I currently go to a small not-well-known liberal arts college in Texas. Mainly due to mental issues and lack of resources I didn’t get a chance to even attempt to apply to any reputable university so I ended up going to one that a family member attended, and I am absolutely miserable here. Recently I applied to transfer to one of the top 3 universities (somewhere in the top 15 in the U.S.) in my state and got accepted, but out of familial guilt, my own self-defeating attitude, and my relationship with some friends and people at work, I decided to decline. Now that the fall semester has started I realize that this was a TERRIBLE mistake.
I really just want any feedback, even from a biased and subjective perspective.
I am currently a philosophy major in my sophomore year, and applied as a philosophy major to transfer as well, but recently I have been looking to pursue cognitive science/neuroscience graduate programs so am on the fence of changing my major to something like biopsychology or neuroscience. I am REALLY wanting to transfer, but I feel so bad about even wanting too. My sister went to the university and even currently works here, she was absolutely ecstatic to learn that I was deciding to go (I wanted to transfer even before my freshman year started) and when she learned I was thinking of transferring she was heartbroken and didn’t speak to me for almost a month. On top of my sister’s heart, even though I am very introverted and shy, I have bonded quiet well and established ties with many people that I work with on campus in our IT department, to be honest they are about 80% of the reason why I WANT to stay, I love my coworkers and my supervisors so much, and would hate to leave them.
My main concern is that if I do apply to transfer, which would be at the end of my sophomore year where I will have about 70-80 credits already, would it still be possible to apply and be accepted to the same one I just declined, even with that many credits? At this point I see it as a reality that I will have to go for at least an extra semester to more probably a year to graduate, so I would be going the same amount of time as if I transfer the end of my freshman year. Also, the universities are in the same city, so I would be able to see my friends at work, I am just afraid many of them would be offended that I decided to transfer, many of the people on this campus are cult-like devoted to the university that literally most of the people in the city haven’t even heard of…