<p>I was accepted into university through early decision as an Applied Math major. After completing my freshman year, I came back to my home country to work for 1 year and serve 2 years of military. As I’m working right now, I’ve came to the realization that I really want to study law in the UK or political science in another US university because I’m not completely satisfied with the one I’m in right now. Is is possible to drop out and then start fresh? Would this hamper my chances of getting into good US universities? I talked with some of the admissions officers for the UK and they said it’s completely fine. I would really rather start over from freshman year than go back to finish 3 years at an institution that I know for sure I won’t be 100% happy. Please, any advice or possibilities?</p>
<p>You cannot start over in freshman year. All your grades and courses will carry over. But you can transfer to any school you can get into.</p>
<p>Right. The only catch, in the U.S. at least, is that at many prestigious universities and colleges transfer admission can be more competitive than freshman admission.</p>
<p>What if I drop out and reapply? What are some of the drawbacks?</p>
<p>Reread post #2. You say you’ve already completed your freshman year.</p>
<p>You can’t pretend you didn’t go to college… they require you to report all previous colleges attended and provide transcripts for admission, at least in the US. So you have to transfer, and provide the information from your previous university.</p>
<p>So you have 3 choices:</p>
<p>1) study law in the UK (yes, you can start over there)
2) transfer to another school in the US as a sophomore (you can’t start over)
3) change majors to political science at the same school in the US </p>
<p>Much depends on where you get admitted and what you can afford. Realize that a strong quant background is an asset for political science majors. Take a line on Nate Silver.</p>