I am a computer science major international student from Union College (NY) who finished sophomore year and now taking time off. Academically, I’m doing okay with average GPA of 3.76, but last trimester, I slipped and got 3.00 GPA for that term.
This sounds regrettably stereotypical, but yeah I am Asian and my mother has been pressuring me. She have been never really happy in my school because 1) the school is not prestigious enough and 2) she don’t think being computer science major in Union College is going to land me on a job.
As for me, I’m neither too happy nor too unhappy in my current school, which is why I decided to go along and try to see where I can land. The college’s living conditions are somewhat poor—food and dorms ,but most importantly, the school is located in a dangerous area (Schenectady), so I ended up staying put within campus 99% of time and one time I ventured out alone I almost became a victim of crime. Education-wise, I’m generally satisfied with quality of my classes and helpful professors—the pros of liberal arts education—but I am frustrated with lack of academic flexibility and options.
I have not been able to take classes I wanted due to limited space, scheduling restrictions, mediocre advising, and my own fault. I could take only 3 calc classes, 2 science classes and 2 CS classes, English classes and other classes that doesn’t contribute to my current major.
I enrolled as undeclared major and this scheduling difficulty prevented me from exploring majors I was interested in. While I have not much conviction nor much knowledge in my major, I think I will go on with current major as I transfer. Otherwise I would never be able to decide on a major.
My mother is looking for very rigorous schools. Though I have a fall back plan of going back to current school, I want to I have realistic expectations.
I am quite indecisive and bad at college application process so I would really appreciate any suggestions for schools or any advice…
...especially on requesting a recommendation letter when I haven't seen them for a long time. I was not very close with professors and to worsen it, I took a leave of absence. Those professors I had relatively closer relationships with are not from recent classes. Is it better to request letter from more recent professors or earlier professors I have spent bit more time?
I graduated from high school in small US territory island and have studied abroad in other countries as well, I graduated with something roughly around 3.8 GPA and I have 2 5’s, 2 4’s in terms of AP scores. I also have okay SAT subject tests scores with 3 subjects over 700. I have next to none in terms of extracurriculars and sports but I have had an internship in an electronics company. I have been learning 2 other foreign languages not including my mother tongue and English.
That’s all that is to flaunt about me and I have nothing else all that usable in college application. Thank you for any help!