Essentially my time at Cornell has been abysmal. I spend most of my time despressed and crying, which is the opposite of what I usually am. Typically I’m a go-getter who works intensely and always has a plan and this semester I’ve completely fallen apart and I’m simply anonymous in this school.
My question: should I go back to my old school? I had friends, I could run track (I can’t here), I was doing research and published it, I had faculty connections. At Cornell I’ve completely had to rebuild and it has gone poorly. I’m looking for the nerds, but can’t find them and advising is impersonal and so are the professors.
Also: I was accepted to transfer into Columbia SEAS. Would this be a better option for me? I always loved the city and knew Columbia has more of an intellectual vibe, but it has a lesser CS dept to Cornell. However, the dept is much smaller so it would be easier to get individual attention and do research and recommendations. Being at such a huge school like Cornell in the middle of woods has depressed me and while NYC is huge, being there has always made me happier. I know Columbia also is very impersonal and transferring again would be difficult, but I had loved the core curriculum and at Cornell no courses really satisfy that same niche. I was planning on going to grad school so Cornell would look better but not if I’m unhappy for another 2.5 years.
Maybe if there is some STEM housing or a frat I could join that would help out, but right now I’m with ppl who are just an amalgam of different things and I have nothing to say to them or vice versa.
TL;DR
Any thoughts or advice? Go back to my old engineering school, stick it out at Cornell, or go to Columbia and get some more people like me?
Thanks!