Hello CC. I am an incoming freshman entering a honors program at a private university in NYC. From what I have been told and read, the program is great for business. The problem is, I never really wanted to attend here, with my mom basically “pushing the button” for me. My top choice was BC, Emory, and UCLA, but my mother really was unhappy when I initially decided on BC (“too many white people”) or Emory (“there are too many racists”) so I picked my current school thinking I would eventually like it because she already did. I was really wrong. Now, I am already looking to transfer after my first year. Is it too early for that? I am really trying to stay positive about my decision and my future, but I just find it impossible not to dislike myself just a little bit each time I think about it because I know I kind of messed myself up. Sorry if that’s really over dramatic. If anything, I would be fine coming back closer to home to a school like USC, if I weren’t able to go to a school where my job prospects and internship opportunities were a bit better. Here are my stats if it helps I guess:
4.47 WGPA 3.87 UWGPA 2040 SAT 31 ACT 9 APs and decent EC’s
Sorry if this sounds whiny. I would just like some perspective and possibly some targets where I may feel a bit better I guess.
It sounds as if you haven’t even started yet. What has convinced you that you can not like the school? Why do you dislike yourself & how have you messed yourself up? Why are your job prospects and internship opportunities better in NY than at USC?
If you could be more specific about what you can’t like your college it would help people give you better feedback. Without more info, it sounds a lot like cold feet (esp if you are from CA and are headed to NY)
How much can your family afford to pay? If you are going to need financial aid, take a gap year and apply to a new list that both you and your mom like. Your aid package will almost certainly be lousy as a transfer student.
Your choices now are:
Go to this university, and try to find a way to love it enough to get the grades you will need to have in order to be positioned for transfer after a year or two. Along the way, you may decide it is just fine. It isn’t necessary to adore your college to crank out your degree.
Take a gap year and make a better list. Your grades and test scores qualify you for a lot of good places - some where you would have serious merit-based aid, and your mom’s opinion wouldn’t matter at all. But that money is for freshmen applicants, not for transfers.
Go to a local open admission community college and work on the grades that will let you transfer after a year or two. You might find that you like that notion better.
@collegemom3717 I guess a few of the things that have convinced me include no D1 sports (though there is none at Emory either), the fact that job prospects are decent but extremely NY centric (don’t know whether or not I would want to stay there or come back to California), it has a sort of reputation as a commuter school, and it isn’t that prestigious (don’t want to seem shallow but it kind of does play into my thinking). USC wouldn’t fix all of these necessarily, but it might be more conductive to getting a job where I might be more comfortable.
I kind of messed myself up by being really indecisive but stubborn during my process. I chose one college really early on and didn’t even consider other options until the week before May 1st. A longer time period would have helped me make a more clear headed decision.
@happymomof1 Me and my mother combined could afford around 25k a year for my education. I received pretty good aid packages from all the privates I was accepted into. Publics were another story. I figured if I transferred to USC, living at home and taking the rail there is an extremely viable option and would lessen my costs, plus they meet USC determined need for all accepted students, whatever that means. Besides USC, I would probably have to shoot for an extremely selective school that offers transfers okay aid. It might seem really unrealistic though.
What USC determines to be your need, and what your need really is, can be two very different things. Your aid will also take into account if you are a commuter student or living on campus. Run the Net Price Calculator at USC, and see whether or not there is a possibility that you could afford to commute.
Since you can’t count on getting one cent of aid as a transfer, other than the federal student loans, given your budget restrictions your only affordable transfer-to option may turn out to be a commuting distance CSU. Are you fine with those? If you aren’t, a gap year makes a lot more sense so that you can apply as a freshman applicant.
You should try to make it work at your current school first.
@happymomof1 Just ran it and I would be able to afford to actually dorm there. There is no real indication that they give out different levels of need based aid for first year and transfers. I don’t want to put all my eggs in that basket though so a gap year might be a good option. My only concern is that I would need to do something good during it or else it doesn’t look very good. Hearsay, but I don’t know if I would be able to be as productive as I should.
You don’t have to be hugely productive during a gap year. Just holding down a job and earning money is good enough. So is a decent amount of volunteer work. Given that this is an election year, you could fill every minute between now and November with political work for your favorite candidate(s) if you wanted to.
The point of a gap year is to give yourself time to think carefully about your longer-term goals while taking a break from the educational-hamster-wheel you have been on since pre-school or kindergarten. Nothing wrong with that at all.
Don’t freak out and give the school you picked a try. If you hate it after the first year, you can transfer. The school may surprise you. It made it all the way through your list and didn’t get kicked off it at any point for anything majorly terrible, so it can’t be all bad, right?