I am the parent of a kid who transferred for academic and social reasons. During her first semester at her first school she realized it wasn’t a great fit academically or socially and she started looking for another school.
She looked at some of the schools she had already applied to and where she had been accepted. She thought about one in a bigger city which was very appealing to her, but she felt like she would’ve missed a lot not being there from the start.
She also really missed her old friends, who had scattered in different directions. She didn’t feel like it would be a good fit to go to most of their schools, but she had one good friend at a school she had already been accepted to that was somewhat better academically and offered better career services. It is not in a location that is as interesting to her, but having her friend there made it attractive. She contacted the school in late Nov/early Dec and they said “yes! come on in spring,” so she moved out of her old school at Winter Break and moved into her new school at the start of the Spring semester.
It was a not a super smooth transition, but was made 1000% easier by having her good friend there already. I do not think it would have gone well for her without that friend there. There were already friend groups established and while she did meet a girlfriend they had a near break up recently and she was left feeling like her old friend there was her only friend at school. I think she does have some other friends, but sometimes she feels a little like she is on the outside and these friends do have a history that she is not part of. I think she’s starting to feel a little more in sync now and she doesn’t regret transferring, but it’s not always an easy thing to do.
If the school you are thinking of (W&M) has a robust orientation program for transfer students you might be able to make friends through that, but otherwise I think it can be hard to make friends at a new school.
If your current school is equal academically and offers the major you want I would continue to put yourself out there socially at your current school and try to fix that aspect of your college if nothing else is broken. Ask people if they want to go get lunch together after class (always easier than going out at night) or if they want to study together. Strike up a conversation while you are waiting for class to start or waiting in line. Talk to the people in your clubs. Make a real effort. Hang out with the extroverts even if you’re an introvert. Extroverts are usually happy to get to know folks and they may introduce you to more people you would get along with better if they aren’t BFF material themselves.
Here are some more resources to help you decide if a transfer is the right thing for you:
Student transferring to W&M My Decision to Transfer Colleges: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly | CollegeXpress
USNews FAQs about transferring
Is it Worth It? 6 Reasons to Transfer
(Note to moderators – I looked for “transferring colleges” articles on CC, but there is no easy search function on the front page!)
(Note to @_moneywoise there are some good articles out there if you run a search on
‘is transferring colleges worth it’. I can’t link them all because some are from sites that compete with CC.)