Stay where I am at or transfer?

[andrewnwi]

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I am currently at Purdue University - Calumet and I enjoy it here. I was planning on transferring down to IUPUI because I heard from a few friends that went there that they really loved it there, and the change of scenery would be nice. Though, I was looking on-line at school rankings and for undergraduate IUPUI is ranked lower the PUC. I forgot the actual ranks, but anyways. I was wondering if would be smart to transfer. Will it hurt me in the application process? Does anybody else go to IUPUI and know more about it? I don't know if I should risk it or not. Well, anyways any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[BeepBeeep]

transferring because of your friends' opinions will hurt you in the long run. i'm not speaking on personal experience, but from others i know...

 

[shindotp]

transferring because of your friends' opinions will hurt you in the long run. i'm not speaking on personal experience, but from others i know...

So you're giving advice because of your friends' opinions. Hmm...

 

[GoSpursGo]

If you're enjoying yourself at PUC, why mess with something that's working? But if you really would enjoy the change of scenery, by all means, don't worry--it won't hurt you at all to move to IUPUI. The general consensus here is that your actual GPA and MCAT are infinitely more important in this process than alma mater; like you might get a couple of brownie points for being from an Ivy or something, but at the end of the day a 3.9 at Podunk>3.6 at Ivy, assuming everything else (MCAT, ECs, etc) are equal. Assuredly, then, it will make no difference if you move between a couple of middle-ranked schools.

The one thing you MIGHT want to consider is that you would have to start networking at your new school all over again- getting acquainted with the pre-med committee, finding teachers to write you letters, maybe finding someone to do research with, getting in touch with someone to do clinical stuff. But beyond that consideration, don't put any thought at all into the rankings.

 

[andrewnwi]

Hahaha, that's what I get for stealing my neighbors wifi.

What was suppose to be sent was:

Thank you! That makes me feel a little better about the decision making. I was just curious about using my chemistry professor from PUC as a LOR if I did make the transfer. I've built quite the rapport with her and she's already agreed to write me one. Can I?

And for that person who said something about basing my decision of my friend opinions. You're probably a liar because I am sure you have at least once listened to a friend and acted upon it, and if you have and regret it, then you have bad friends. I, for one, appreciate the opinions of my friends and I only asked on here because my friends that attend(ed) there weren't going into the medical field. I thought I could get a more solid decision from people who would know more about it or maybe even attend there for pre-med.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Thank you! That makes me feel a little better about the decision making. I was just curious about using my chemistry professor from PUC as a LOR if I did make the transfer. I've built quite the rapport with her and she's already agreed to write me one.

There's certainly nothing that says you can't use her as an LOR writer; you'll just lose your opportunity to continue to build the rapport and get potentially an even stronger letter.

And for that person who said something about basing my decision of my friend opinions. You're probably a liar because I am sure you have at least once listened to a friend and acted upon it, and if you have and regret it, then you have bad friends. I, for one, appreciate the opinions of my friends and I only asked on here because my friends that attend(ed) there weren't going into the medical field. I thought I could get a more solid decision from people who would know more about it or maybe even attend there for pre-med.

There's something to be learned from that statement, though; it's not meant as a personal attack on your friends, it's just good advice. You might take a friend's recommendation on a small decision--where to go out for dinner, what brand of shoe to buy, etc; for a major decision like "where do I want to get the next two years of my education," you've got to back your decision up with quantifiable facts. "Because my friends like it there," in and of itself, would not be a good reason for transferring. After all, you yourself are enjoying yourself at PUC; unless you can come up with some quantifiable ways in which IUPUI is a better place for you (and we've already come up with four reasons why it WOULDN'T be--you have to risk your experience that you've had at PUC which has already been enjoyable; it might disrupt what you've been doing right; you'll have to start the networking all over again; and, to a lesser extent, it's ranked lower), why WOULD you want to transfer? While there is something to be said for listening to your friends' opinions, you also must give substantial weight to your own experiences--far more than any friend's, in fact.

 

[AdmiralChz]

I'm a little confused as to why you want to move? A "change of scenery" isn't really a great reason, and doing it "because my friends like it there" is even worse.

If you decide to go through with this, be prepared to defend yourself in interviews. I'd come up with something better to tell them than above - after all you're going to be at a medical school for 4 years, are you going to want to transfer after 2 there as well?

 

[andrewnwi]

I'm a little confused as to why you want to move? A "change of scenery" isn't really a great reason, and doing it "because my friends like it there" is even worse.

If you decide to go through with this, be prepared to defend yourself in interviews. I'd come up with something better to tell them than above - after all you're going to be at a medical school for 4 years, are you going to want to transfer after 2 there as well?

No, this thread started off basically looking for people who might be going/hve gone there and could give me some feedback on the science classes. I don't know if any of you are aware, but Purdue is known for engineering/pharmacy/veterinary and that's mainly the main campus down in West Lafayette.

I'm not doing the move because my friend think it is a good idea. I just said from what I heard they say it is nice down there. Also, who wouldn't want a change of scenery. I should also clear up I haven't been here two years, just one, I am actually finishing up early cause I take 20 credits Fall/Spring and 10 or so in the Summer. I wanted to get out of undergrad early.

My main reason for moving is mainly that from the people I have met her, the classes I have set it, and the professor I have met...this is not that great of place to get my biology degree. My Intro Bio class was taught by a grad student who read from the ppts 👎, then in the second semester of it I had an ecologist who basically skipped right of the sections on micro, and anatomy, because he felt taxonomy and plant diversity was more interesting. My Gen Chem professor was so far the best one I had, which I hoped to have for oragnic and analytic, but when I need to take it, she won't be teaching it that semester. Lucky, there's an awesome orgo professor that I could take, but for analytical y friends had her and she didn't even teach, literally. Same goes for the Immuno prof, mirco prof, A&P, and so on. I say the only classes where I would have a good professor would be Med Micro, Dev. Bio, Orgo, and, yeah thats about it.

I thought IUPUI might be a good change of scenery as in better professors. That's why I was asking my friends, and people on here if they knew anything on the school. I probably should have been a little more specific in my first post, but hey I was tired. I just was thinking the ranking would was maybe a reflection of the faculty, which I don't know how we're higher...I guess it's the engineering seeing as that's practically everyone's, I have met, major.

Oh, and I don't even want to get started on my chem lab instructor. I'm not complaining about getting the 100% of so on my report, but hell I know in my first semester I was horrible at them. I got not marks, or suggestions, criticizing. Basically I want professor who will kick my ass and make me struggle not just give out good grades. It may sound stupid, but that's how I am.