I originally was going into the Navy, so my parents made me apply to one school as a fallback and I just chose one at random. Turns out, its a pretty good school ranked #70-something nationally (10,000 enrollment, private), and since I got disqualified I had to go to college in the fall. I made the best of it but I wasn’t exactly in love with it. I only have 2-3 good friends at school and my grades suffered because I just wasn’t getting enough out of the “college” part at this school and wasn’t happy and I couldn’t wait to come home for summer. Now I have two semesters under my belt and I’ve been thinking of transferring (considering I didn’t really do the whole looking-for-colleges-thing). I want to change my major to something more specific (from criminology to emergency management or homeland security) but my school doesn’t have it. I also rushed last semester. Do I only look for a school for that major and my sorority? Or are academics more important and say “screw the sorority”? Do I go for a larger school since socially this school wasn’t doing it for me? Do I consider greek life in my decision? What happens if I transfer and I’m even less happy at the new school?
Why don’t you consider taking a Gap Year while you think through your transfer plans? You could ask for a leave of absence from your current university so you could go back there if you decide not to transfer after all.
If you know your specific career goals, then choosing a college/university that offers your major should be your first priority. When you have a list of places with that major that will be affordable for your family, you can find out which of those also have your sorority on campus and use that to make the list shorter and more manageable.
I honestly think my parents would have a heart attack if I took a gap year. I’m paying $37,000+ a year for the school I’m at so taking a semester off seems logical, but I also need to bring my GPA up, since it wasn’t too great this past year due to my lack of love for the school, which of course didn’t give me any desire to do well at all.