should I switch to a different college?

baktrax
Tue, 26 Nov 2013 16:36:35 +0000

You could form a study group at your current school. Is there a way for you to email you’re class or do you have any sort of class messageboard online? Could you start a facebook group for your class? I’ve had a handful of my classes where a student started a facebook group for the class and students posted notes and formed study groups through it. Forming a study group online may be easier than asking students in class, if you’re not comfortable striking up conversations with other students.

Also, you can ask for help from TAs or the professor. Do your classes have discussion sections? That could be a way to get help from other students to learn the material or to form study groups. Does your school have a tutoring center? That’s another way that you could get extra help with the material.

You CAN do things by yourself. There’s no reason for you to be so dependent on your friends and developing the skills to adapt to a new environment would be very beneficial. There’s no guarantee that your friends will always be in the same classes with you or that they would be able to help you with the material even if they were. Even if they are taking the same classes as you, you could easily ask for their help every once in a while even if you aren’t at the same school. My old friends from high school would sometimes help each other out when we were in undergrad (and even in grad school =D) even though we all went to different schools, and sometimes, it was helpful to know people at different schools. They often had access to different resources than I did and had professors that explained things differently. The material was still the same, but we could pull different resources together to help each other out. It’s quite possible that at some point you won’t live near your old friends anymore, and you’ll have to figure out how to learn things on your own, meet new people, and develop a new support group. There’s no reason why you can’t start now.

If you really are set on changing schools no matter what (and I don’t think your reasoning is very strong), I would recommend that you come up with a reason other than your friends for why you want to change schools. Find something concrete about what this other school can give you that your current school can’t. If you can’t find anything, then maybe you shouldn’t switch schools. Consider whether or not this would affect your financial aid, as well, since you’d be a transfer student. Also, is there a real reason why your mother would be concerned with you driving 12 miles? Is your driving not great, have you gotten into an accident before, have you not been driving for very long, or is your mother just being over protective? If you lived closer to campus and didn’t commute, then would your mother be okay with it? If you paid for your own car+insurance+gas, maybe then your mother would be more comfortable with it. Maybe if you show your mother that you’ve a very safe and responsible driver, she’ll be more comfortable with it.