My child wants to transfer out of their current school…it’s been a month. What should she do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She has a 1280. Our flagship is UMD.

With excellent college grades, your daughter should not have any difficulty in being accepted as a transfer student. At many schools, the transfer admission rate is higher than the freshman admission rate.

If interested in a small prestigious SLAC, consider Kenyon College in rural Gambier, Ohio. Excellent academics, great theater program, and many are offered discounted tuition.

Another SLAC: Dickinson College in Pennsylvania; Denison University in Ohio tends to be preppy and athletic. Skidmore College in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New York may be of interest to your daughter.

Connecticut College in New London, Conn.

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

SMU in Dallas, Texas should accept her.

I could list many more schools, but need to understand what type of social life / social scene she likes and what she dislikes.

I am not addressing cost because I do not know anything about your financial concerns. Most schools award need-based financial aid to transfers.

University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.

[Anonymous]

I would let her transfer next year and start applying out. I transferred Sophomore year due to similar reasons and much happier. I went from a small school to a large public.

[Anonymous]

My thought is that if your daughter investigates transfer options at this time, it should reduce anxiety about her social situation and she may enjoy her current school a bit more.

Most important, however, is that it will force your daughter to focus on what she wants and expects from her college or university experience.

When applying as a transfer student, it is best to write about positive aspects of her target school rather than listing negatives at one's current school. For example: Programs of instruction--such as studio art or marine biology--that are offered at the target school, but not at her current school.

Nevertheless, it is fine to comment on the lack of social life on weekends due to students going home rather than remaining on campus. Small colleges /resident colleges like students who participate in social & academic activities 7 days a week as it makes campus life better for all students.

Hopefully, your daughter better understands her preferences now that she has actual on-campus college experience.

[Anonymous]

I would worry that the boyfriend is heavily influencing her.
It is too soon to decide her people aren't there.

I agree with everyone who says her goal right now should be to keep her grades up.

The fact that she applied to "all types of schools" tells me she does not know herself, or what she needs. That is not uncommon or a criticism. Remind her why she picked that school. Encourage her to continue to explore clubs. Maybe take one girl aside, who went to the gathering, and see if they can shed light on what happened.

It is hard, show her this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAUcoadqRlE

[Anonymous]

She's not URM or first-gen. She had a lot of strong extracurriculars, though.

[Anonymous]

No
She should stay the whole year and then if she still feels the same the. consider transferring

She is making the mistake of believing that college and friends is all decided in the first few weeks and that’s it. No one ever makes different friends. No classes are ever different. Nothing ever changes. She is thinking if she gets a “do over” that she will correct all the mistakes she made (mistakes in her mind not real actual mistakes) and it will all be better. Experience helps and those kids who transfer after one senator report being so happy because they go into the new school with college experience vs coming in freshman year with no experience. So sympathize, go visit, whatever but have her wait a year. It’s pretty unusual for a the average person to not make some friends after a whole year of being somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has a 1280. Our flagship is UMD.

With excellent college grades, your daughter should not have any difficulty in being accepted as a transfer student. At many schools, the transfer admission rate is higher than the freshman admission rate.

If interested in a small prestigious SLAC, consider Kenyon College in rural Gambier, Ohio. Excellent academics, great theater program, and many are offered discounted tuition.

Another SLAC: Dickinson College in Pennsylvania; Denison University in Ohio tends to be preppy and athletic. Skidmore College in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New York may be of interest to your daughter.

Connecticut College in New London, Conn.

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

SMU in Dallas, Texas should accept her.

I could list many more schools, but need to understand what type of social life / social scene she likes and what she dislikes.

I am not addressing cost because I do not know anything about your financial concerns. Most schools award need-based financial aid to transfers.

University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.

Why do you write like a promotional brochure?

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry to hear this, OP. Mine was also admitted to Muhlenberg but chose a reach that she happened to get into. We loved the campus and people there and met another admit from CT, so not all local. Still, there are a lot of local kids. I also attended a central PA LAC (I'm from nova), so I get this. I did find my people, but it took a bit.

Is there any chance she'd be interested in anything theatre related? They have a top notch theatre program for a LAC, and it attracts kids from all over the country. It's easy to get involved in tech theatre, costuming, set painting, lighting etc. She would definitely meet a wider geographical sampling of kids there. Hope she feels more optimistic soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She applied to a range of schools: small, large, big, small, urban, rural, etc.

Specifically Muhlenberg for money and because a few academic programs—mainly the theatre arts—attracted her. She even went to campus early for a scholarship program.

She’s now considering different majors, especially the sciences. Her interest in theatre arts is now transferring to studio art, although she will not major in either.

PP here. Just saw this. Were the theatre kids very local? I've seen so much on college confidential audition boards about Muhlenberg. Also, she may connect with others in studio art. Upper classmen too. She's hardly had a chance to meet them. In the end, most of my friends were upper classmen that I got to know spring semester. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has a 1280. Our flagship is UMD.

With excellent college grades, your daughter should not have any difficulty in being accepted as a transfer student. At many schools, the transfer admission rate is higher than the freshman admission rate.

If interested in a small prestigious SLAC, consider Kenyon College in rural Gambier, Ohio. Excellent academics, great theater program, and many are offered discounted tuition.

Another SLAC: Dickinson College in Pennsylvania; Denison University in Ohio tends to be preppy and athletic. Skidmore College in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New York may be of interest to your daughter.

Connecticut College in New London, Conn.

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

SMU in Dallas, Texas should accept her.

I could list many more schools, but need to understand what type of social life / social scene she likes and what she dislikes.

I am not addressing cost because I do not know anything about your financial concerns. Most schools award need-based financial aid to transfers.

University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.

In general, transfer students are not eligible for merit scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has a 1280. Our flagship is UMD.

With excellent college grades, your daughter should not have any difficulty in being accepted as a transfer student. At many schools, the transfer admission rate is higher than the freshman admission rate.

If interested in a small prestigious SLAC, consider Kenyon College in rural Gambier, Ohio. Excellent academics, great theater program, and many are offered discounted tuition.

Another SLAC: Dickinson College in Pennsylvania; Denison University in Ohio tends to be preppy and athletic. Skidmore College in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New York may be of interest to your daughter.

Connecticut College in New London, Conn.

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

SMU in Dallas, Texas should accept her.

I could list many more schools, but need to understand what type of social life / social scene she likes and what she dislikes.

I am not addressing cost because I do not know anything about your financial concerns. Most schools award need-based financial aid to transfers.

University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.

In general, transfer students are not eligible for merit scholarships.

See if the school directly addresses this on their webpage. I am concerned about this myself. DD at a school she was eager to go to and got great merit aid. I suspect, based on her experience thus far, that she may start to rethink her choice.

[Anonymous]

Remind her that in terms of being "local", U of MD will likely have fewer kids out of the DMV than Muhlenberg.

It is all relative.

Getting used to kids from PA is not a bad thing. It is a form of diversity, and will cause her to grow.

She is just missing the familiar, I think. She should not give up yet.

[Anonymous]

If she got into the state flagship as a HS senior and reaches out now, it is probable the flasgship would take her in the spring if they have room in a dorm for her (unless she wants to live independently, which is probably not advisable)

[Anonymous]

Ditch the boyfriend

[Anonymous]

Essay writer is back.