<p>And I need the wisdom of a parent (besides my own, that is, since they wouldn’t be very happy to hear this). I’m a really artsy kid, and always have been. It just comes naturally to me. Unfortunately, at the beginning of high school I became tired of being classified with all the other bleeding-heart types and being told I needed to be more practical about my future, so I decided I would become an investment banker. I dedicated myself to math and the sciences, but I’m that stereotypical “doesn’t work to his abilities” kid. With many all-nighters, I scraped through high school with about a 3.5 unweighted GPA, high SATs, and okay ECs. Then I got diagnosed with a plethora of disorders, including ADHD, and now I’m highly medicated and starting to think rationally (or irrationally–I’m not quite sure yet which it is).</p>
<p>I don’t want to go to the large state school I’m attending, which I selected especially for its business/engineering programs (double major). It is no longer a match for me, and I find myself longing for a small northeastern LAC-type school. I’m reluctant to waste several thousand to go through a year of science and math courses that will not help me in the long term, but I also don’t know if a gap year will look that good, especially because I won’t be doing much you can put on paper, besides a steady job, since I’ll be dedicating myself mostly to independent artistic pursuits.</p>
<p>I already contacted my school and they will approve my request for a gap year/deferral if I choose to do it, so that’s not an issue. But should I deprive myself of the structure of regular classes and the EC opportunities? I’d be lonely during my gap year, plus I would no longer have the chance to pursue my interests with the help of established clubs. However, I’ve got a rigorous schedule, and I will have to dedicate a lot of my time to academics to get through, so I’m not sure if my GPA will be great or if I’ll have time for outside activities, which would reflect negatively on my apps when I try to transfer.</p>
<p>And that’s about it! Thanks for any and all help!</p>
<p>All the classes are filled, usually with about 10 kids on the waitlist, plus I’m already enrolled in the business/engineering schools and a special business program that I can’t get out of, and they all require several classes this semester which take up basically my entire schedule.</p>
<p>Since you titled your thread, “I Think I May Have Made a Mistake” (emphasis added, obviously), you don’t know for sure. I think you should go forward with your freshman year, as planned. Worst case: You really do want a small LAC, and you’ll transfer for your sophomore year. In the meantime, you will have taken some courses that will help eliminate some requirements at your new LAC. </p>
<p>Why take a gap year when you’re really not sure what you’re sure of?</p>
<p>Another last minute option is to just go to a local community college for a year and then transfer to a school once you better know what you want to study. I don’t recommend a gap year - go to community college at the very least.</p>
<p>I actually think going to a community college wouldn’t be a good idea. You have a better shot at the types of schools you are interested in as an incoming freshman, rather than as a transfer from community college.</p>
<p>Surely in that large state university there are SOME courses that still have seats in them that are NOT science or math courses. Go and talk to an advisor ASAP and switch your schedule.</p>
<p>Call the admisssions office first thing tomorrow morning. Explain to them that your interest has changed and you would like to pursue a more liberal arts curriculum. They may be able to work something out with you. I’m sure they have ways to accommodate a change. Good luck. MAKE SURE YOU CALL TOMORROW MORNING. lol</p>
<p>You don’t need to change schools. Large state schools have programs that appeal to liberal arts students, and I’m sorry but I just don’t buy that “all” the classes are full. </p>
<p>Have you just started at the U? From what you post it seems so so I will go on that. Or have you not started yet but you have your schedule?</p>
<p>You are not the first freshman to get to campus and want a do-over on his or her schedule-it happens ALL. THE. TIME. My D. burned through I don’t now how many classes her first semester and by the end of her first semester had remade herself from a pre-engineering to a liberal arts student.</p>
<p>Sit down with your schedule and a copy of the university’s distribution or core requirements. Unless you are in advanced classes and have AP credit, you will find that you have to take a math, a science, etc. Either use the classes you have registered for to satisfy those very general requirements or go to an advisor when you get to campus and ask them to help you jigger your schedule.</p>
<p>Classes that look full online will often be opened after everybody starts shifting things around, and you can often talk to a professor and get permission to enroll, but this takes a little work and initiative on your part and a willingness to visit each professor and make your case for why you want to be in his or her class.</p>
<p>My next piece of advice is going to make your parents cry, but here goes: If you are an arty kid, then follow your bliss. Do not waste your time and take up space in classes that do not ignite your curiousity and make you want to learn. Other than the aforementioned requirements of course–but please don’t be a mediocre business student when you could be a gifted literature student. Life is too short, and the business world is FULL of talented and happy liberal arts majors who studied what they loved, excelled and are now making good livings doing a variety of interesting and obscure things in the business world. </p>
<p>Go to the U and start exploring–universities are FULL of people who have changed course, and are full of faculty and advisors who are eager to help students. </p>
<p>Oh, and unless you are some kind of prodigy, I find it implausible that you are already in business classes or in a program you “can’t get out of.” Business requires a lot of preparatory work in mathematics, economics, communication, writing, and sometimes computer science before you can enroll in actual business classes. You might be enrolled in the College of Business, but that does not mean you are taking business classes as a freshman. Most lower division pre business classes will work for any social science major or for the math requirement of a humanities major.</p>
<p>There has to be some general ed courses that all colleges will need that are still open, along with a course or two in the area you like. Focus on doing well this first year, and then you will have a good chance of transferring elsewhere. </p>
<p>A gap year may not be what you want. Many schools grant a gap year with the stipulation that you will not be applying to other schools. You will be just where you are now if you go that path.</p>
<p>By rearranging your schedule, you can get some general college requirements out of the way, and check out the large college scene personally. Who knows, you may end up liking it there. Many of my friends who so hated college first term, ended up loving it there.</p>
<p>I don’t think a gap year is a terrible idea, if you have a worthwhile way to fill it. But it doesn’t sound like that’s the case (not blaming you, it’s just that your plans are changing very last minute).</p>
<p>You won’t know if you really hate your school & major until you try it. If you truly can’t stand it, you can transfer in Jan or take 2nd semester off and transfer to start next fall. At least you’d have a year worth of credits. Even if the classes you take aren’t in your final major, they’d probably count as electives or cover some distribution requirements. And as you said, there are probably clubs & such that you could join to pursue your interest in art.</p>
<p>In your first year of college, you still have plenty of time to change your mind and explore new things. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ll be dedicating myself mostly to independent artistic pursuits.</p>
<p>Do you need a college education for that? In what kind of “artistic pursuits” and/or “steady job” you are planning to engage to fully support yourself?</p>
<p>No artsy grown- up ever regretted learning econ or statistics or History of Globalization. I can’t think of a single Freshman business course that won’t be applicable to the rest of your life.</p>
<p>Everyone starts somewhere- and you’re starting here. Just jump into the pool. By the end of the first semester you’ll have either worked out a way to transfer into the school of Arts and Sciences, or you’ll be happy learning what you’re learning and will stay the course, or will be utterably miserable and decide to transfer out. In any case, you will be in a better position than you would be slapping together a gap year program in the 10 minutes remaining to you before you have to start orientation.</p>