Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Transfer Students
1

Forgive me, but this is going to be rather long.

I’m a CC student who transferred there from Rutgers University and I’m conflicted. I’m not sure I should go back to Rutgers or go to another 4 year university.

In 2013, I started as a freshman right out of high school at Rutgers in NJ. My first choice was too expensive and here’s where I made my first mistake. Instead of going to a CUNY as a NY resident, I chose a state school out of state. I had the grades and SAT score to get into Hunter, Baruch, or City College. I wanted to be on my own and hated living at home with so many rules. So, I chose Rutgers.

I also chose Rutgers because I was a told I would have adequate mental health services. I have bipolar disorder and up until when I started at Rutgers, I was in therapy and on medication since I was 13. So being in therapy and medication management was non-negotiable for me. Mistake #2 was not doing adequate research about how my New York insurance would work in another state. Turns out, I screwed myself by going to Rutgers. On my first therapy session at their counseling center, the psychologist barely talked to me for twenty minutes before referring me elsewhere. I was shocked. And being 18, naive, and completely unaware of NJ’s mental health system, I chose to stay at Rutgers. I found a free clinic that was a far cry from the therapy clinics I went to in NY. It was severely understaffed and didn’t offer any programs longer than 3 months. I was in therapy for 3 months, enough for me to finish out the fall semester, and started the spring 2014 semester without any type of support system.

I also realized too late that Rutgers was way too big for me. I was spoiled by my first semester by having small classes with my biggest class only being 100 kids. Again, it was me being naive and dumb. I should have realized that the fact that Rutgers had the second largest transit system in the whole state meant that it was huge. My second semester, my smallest classes had 200 kids in a cramped lecture hall. Office hours were hard to come by. I completely fell apart my second semester and withdrew from all my classes. I lost my financial aid because of unsatisfactory academic progress. I got an appeal and fell apart again my fall semester of sophomore year. I went from a 3.375 GPA to a 2.188. I lost my financial aid for good and they told me to take credits at the local CC to get it back. I left school for a year and a half completely alone and lost.

I enrolled in the CC this fall 2016 semester. I thought I was going to hate it, but I fell in LOVE with it. I loved the small classes, how my professors knew my name, and the fact that I was motivated to go to class because attendance counted heavily towards my grade.

I have a chance to go back to Rutgers in the spring, but I’m having second thoughts. I just don’t think it’s the right fit, but it’s convenient and since I’m now a NJ resident I’ll get in state tuition. I want to move back to New York City to be closer to my family, but all the good NYC schools are SUPER competitive even the CUNYs worth going to.

My Rutgers GPA is severely limiting me. I don’t want to move to another state besides NY and I’m not sure what to do.

Thoughts?

2

@jdm307 I think if you transfer back to a college in NY you will have to pay out of state tuition, since you are a resident of NJ. It would.t be as much as much as Rutgers.

If your support group is in NY and you have no one in NJ, maybe it’s best to move back home, but I can’t really make that decision for you. You have to weight your options.

If you plan to attend college in NY, I would recommend attending a CUNY CC (Kingsborough is the best, one of the top community colleges in the U.S.). It’s on the beach and the atmosphere is great. The counseling center can be a hit or miss, it depends on who is the therapist. Note that NYC has great low cost/ free health care.

I know for a fact that once you graduate with your AA, Adelphi University, St. John’s University gives really good merit/ scholarship awards; also try to get on the Phi Theta Kappa Honors program you get more money. Adelphi loves Kingsborough graduate. Once you regain your FA and get a good scholarship you wouldn’t need to pay too much.
If you graduate with an AA from CUNY, you will automatically get accepted to a senior CUNY college.

Students from a Kingsborough have gone to Columbia University. Also, a lot of colleges also do on spot admission decisions at Kingsborough and other CUNY colleges.

If you are looking for a small four year college, Adelphi University is good.

  1. Barauch: Business
  2. Hunter: Social Sciences (Psychology), Has a Social Work Program
  3. Queens College: Liberal Arts (Psychology)
  4. Brooklyn: Business (Has a really good Social Work Program)

John Jay: Criminal Justice

Just remember if you attend CUNY, you will be debt free because FA always covers full tuition.
I always recommend attending CUNY for your BA/ BS and then attending a more prestigious college like Columbia or NYU for your MA/Phd. If you planning on living and working for a decent amount of money in NYC, a CUNY degree will get you a good job.

3

So a little update:

I applied for reenrollment to Rutgers SAS. I just got my acceptance letter on Friday. I had the GPA and credits for SAS so I wasn’t worried about getting back in. I just made my spring schedule for community college. I was able to skip remedial math (math is my WORST subject) and go straight to precalc. I failed precalc at Rutgers.

I’m conflicted. I could go back to Rutgers in the spring and work on raising my horrendous 2.188 GPA. I also now have in state tuition. It’s very affordable, but I’ll still need federal loans now that I lost my business school scholarship. When I pass my 9 credits at the CC, my satisfactory academic progress percentage will be good and I’ll get my financial aid back.

The thing is I don’t want to leave CC just yet. I at least want to get precalc and calc I out of the way as well as French. I love the small classes and the overall environment. No having to take crowded buses from campus to campus or sitting in a large lecture hall. I have social anxiety and the small class sizes at my CC makes it easier for me to participate in class and make new friends without feeling overwhelmed. My CC is also paying for me to go. With my pell grant, everything is covered.

The bottom line is I hate Rutgers. My academic advisor is pushing me to apply elsewhere based on what I’m telling her about my experiences at Rutgers. She’s telling me not to waste my college years at a school I wouldn’t want to be at. The thing is my Rutgers GPA is dragging me down. I’m doing exceptionally well at my CC when I barely scraped by at Rutgers.

Thoughts?

4

Stay where you are. Finish the classes that you want to finish there. Finish up a full AA or AS degree at your CC, and then take advantage of any articulation agreements between your CC and the colleges/universities that your advisor thinks are good matches for you. When you transfer you will need to provide your Rutgers transcript and yes that GPA is not so hot, but by then you will have several semesters of good grades from your CC so your options will be better.