Disappointing choices so DC planning to transfer

[Anonymous]

Two of my nephews transferred their junior year.

[Anonymous]

^^Junior year seems late if you expect/plan for your child to graduate in 4 years or 8 semesters. My sons couldn’t take gen ed classes for 2 years and catch up in years 3 & 4. Too many prerequisite classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Junior year seems late if you expect/plan for your child to graduate in 4 years or 8 semesters. My sons couldn’t take gen ed classes for 2 years and catch up in years 3 & 4. Too many prerequisite classes.

NP. Depends on the major. For humanities majors, a lot of the major courses can be taken at the same time as one another. Fewer chain prerequisites

[Anonymous]

OP, may we know what schools they are?

It's one thing if she only got into Frostburg State. It's another if it's UMBC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has a couple of acceptances. Whichever she chooses, she's certain that she'll try to transfer after freshman year. I hate to see her going into freshman year already planning to transfer out. Any advice from others who's kids have been in this position? I don't know how to help her.

She’s a teenager. Being confused is normal. She’s disappointed that she didn’t get into her preferred choices, but she honestly doesn’t know what she’s missing. Frankly if she had gotten into one of her preferred colleges, she could have gone there and found that it wasn’t at all what she had imagined and then wanted to transfer. That happens all the time.

All you can do immediately is to comfort and console her. Do a lot of listening.

But she must move forward with what’s immediately at hand. That means making the best choice among the available options and preparing for going off to college in August. Let her know that you’ll be there to support her no matter what - including a transfer if that’s where her heart is next year..

If she hadn’t yet decided and if she doesn’t have a strong preference among the available options, I’d look closely to see which college has the best student orientation program. Some colleges will bring students onto campus before the start of the academic calendar and run any variety of programs for bonding and community building. Even if this should be only for one year, you still want it to be the best year it can be.

The future behind next year remains unknown. A lot can happen between now and then. Expect the unexpected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is that realistic? Lots of places don’t accept transfers before junior year.

I feel like we have had this conversation before, most colleges actually do accept transfers after freshman year. In fact every single kid I know who has transferred, did it after freshman year. Not sure where you're getting this information?

+1 I know quite a few kids who transferred to, gasp, a Top 25 school after freshman year. It is a thing.

The OP's daughter has a sound plan. She applied to a school as a safety and it turns out that was a good choice to have in place as a backup. Now she will use her safety school to help her get to her goal school. Sounds like the OP's daughter is a very smart girl.

Not every path to success is a straight line. The OP's daughter has figured that out. Go, girl, go!

The problem with enthusiastically cheering this on is that most students will not be admitted as a transfer student. Then she's spent a year deliberately not making any connections or looking for reasons to like her school because she believes the transfer is going to happen. If she's one of the many who isn't able to make the transfer, she's likely to be an emotional mess. Better to encourage her to look for reasons to like her first school and see where things are in the spring.

Who said anything about deliberately not making connections? That's your assumption, which makes you the a$$, not me.

I was a transfer student. I certainly focused on integrating myself into my first school while knowing that I was transferring out. I didn't talk about it, my parents didn't even know about it, while I was resubmitting my application. So I kept myself active in my current community while actively pursuing the transfer. FWIW, I even rushed my first school (and then also my transfer school). I made good friends at my first school, and one of those friends was even a bridesmaid at my wedding 8 years later. Furthermore, when I transferred into my highly competitive program, the #1 program in the country for my major, I was one of 9 or 10 transfers.

Transferring into highly competitive schools or programs is a thing. Get with it and don't let your incorrect assumptions cause you to say dumb things on the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being a transfer student (once you transfer) is really hard, and few students who transferred will tell you that to your face because there’s no going back once you transfer. What are you going to do, drop out junior year? No, so you say you’re happy even if you hate the new school.

I don’t understand this. The people I know who transferred were enormously happy with their decisions. They all transferred sophomore year. And to respond to a PP, the schools they transferred to include T10, T20, and T50 schools.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is that realistic? Lots of places don’t accept transfers before junior year.

I feel like we have had this conversation before, most colleges actually do accept transfers after freshman year. In fact every single kid I know who has transferred, did it after freshman year. Not sure where you're getting this information?

+1 I know quite a few kids who transferred to, gasp, a Top 25 school after freshman year. It is a thing.

The OP's daughter has a sound plan. She applied to a school as a safety and it turns out that was a good choice to have in place as a backup. Now she will use her safety school to help her get to her goal school. Sounds like the OP's daughter is a very smart girl.

Not every path to success is a straight line. The OP's daughter has figured that out. Go, girl, go!

The problem with enthusiastically cheering this on is that most students will not be admitted as a transfer student. Then she's spent a year deliberately not making any connections or looking for reasons to like her school because she believes the transfer is going to happen. If she's one of the many who isn't able to make the transfer, she's likely to be an emotional mess. Better to encourage her to look for reasons to like her first school and see where things are in the spring.

Who said anything about deliberately not making connections? That's your assumption, which makes you the a$$, not me.

I was a transfer student. I certainly focused on integrating myself into my first school while knowing that I was transferring out. I didn't talk about it, my parents didn't even know about it, while I was resubmitting my application. So I kept myself active in my current community while actively pursuing the transfer. FWIW, I even rushed my first school (and then also my transfer school). I made good friends at my first school, and one of those friends was even a bridesmaid at my wedding 8 years later. Furthermore, when I transferred into my highly competitive program, the #1 program in the country for my major, I was one of 9 or 10 transfers.

Transferring into highly competitive schools or programs is a thing. Get with it and don't let your incorrect assumptions cause you to say dumb things on the internet.

Wow, are you always this unnecessarily aggressive with people who disagree with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being a transfer student (once you transfer) is really hard, and few students who transferred will tell you that to your face because there’s no going back once you transfer. What are you going to do, drop out junior year? No, so you say you’re happy even if you hate the new school.

I don’t understand this. The people I know who transferred were enormously happy with their decisions. They all transferred sophomore year. And to respond to a PP, the schools they transferred to include T10, T20, and T50 schools.

+1

I am surprised by all the negativity on this thread. I know several students who earned a 4.0 their freshman year that transferred to better ranked (top 20) schools and were so happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is that realistic? Lots of places don’t accept transfers before junior year.

I feel like we have had this conversation before, most colleges actually do accept transfers after freshman year. In fact every single kid I know who has transferred, did it after freshman year. Not sure where you're getting this information?

+1 I know quite a few kids who transferred to, gasp, a Top 25 school after freshman year. It is a thing.

The OP's daughter has a sound plan. She applied to a school as a safety and it turns out that was a good choice to have in place as a backup. Now she will use her safety school to help her get to her goal school. Sounds like the OP's daughter is a very smart girl.

Not every path to success is a straight line. The OP's daughter has figured that out. Go, girl, go!

The problem with enthusiastically cheering this on is that most students will not be admitted as a transfer student. Then she's spent a year deliberately not making any connections or looking for reasons to like her school because she believes the transfer is going to happen. If she's one of the many who isn't able to make the transfer, she's likely to be an emotional mess. Better to encourage her to look for reasons to like her first school and see where things are in the spring.

Who said anything about deliberately not making connections? That's your assumption, which makes you the a$$, not me.

I was a transfer student. I certainly focused on integrating myself into my first school while knowing that I was transferring out. I didn't talk about it, my parents didn't even know about it, while I was resubmitting my application. So I kept myself active in my current community while actively pursuing the transfer. FWIW, I even rushed my first school (and then also my transfer school). I made good friends at my first school, and one of those friends was even a bridesmaid at my wedding 8 years later. Furthermore, when I transferred into my highly competitive program, the #1 program in the country for my major, I was one of 9 or 10 transfers.

Transferring into highly competitive schools or programs is a thing. Get with it and don't let your incorrect assumptions cause you to say dumb things on the internet.

Wow, are you always this unnecessarily aggressive with people who disagree with you?

Right?? I thought the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is that realistic? Lots of places don’t accept transfers before junior year.

I feel like we have had this conversation before, most colleges actually do accept transfers after freshman year. In fact every single kid I know who has transferred, did it after freshman year. Not sure where you're getting this information?

+1 I know quite a few kids who transferred to, gasp, a Top 25 school after freshman year. It is a thing.

The OP's daughter has a sound plan. She applied to a school as a safety and it turns out that was a good choice to have in place as a backup. Now she will use her safety school to help her get to her goal school. Sounds like the OP's daughter is a very smart girl.

Not every path to success is a straight line. The OP's daughter has figured that out. Go, girl, go!

The problem with enthusiastically cheering this on is that most students will not be admitted as a transfer student. Then she's spent a year deliberately not making any connections or looking for reasons to like her school because she believes the transfer is going to happen. If she's one of the many who isn't able to make the transfer, she's likely to be an emotional mess. Better to encourage her to look for reasons to like her first school and see where things are in the spring.

Who said anything about deliberately not making connections? That's your assumption, which makes you the a$$, not me.

I was a transfer student. I certainly focused on integrating myself into my first school while knowing that I was transferring out. I didn't talk about it, my parents didn't even know about it, while I was resubmitting my application. So I kept myself active in my current community while actively pursuing the transfer. FWIW, I even rushed my first school (and then also my transfer school). I made good friends at my first school, and one of those friends was even a bridesmaid at my wedding 8 years later. Furthermore, when I transferred into my highly competitive program, the #1 program in the country for my major, I was one of 9 or 10 transfers.

Transferring into highly competitive schools or programs is a thing. Get with it and don't let your incorrect assumptions cause you to say dumb things on the internet.

Wow, are you always this unnecessarily aggressive with people who disagree with you?

LOL, you must be the person she's responding to. I think she's spot on.

[Anonymous]

It is disappointing to read so many posts making negative judgments about transfer students. Truly we have a lot of people on DCUM who seem to live in tunnels. This year was a crap year for college admissions. If the OP's daughter has a vision of where she wants to be then she should keep trying.

College is a time to challenge yourself and to expand your opportunities. Quietly taking your lumps and pretending to enjoy them doesn't seem like the best course of action to me.

Of course, she can still enjoy the school she is attending but there is no reason for her to limit her options. She may decide to stay at the school she will attend in the Fall or she may decide to transfer; however, talking to her parents about it to discuss her options seems like a mature and reasonable thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being a transfer student (once you transfer) is really hard, and few students who transferred will tell you that to your face because there’s no going back once you transfer. What are you going to do, drop out junior year? No, so you say you’re happy even if you hate the new school.

I don’t understand this. The people I know who transferred were enormously happy with their decisions. They all transferred sophomore year. And to respond to a PP, the schools they transferred to include T10, T20, and T50 schools.

+1

I am surprised by all the negativity on this thread. I know several students who earned a 4.0 their freshman year that transferred to better ranked (top 20) schools and were so happy.

Same. I was one of them!

[Anonymous]

Gap year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is disappointing to read so many posts making negative judgments about transfer students. Truly we have a lot of people on DCUM who seem to live in tunnels. This year was a crap year for college admissions. If the OP's daughter has a vision of where she wants to be then she should keep trying.

College is a time to challenge yourself and to expand your opportunities. Quietly taking your lumps and pretending to enjoy them doesn't seem like the best course of action to me.

Of course, she can still enjoy the school she is attending but there is no reason for her to limit her options. She may decide to stay at the school she will attend in the Fall or she may decide to transfer; however, talking to her parents about it to discuss her options seems like a mature and reasonable thing to do.

Transfer students, on average, tend to graduate later and are more likely to drop out altogether (statistically).