<p>I’ve been thinking about transfering schools, not because our academic program sucks, not because I can’t get a lot out of it. But because at my current top 50 US news ranking school I’m not enjoying school. I’m a sophomore, I go to class but mostly zone out, cram for tests and never learn anything and get passing but not good grades. (2.9 GPA right now) I want to start fresh, go somewhere that I might enjoy. I also have this far fetched dream of becoming a pro cyclist, that I’m stubbornly unwilling to give up. I’ve applied to and been accepted to a far far less prestigious school which has a varsity cycling program that I believe will allow me to pursue this without completely screwing over my future. (Cycling takes a LOT of time) I’m also hoping to rediscover what used to be a love for learning. (I still love learning… just not in lecture halls with my teacher scribbling equations all over the board with no cognition for whether or not we understand any of it.) My view point is that life is for living and right now I’m largely suffering. I would like to enjoy college, even if it means working odd jobs until I find a good job simply because I went to a less prestigious university/college. (I would also be transferring from a research university to a LAC) I think I might actually learn more but not get the stamp of graduated from a prestigious university (vs getting that stamp but having learned nothing).</p>
<p>My mom see’s it differently. (I’ll try to give her viewpoint without my retorts) Talking to her she obviously wants me to get a good job, comfortably ect. Good mom stuff to want. She says that it would be better for me to suffer though this, essentially give up my whole cycling thing, get my GPA up and get a good job out of college. Which I agree is probably easier if my goal is to get a good job. It’s not though… I don’t particularly want a desk job, I want to learn, start my own business at some point and be happy. She insists that I will be better in the long run with a good job and such, and I guess I can’t argue here because I can’t see what I’ll desire in 10 years.</p>
<p>So here is the question, what should I do? I feel like if I give up my cycling dream I’ll regret not going for it for ever, but I can always go back to school, go to grad school, even take longer in the search for a desk job, or start up my own business. Perhaps I’m naive and see the world to blue and wonderful but as far as I can tell until I have kids the possibilities are pretty endless (I’m not above living off of ramen if necessary). That said I am 20, and future sight isn’t exactly 20/20. Thanks!</p>
<p>I left it out earlier so opinions could be left “unformed” but I’m at the University of Rochester and would be transferring to Fort Lewis College. I would also but making a slight major switch from Mechanical Engineering to a more broad Engineering-Physics department both ABET accredited (which as I see it would be more applicable to 21st century engineering learning a little about all fascets versus a ton about one, but again perhaps makes finding a job more difficult).</p>
). But you have to do well in school to be a strong candidate.</p>