Possible transfer student looking for options to explore

Transfer Students
1

I am a current student at the University of Nevada, and I just finished my first year there. However, I’m wondering if there is a different school that may be a better fit. I am looking for both advice and suggestions of schools to research.

First, I’m still not entirely sure if I even want to transfer. I am doing quite well academically and I am going to be a high-ranking officer in a very large club (120+ participants) next semester. I also love my course of study, which is fairly unique, and the fact that I am able to double major. However, I don’t much like the social scene, and I don’t feel very challenged in my classes. I also don’t really enjoy Reno. Additionally, I have a lot of credits already due to AP classes (I think I’m up to 89 after my first year?) and I don’t know if that will affect things.

Second, I want to do some research on possible schools that I could transfer to, but there are so many schools that I hardly know where to start. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here’s what I’m looking for:

-West of Kansas OR North of Maryland and East of Ohio

-Environmental Science/Environmental Policy/Land Management program(s)

-A private school that’s smaller than UNR, which has around 20,000 students

-I do not need financial aid or scholarships, so there is no need for discussion about affordability.

Things that I would like but that are not absolute necessities:

-If East of the Mississippi, near an airport that has direct flights to Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake, Chicago, Dallas, etc. (I want to be able to get home without taking 3+ flights–basically I don’t want to be in rural Vermont unless there’s good reason for it)

-USCSA ski team

Third, is there anything I can do during my time at UNR next year that can help my transfer chances? I have a 4.0 college GPA and a strong high school performance as well. I’m in the Honors Program and I participate in club sports. I will also be an officer for the club of said sport.

Fourth, if I’m planning on grad school, is transferring even worth it? Like, should I just stick it out at UNR then find a grad school that has all the things mentioned above? And yes, I know that grad school is different socially but a change in the social scene is what I want.

TL;DR: Should I transfer? What are some schools I should research? How can I increase my chances of being accepted as a transfer student? If I’m planning to go to grad school, does that change things?

2

If you do another year at UNR then you will be quite close to finishing, perhaps too close to justify transferring (i.e. you’d have to take extra credits just for the sake of it to receive a degree elsewhere). How many more courses/semesters do you need to take to complete your degree? And IIRC don’t you have a full ride at UNR?

It seems to me it would make more sense to either graduate in 2.5-3 years and then go elsewhere to do a masters, or take the whole junior year to study abroad (which might be more desirable if your scholarship will pay for it). One additional option (if you removed the skiing constraint) is that you could go and do another undergraduate degree in 2 years at Oxford or Cambridge if you finish your degree at UNR first. See https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/index.html and https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/second-undergraduate-degree

3

@Twoin18 I should’ve mentioned this: I have a lot of AP credits, but not many of them actually apply towards my degree. For example, I’ve got history credits, but those don’t do me any good for my science degree. A rough estimate would be that about half of my 89 credits actually apply towards my major. Only 32 of my credits were actually completed at UNR.

Yes, full ride at UNR, but that’s not why I chose UNR. Yeah, I didn’t see Boston University to be worth $72,000/year, but my family could have afforded it. The full ride is nice but nowhere near a necessity.

Right now, since I opted to double major, my plan is to graduate in winter 2022. If I dropped one of my majors, I think I’d be able to graduate in spring or winter 2021 (don’t quote me; I haven’t actually done the careful double checking).

I’m intrigued by your suggestion. I will look into it. And again, I really, honestly don’t know if I will end up transferring. I made this thread hoping to get more information and suggestions of schools to research. I just want to make sure I know my options, but I won’t go into a deep and dark depression if I stay at UNR.