Ideally staying at TCNJ sounds like the best option but none of us know your family situation. I don’t see UGeorgia being any better than TCNJ (except for football).
Keep in mind that being a transfer student can work fine but it isn’t easy. Friendships are most easily formed freshman year when everyone is new to the school, you will be walking into a new and much larger university when your peers would be already settled in, etc.
I wish you luck. If you can convince your parents to let you stay at TCNJ I’d be sure they agree to let you graduate from the school so you don’t have to deal with the same thing next year.
There are also academic risks, such as your previous course work not covering major or general education requirements at the new school, forcing you to “catch up” and possibly need an extra semester to graduate, or have less schedule space to include in-major or out-of-major electives.
I’m sorry you have to deal with such toxic attitudes that have no basis in the reality of your school’s reputation.
Suppose you agree to transfer - are they letting you choose any school you want, of your acceptances? (Hard to believe they’d be so controlling about making you transfer, yet not-controlling about which school to transfer to…) Does “Do I just accept my fate and go to UGA” mean that that’s where they want you to go?
UGA is an excellent school; I certainly wouldn’t have encouraged you to uproot yourself to go there for CS, over TCNJ, but if you have to transfer, it’s a fine choice… just large and potentially a big adjustment. I can’t say I see the appeal of transferring from one non-flagship NJ public to another. Do you like the west coast schools? UofSF is at least a close-knit and welcoming campus, and SF would be an adventure - would you get on-campus housing? WSU is a great place too - I’ve known students who transferred in from community colleges and had a great social experience there… but the travel would be quite a haul, since it isn’t near a hub with direct flights from the east coast.
I wish you could stay where you are; it’s a shame your parents are manufacturing a problem where no problem should exist. But if they’re going to force you to transfer, at least you have some good options. I assume the OOS schools will cost quite a bit more than they’re paying now, but if that’s what they want, I guess that’s on them!
One concern would be the Jesuit core. It may be hard to transfer in and complete the core as well as all classes for one’s major and graduate on schedule.
Stick to your guns. Tell them you’d be happy to go to Rutgers or anywhere else for grad school, but you’ll stay home, take a gap year, and get a job so you can go back to TCNJ and pay for it on your own.
I’ve heard of parents living vicariously through their children, but whose education is this anyway?
TCNJ and Rutgers New Brunswick tend to be the top public NJ picks for universities, at least for NJ residents. My husband (a Rutgers NB graduate) was an adjunct for Rutgers Newark BS for years. One day he casually asked his students why Newark over NB, the consensus was they didn’t get accepted to NB. Newark is more if a suitcase school than TCNJ.
Funnily enough, USF took most of my credits. NJIT didn’t accept any of my TCNJ credits, but i’m not interested in NJIT so i don’t really care that much.
Taking credits is not the same as fufilling graduation requirements. If you consider USF look at the online course catalog and talk to a transfer advisor to understand what classes are needed to complete the core curriculum and classes in your major.
Jesuit colleges typically have a large humanities core with classes in subjects such as theology, philisophy, etc. My S’s friend who transferred into a Jesuit college as a sophomore needed an extra semester to graduate. Of course YMMV.
Again, IMO the best answer is to stay at TCNJ if possible .
Funny though, TCNJ is #1 - in regional universities North. #2 is Bentley - one of the top b schools in the country and #3 is Providence - which is a step up (my opinion) from USF.
I’m guessing they know little about the programs and career outcomes.
SMH - UGA is HUGE - it’s a really really really large campus - which is not for everyone. It’s very nice, very southern, very football crazy and more. And it’s never easy socially to transfer.
I wish you luck whatever you decide - but your parents perspective, in my opinion of course, are way off base.
Are you currently living on campus at TCNJ or commuting? If the latter, you may find that you enjoy living on campus, even though I know you would prefer to stay at TCNJ.
I live on campus, I just have to go home almost every weekend. However, the friendships I’ve made at TCNJ, is a bigger pro then being with my parents for 1 day of the entire week.
Your parents insist you come home every weekend but are willing to allow you to transfer to a college in CA or GA? Sounds to me like their desire for weekly in-person contact would be better met by you staying at TCNJ.
If you choose one of the two other NJ locations, would you be close enough to continue to socialize with your friends upon occasion? I wouldn’t normally recommend choosing a school for this reason, but since you don’t want to transfer but may have to, perhaps that would work out?
Alternatively, would your parents let you stay at TCNJ if you take a semester or year abroad somewhere else?
Update: I got into Rutgers NB and my parents and my entire family now want me to go there. It sounds like there isn’t another option. Is going to rutgers going to make that much of a difference? I don’t want to leave my friends, research, and leadership.
I don’t expect there will be any meaningful difference in career outcomes solely based on if you graduate from Rutgers or TCNJ. As you know, you will be giving up established relationships with peers and professors if forced to transfer. Sorry you are in this situation.