) the ratio is like 3:1, again not good. The classes are unnecessarily hard, and are all focused on engineering. Nothing else to do but engineering here, and I don’t know if I even want to do engineering. I’m kinda leaning towards medicine (like pharmacy) but as of now, I don’t know. I want to transfer to another school because this one is not working for me at all. I would like to transfer to a school that isn’t huge (I don’t mind the small size of mines) under 10,000 or so. I want a school that will be good as far as sciences go because I do want to pursue that. And very importantly is the financial aid. My mom doesn’t have a job right now, and my dad is working off a teacher salary, so it’s tough for us, even here. I was accepted into Gonzaga and they had really good financial aid, but the out-of-state was hard on my family and transportation would be expensive. Thinking about it now, I really wish I had gone to Gonzaga. Financial aid as a transfer is tough and I don’t know how my grades will be here because the classes here are stupid hard and Im taking 17 credits as a freshmen (They make you take a lot because you need to take 16-18 credits a semester to graduate on time) - will this affect the chances of transferring? Right now I’m thinking about Gonzaga, Santa Clara, similar schools. And from what I understand these smaller private schools offer good fin aid (better than Out of state schools). Anyone has recommendations or tips, I need them. Thanks guys
What about another Col State school like Ft Lewis?
Some private schools have very different financial aid for freshmen versus transfers. They expect transfers to be “cash cows.” I don’t have specific information about the schools you mentioned, but definitely call the financial aid offices of schools you are considering and ask some very direct questions before applying.
I agree with NCalRent that looking within your state system for smaller campuses is also a good idea. If you really need to get out of Mines, you can transfer most quickly to a community college, finish two years and go from there. If you think your mom will find a job and your family finances will improve, a community college might be a place to get some credits until you are better able to afford the school of your choice.
You’ll have to email each college and ask point blank. Explain something like: you planned to attend a LAC but due to your mother losing her job couldn’t afford it and took the smallest public university you were admitted to. Since then you’ve realized you don’t want to be an engineer and so Colorado Mines is the wrong school for you .
Santa Clara has horrible financial aid so forget it.
Look into other Colorado public universities such as First Lewis indeed.
What about trying to get into the honors college at Colorado state? It’d make things smaller.
Colorado college is super selective and I don’t know if they accept Spring transfers, however they meet 100% financial need - so, worth an email. (Do read carefully about the one-course-at-a-time model.)
Withdrawing for Spring and attending community college is another option.
What were your stats in high school?
Good colleges for premed and financial aid (at least for freshmen, and they typically accept spring transfers) include Lewis and Clark, StOlaf, Lawrence, Beloit, Muhlenberg.
Colorado is a WUE state. 
you’re eligible for a bug discount on instate tuition at California State Chico (they have a good honors program), Humboldt, UMontana Missoula, Southern Oregon University, and even UC Merced!
Thanks guys for your help so far! Ft. Lewis will not be an option though because I’ve had friends go there and hate it and it is basically a ski school since it’s in Durango. I think if all else fails CSU honors may work even though it won’t be ideal by any means. I can deal with the large size, it’s just that CSU has most my High school and I don’t want to go there. For MYOS1634, my hs stats were 4.17 weighted GPA - with honors and 6 APs. I was in NHS, spanish honors society, DECA, and was captain of the lacrosse team. I got a 31 on the ACT w/out the writing and with the writing (Superscored because i got a composite of 28 or 29 with the writing) it would probably be around a 32. Didn’t think about WUE, so that’s a good idea to look in to. I’ll definitely look into it and send some emails. I’m going to finish out the semester here at Mines, and maybe grind out a year, depending on what I’m able to figure out in time for applications. Thanks again. Also, how much would grades in college affect the transfer app? Like i said, Mines is stupid hard and I’m going to try my best, but getting good grades will be an issue for me here. Thanks
But CSU honors would be better than Mines, right? And you can also apply to cu boulder honors. This way you’d be sure to be out of Mines at an affordable cost. Do explore the other options mentioned above .
I also wouldn’t recommend Fort Lewis for someone at Mines (even if they don’t like Mines.) Night and day different-- and not strong in the hard sciences/math, engineering, etc.
As MYOS suggested, check out Montana State – assuming you’re a Colo resident, you would not only qualify for WUE, but also likely automatic merit scholarship. It has good sciences (better than Univ of Montana), and is a friendly, OOS-accommodating campus. Yes, transportation would be a bit of an issue – expensive to fly, but driveable with a night somewhere inbetween.
BTW, here’s a list of all the WUE schools:
http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all
You don’t say why you didn’t want Boulder or CSU… but maybe now they’re worth a second look? You’re clearly a good student, and it could be that both schools may be accommodating.
And sympathies about Mines. You’re not the first – nor the last! – student who wasn’t happy there. It’s a love-it-or-hate-it kind of place, and even those who love it admit the social life at Mines leaves a lot to be desired.
Alright, I’ve sent a couple emails, and I think that I might just go CU or CSU and try to go honors program. Also, what do you guys think about Gonzaga? In my first post I mentioned how I applied and got good financial aid, and I emailed them a little while ago and they said they could offer a similar package and they have a couple of transfer scholarships as well.
Gonzaga is a fine school. But I’m confused… the original FA package Gonzaga offered wasn’t quite good enough, right? Would it be sufficiet now?
If Gonzaga is willing to give you a decent package, I say, Go for it. At least it will have better male/ female ratios.
Also, we were on a budget and were able to fly my dd back and forth from California to NY, but it took decent time planning to book flights during breaks. As soon as she got her syllabus, she contacted us with her finals dates and we booked through Southwest.
I thought Gonzaga 's package wasn’t sufficient though… It’s unlikely to be better for a transfer (although if you only earn 15-17 credits you may still qualify as a freshman applicant.)
Look into the wue schools plus the two main Colorado schools.
The deal with Gonzaga was going out-of-state and transportation cost, since I was nervous about being away from home, but just being in college for month has been fine for me, so I think i could handle it now. Also I didn’t really like Spokane when I first visited, but honestly Golden is not any better, and thinking about it, its probably worse. But yes, I’ll definitely look into going to CU or CSU honors schools and WUE schools. Thanks so much for your help guys.