Thinking about transferring out of Cornell

DadTwoGirls
Sat, 16 Dec 2017 20:11:57 +0000

“I usually don’t mind a challenge and the rigor but the CS/engineering workload here is quite insane.”

Of the schools on your tentative list, some of them (eg, Berkeley and Michigan) are not going to be any easier. I am not sure that any of them will be any easier. Also, I don’t understand why these other schools would solve the problems that you have with Cornell either. It is not unheard of for very smart engineering students at top schools to find their social life challenging.

The reality is that a CS or engineering program at a highly ranked university is going to be very academically challenging. The upside is of course that you will end up with a degree that will be highly respected, in a practical field, that is very likely to be a big help in getting you a good job and a good career.

I know how hard it is to keep up the required level of work for four full years, with relatively little encouragement. I was there for my own four years many decades ago. In fact your post looks like something I could have written a bit over 40 years ago, except that there wasn’t an Internet then.

It will get much better. Whether it gets better before you graduate with your bachelor’s degree is another issue, and hard to predict. Your might want to try on-line dating (which might or might not help), but otherwise I suspect that your best bet is to stick it out, and know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel even if it is 2 1/2 years away.