It looks like undergrads are limited to one cross-registered course per semester. But that could still be something he wants.
Also, he should definitely reach out to his advisor re: choosing the best classes for next semester. And, he may be able to start trying to get research positions with faculty who are doing work he is interested in. His advisor or the dean or other students or Dr. Google should be able to help with that.
Also, look into math heavier classes e.g. advanced econ, CS, etc.
Just for clarity I was making no comment on the make-up of the USC campus, only its location 
Speaking of geography, @KarenKaren for a BU class it’d be a little bit of a journey into Boston obviously so double check the logistics to make sure there’s space in the schedule. There’s a T stop right at Tufts of course but I’d finger to the wind it at an hour each way or nearly so.
“Geographically” probably wasn’t the right term to use. USC is located in an urban part of Los Angeles and it is a gated campus. There aren’t that many walkable places, although there is a lot to do on campus. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it depends on the student.
Hi there,
I’m not sure what state you are in now, but moving to New England can be a cultural adjustment, in addition to the adjustment to living away from home and old friends. It took him years to build his previous friendships, so new ones will take some time. For this reason, a lot of Freshman think about transferring the first year, but it does not always mean that the school is a bad fit. Often times, it just takes a little more time. Transferring may just prolong the feeling of not settling in.
I agree with the volunteering suggestion (link below) and I would continue to follow up with clubs - there are so many! (another link below). I think lots of people sign up for multiple clubs in Freshman year, but quickly learn that there is not time for all of them, so there may be more room in the near future. It looks like the student newspaper (link below) will likely have another opportunity to join up (a semester training is required) next semester. There is also so much to explore in Boston, a lot of what I did when I was new to Boston for college, was just explore!
I’m a lawyer, and I can tell you that any major that requires critical thinking and writing is just fine. (There’s also a mock trial club/team)
I’d encourage you to support your kid as he navigates this change. Absent mental health concerns, I’d defer any real consideration until the end of the year and agree with the poster who recommended letting student direct the research/consideration of other places.
https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/take-action/volunteer-opportunities
Did your son do a pre-o at Tufts? I’m asking because my kid still meets up with those they went on pre-orientation with regularly.
You mentioned course rigor. Spring registration was last week. Did your son talk with his advisor and register for classes which will challenge him more for next semester?
As for where to apply for transfer, I’d suggest looking at his original list last year first. What did he like about those schools? How are they different from Tufts? As another poster said, do eliminate any schools where he was rejected, but the whole list and his impressions about every school added to his experience of his current school can help him figure out what type of schools he should apply to as a transfer student.
And if your son didn’t get the courses he wanted for next semester, many schools have waiting lists so that an interested student can pick up a spot when another student drops the course in the first week or two. They will have to make up the work, of course, and that can sometimes be challenging, but usually there is movement during the first week or two of each semester. He can also email the faculty of a course he wants that is full to see if he can get an override, and/or show up the first day of class and talk to the professor and see if there is room for him.
BTW this reminds me, @KarenKaren I can’t recall if you said where you live currently (i.e. where your son grew up) but if meaningfully further south than NE, somewhere with warmer/brighter winters, the winter can be long, gray, and kind of a bummer in NE especially if you’re not used to it. So, if he’s feeling down now, I’d try to be extra attuned to seasonal impact in the coming months. If you live in Maine then never mind!
Regarding USC, I understand what you and the other parent are saying and appreciate it. But please note that the area is fast regentrifying especially with the Olympics in 2028, just 4 years away. Even without the Olympics, just 7 mins drive away are million dollar houses. While it’s not as safe as the westside unless you have driven and looked at houses recently, its changed a lot. Like any big city, you have to be careful but there are new buildings and regentrification in the neighborhoods esp west of USC.
re walkable places, there is the big university village just north of USC. Also, just north of USC and a walk or bus ride or Uber is downtown LA.
Northeastern has been mentioned; he might like their combined majors with journalism School of Journalism | Northeastern University Academic Catalog , and co-ops can be a big plus in that field. But it’s not as much of a “life of the mind” type place as some other schools he’s interested in. (Not to say that doesn’t exist or that NEU students aren’t intellectually engaged - they absolutely are - but the co-op emphasis attracts a more practically/pre-professionally-minded cohort.)
Wesleyan is very transfer-friendly; one of my daughter’s friends freshman year transferred there as a sophomore and had a very good experience - they house the transfer cohort together and give them a lot of support. From they way you describe your son, he might like the “vibe” there. Public Writing, Writing at Wesleyan - Wesleyan University
My daughter went through a long period of ambivalence about her college. She knew she wanted to study abroad, so the strategy we decided on was for her to get the ball rolling for an earlier-than-normal semester abroad, sophomore spring. She committed to giving her school a fair chance for three semesters and then going abroad for the fourth. The plan was that if she still wanted to transfer by sophomore fall, she would submit junior transfer apps before going abroad, and then transfer rather than returning after the semester overseas. As it turned out, she had found her groove by then and did not submit any transfer applications. (Sadly, just as she reached peak happiness with life on campus as a junior, the pandemic hit and they disbanded to remote learning for the remainder of college, but so it goes! Still, if she’d done a junior-spring semester abroad, she would’ve gotten sent home from that. 
) Tufts has top-notch study abroad programs, so that could be something to consider if it’s something he wants to do - that could get him through to the junior-transfer point for UC’s without spending a full two years on campus. FWIW, we discovered that it was necessary to start the orientations and paperwork for study abroad in Jan-Feb of freshman year in order to go abroad sophomore spring.
Good point He loves going into the city but it makes sense to have plenty of time
These are all great ideas. Thank you so much. We were hoping for a study abroad semester junior or senior year so he could not have rent when he’s no longer in a dorm.
I’m so sorry about the way the pandemic impacted your daughter. None of us had an easy go but HS and college students, IMO were hit hardest.
Thanks for the Wesleyan info. That I don’t believe is on his radar, but it sounds like its definitely worth a look.
Folks have won Nobel prizes for documenting the paradox of choice. So I won’t try to replicate their work- I am neither an economist, not have their capacity for number crunching.
BUT it seems to me that the suggestion to get on the T, go to South Station, take the Amtrak train to Providence, trudge up College Hill to hang out at Brown and feel the vibe, maybe get a sandwich (which is presumably the same sandwich one could eat at Tufts)… and then reverse the process to end up back in the dorm having invested an entire day in “checking out” Brown… that day could be put to more productive use RIGHT WHERE HE IS. Make an appointment with his advisor to express disappointment at the lack of challenge and have the advisor redo second semester courses. Reach out to one of the “no audition” a capella groups to see if they need a business manager who can’t sing (or if he can sing, even better). Write a one- page parody of something happening on campus and submit it as a feature piece to the student newspaper (no, you don’t have to be “on staff”. Publications accept guest-author work all the time). Go to the gym and sign up for golf lessons or swing dancing lessons, or just show up at a Zumba or yoga class.
The reason these scholars have won Nobel prizes in Behavioral Economics is that they have documented a phenomenon we ALL recognize in real life- but they’ve put actual numbers around it. Namely- it is MUCH easier to invest time, energy, money exploring “something else” than investing the same time, energy, money in exploring right where you are at this very moment. And that the more choices one has, the easier it is to NEVER choose-- whether to be perpetually in search of “the right one”, or to feel that one has settled for something less, or just to walk away without having to commit.
OP- there is NOTHING you have posted about your son that suggests that Tufts is a poor fit. I get encouraging him to seek out that which is missing… just make sure he isn’t investing so much energy in transferring, thinking about transferring, wanting to transfer, that he’s ignoring the opportunities in front of him.
I would also suggest to him that he reach out to transfer advisors before he falls into a rabbit hole. There are some schools being mentioned on this thread which accept very small numbers of transfers-- and I’d be shocked to learn that students with one semester of college grades who are accepted after applying TO did not fall into a “special” category, i.e. military veterans, Afghan/Ukrainian refugees, etc. I know Brown accepted several refugees in the last few years-- some with NO transcript at all-- but one should not assume that a kid with a “regular” HS experience who could have taken the SAT but chose not to (or did not submit) in any way falls into a “special” category.
OP’s kid sounds fantastic. It only takes one- one organization, one club, one activity or one lab partner who says “hey, let’s get coffee and review our notes before the next test” for things to turn around…
Intent to study abroad for 2024-25 academic year was due earlier this month.
Tufts also has two interesting summer programs in Talloires (France) and Pavia (Italy) that are pretty popular after freshman year.
Very much not a stem guy. Getting the requirements in stem will likely be his biggest challenge and least engaging academic experience
It can be more of a hassle to go abroad once you’re living off campus, as you have to deal with finding a subletter and all of that… whereas when you’re in the dorm, you just move out and that’s that!
Good luck figuring everything out; I hope things get better for your son, sooner than he expects!
ETA: oof, just saw SouthYankie’s info that Tufts intent to study abroad paperwork was already due for next year. I thought having to start the ball rolling in January for the following January was a long preparation arc!
Thank you for this very thoughtful response. I agree 100% about needing just the ONE thing. He has been sowing the seeds. I do hope that he sees the fruits of these labors soon.
he has already done so many of the things that you and others have mentioned. I cannot imagine him sewing or Zumba-ing but I see your point of getting out of his comfort zone. That makes a lot of sense.
Your point about a day on a train to Brown is also a good one. One on hand, investing where he is definitely makes sense. But, if he has otherwise free time, taking a train, which he enjoys and stepping on a new campus could make him feel like there is something exciting and vibrant, or it could make him feel like he just came from a special place to another special place.
I’m hoping he finds that coffee buddy soon. We’ve even talked about how he will get past this hump and someday use this experience to help mentor others so they won’t feel so alone. Many thanks for your kind words and thoughtful suggestions
Even though I was the one who suggested the train to Brown for a day, I agree with Blossom about spending the time locally to try to make things better where he is.
But…if he does decide to take the train (because, among other things, he likes trains!), note that both MBTA and Amtrak run trains along that route and he should check the timetables for both so he can make the best use of his time vis a vis schedules.
I drove a security van freshman year at college. My family thought it was hilarious (by the time I left home I was the worst driver in the family) but it paid well and amazingly enough- all you needed was a valid driver’s license and an eye exam.
Y’know what happens on a van? You meet people. You talk to people. The med students leaving campus for a drop off at one of the nearby hospitals. The water polo team leaving the dining hall on the way to the pool. The sculptors racing from their dorm to the studio and the musicians lugging instruments on their way to the practice rooms.
No, I didn’t meet my best friends that way… but boy, after a month, I sure knew a LOT of people on campus!!!
Then the insurance company tightened the requirements so I couldn’t keep the job sophomore year. (I was only 18 at the time). But by then I was in organizations and groups and had my friends and was living in a sophomore suite which was a dump but I was surrounded by friends so it was OK…
If your son has time on his hands- has he explored a 8 or 10 hour a week campus job? One where he actually has to talk to people???
I also thought of Syracuse and Mizzou when journalism was mentioned. Syracuse in particular checks a lot of the boxes and the students are very friendly. There’s plenty of rich kids but I don’t think there’s an elitist vibe at all (my kid eliminated certain schools from consideration due to that and he’s happy at Syracuse). I hope yours gets a job, explores, etc. and decides that he’s happy at Tufts, but just in case…