Question about Transferring Undergrad Schools

[SleepingJune]

Hi all,

Okay, long story short: I really do not like my university or the town it's in (Colorado), and I am unhappy beyond words here; it has definitely reflected in my grades over the last couple of years. I moved here and went to school here because my (now ex) husband didn't want to move to Washington state (my choice) and I didn't want to move to Atlanta (his choice) after we both got out of the Army; Colorado was a compromise we settled on. However, after a year of me living here (he didn't actually move here...he took a contract job in Kuwait) he decided he wanted a divorce and moved to Atlanta after his contract was up.

I am now 2 years away from finishing my undergrad degree (dual geography/molecular bio) + prereqs, and am seriously considering a transfer to UW. I love Seattle, have many friends there, and am thrilled with their geography department's focus on human geography (urbanization/migration, uneven development, globalization, medical geography, etc.), in addition to their molecular bio department. My current university has a great focus in GIS and physical geog, but nowhere near what UW offers in terms of the areas I listed above.

I would submit an app later this year for a Fall '10 transfer, which would leave me with just 1 year remaining at UW (while meeting their transfer time in residence + course schedule for earning a degree from their institution). I also very much like the focus their med school places on primary care and public health; honestly, it's my #1 choice.

My concerns center on 1) how adcoms would view such a late transfer and 2) what another school transfer would look like. I currently have classes from a total of 5 schools - including my current school - on my record from taking classes while moving around for 10 years with the Army; I usually ended up taking no more than a class or two per semester before here.

Do I suck it up and finish here? Or make the decision to move? I'm really torn about this.

Cheers & Thanks,
June

*Edit*
I understand there is no guarantee that I would be accepted/be able to stay at UW for med school. That's also part of the dilemma.

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[2010houston]

I'm sure there will be other opinions on this, but I would think...
- The fact that you were in the military through part of this time is a big mitigating factor that will be taken into account and understood by most schools
- As long as you HAVE a degree, your GPA is the #1 thing, not how many schools you took classes at.
Two years is a long time to be miserable!

Good luck with whatever you decide

 

[adeline]

transfer and apply for state residency.

 

[NTF]

It's all about the grades. As long as the both schools are accredited 4-year colleges it won't matter if you're doing well. There's all kinds of reasons, personal and family, that people transfer. The adcoms won't bat an eye, unless you left because of some kind of academic probation or honor code violation, etc.

But a point of minutiae - the more transcripts that AMCAS & AACOMAS have to deal with increases the verification time when you submit your primaries. Make sure you submit early, cuz it will take longer to verify your application. I had multiple transcripts and it took weeks for them to verify my primary when people who submitted after me were verified in 2 or 3 days.

 

[SleepingJune]

Thanks for all the advice. No academic probation or other problems going on...and great heads up on early app due to transcripts fogie; I never would have thought about that.

I'm going to submit an app to UW this fall and see what happens. =)

Cheers,
June

 

[cabinbuilder]

Move to Washington, be happy. Life is way way too short to be miserable. Medical school could care less about how many schools you went to. You have an excuse anyway - the Army. Better to go where they have a medical school and become known by the faculty so when the time comes your face is out there and you don't have to struggle to impress them with just a piece of paper.