Transfer, or finish my current degree?

Transfer Students
1

Hi! :smiley:

Right now, I’m currently at a 4-year private university who’s majoring in animation with a graphic design minor. My biggest reason for choosing this college actually wasn’t for academics, but rather esports. While I was attending my town’s CC, I fell in love with esports and the connections I made there! I wanted to have that same kind of experience when it was time to move up.

But….. now in my second year here, I absolutely hate my university. I do love my classes, my professors, and the faculty members I’ve gotten to know (I feel like the only friends I’ve made here are faculty members). But as a nontraditional student, I feel so alienated and different from everyone else, and there’s barely any other nontrads here. I don’t really have any friends, just a few people I talk to sometimes, and I don’t partake in any clubs or go to sporting events because I’m too late to have “the college experience” as someone who’s older than 99% of students graduating. And esports? The ONE reason I came here is the reason I’ve felt the worst I’ve ever felt from a mental health standpoint! I don’t feel a connection with my “team” and we’re probably one of the worst teams in the league we play in, it’s so demoralizing to feel so alone and lose at the same time :frowning: It’s frustrating having your top of the list need for college be like this!

I’ve considered transferring to a public university for nearly a year now, but the one catch is that this current school is the ONLY school in my state that offers an animation major. A lot of my credits probably wouldn’t transfer well, and as far as I know, I’ll be graduating next fall (I was told spring of this year, but this uni is just NOT kind to transfer students and basically forced me to pick up a minor to remain full time and delay my graduation so I wasn’t taking 4-5 studio art courses per semester) so I could just suck it up and finish my animation degree here despite all the difficulties I’m facing here. But transferring could give me a fresh start of sorts, I might be able to switch my minor to a major, and one of my state’s public universities plays esports too, and has a team that’s more of my skill level (though honestly as someone who’s 24 I’m considered ancient in esports and should probably just retire lol). All my state’s public schools are also closer to home, compared to my current 2.5-3 hour drives home on the weekends.

I know that transferring won’t magically solve my problems, I know if I transferred I still wouldn’t be into clubs and sports because I’ve missed my window for that kind of experience, but I’m genuinely at a loss of how to continue my college journey. Suck it up, or bail for hopefully greener grasses? (Housing isn’t an issue as a commuter, and the cost is basically the same between where I am now and where I would theoretically transfer)

2

You should be able to talk to your academic advisor. He or she should not take it personally that you are thinking about whether or not to transfer.

One issue that concerns me: It is my impression that most universities require you to be a student there for at least two years to get a bachelor’s degree. If this is correct, then if you transfer you might end up spending quite a bit of extra time in university before you get a bachelor’s degree.

One wild idea is to complete your bachelor’s degree where you are, and then think about whether there are any master’s degree programs that you would want to consider. A bachelor’s in animation and a masters in computer science seems like one possibility, although this is more something that I might think about and ask an academic advisor about before deciding whether it makes any sense or not. Of course getting a bachelor’s degree, working for a year or two, and then getting a master’s is also something that is often done. At least when I was getting a master’s I was in my mid 20’s but there were some students there who seemed to be older, and I think that the majority of students probably had some work experience.

To me it sounds like you are close enough to getting your bachelor’s degree that you might want to finish it where you are.

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Not sure how you are non traditional but that may be an issue everywhere.

Any other affordable schools OOS that might fit better ? Living at home can be an issue for integration into other areas.

Many attend class and don’t participate. But if you want to, and can afford this, I’d find the right school.

Otherwise you need to choose. Terrible to hate where you are but at the same time I read a lot of positive thoughts about the classes/profs so maybe you grind it out ?

4

It sounds like you will graduate in two more semesters so I’d try to stick it out. If you transfer you will likely need to spend two years at your new school to graduate.

Can you take courses you need to graduate over the summer and finish up faster? Can you join a “better” e-sports team not associated with your college?

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Age 24 passes the FAFSA independence test. While colleges and others may have their own definitions of “non traditional”, they often are not too far off from the FAFSA independence criteria.