Transferring to a new university for your final three semesters of college

[BoxinMoxin]

So unfortunately I made mistakes my freshman year of college. I had a 2.8 GPA overall, I made a B in both of my summer physics classes as well. This semester I am taking a lighter load, about 14 credit hours and I already did my calculations, even if I make A's this semester I will only have a 3.1 overall GPA at best due to my B's in physics, and that is a huge IF.

Now my state flagship university requires you to have a 3.2 GPA if you have between 30-59 credit hours. Over 60 credit hours you only need a 2.8 or higher in order to transfer. I have talked to students who have made it in with 3.1s and 3.2s when they have accumulated over 60 credit hours but here is the problem.

I will only have over 60 credit hours after the second semester of my sophomore year. Then I would have to apply in the fall of my junior year and I will be able to attend that university my final three semesters.

Why would I even want to do this you ask? Because the university I currently attend is a commute school, most people go to classes and go home. They do not really have much of an active campus life. My first year here, socially, has been miserable, a lot of students I have met who were freshman have already left. There is a large number of 25+ year olds in classes and quite a few people work, basically, not a real college experience. For my final three semesters I would love to enjoy the real college experience and most of all, my parents support me in that.

Are there any alternatives to my situation? I am just really miserable since I go to college in the same town I went to high school in and boy life is just depressingly boring. Lots of my peers have pushed me to just join the military if that is what it takes.

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[bucks2010]

3 semesters isn't a very long time. It will probably take you a while to make all new friends, etc. and by the time you do that you will graduate. Is it really worth the trouble?

How will this help you repair your GPA? That is really what you need to focus on right now.

 

[Etorphine]

Your information is wrong. 3.1 or 3.2 will not get you in, barring extenuating circumstances. You need to decide whether you want the "real college experience" or want to get into med school.

 

[BoxinMoxin]

Chances are I will end up doing like an extra semester or two there also.

In addition, no, a 3.2 or above with 60 or more credit hours pretty much gets you in from what I have heard.

 

[johnwalldance]

I mean it seems like if the school you're going to now is making you unhappy because it doesn't give you the 'college experience' then yes I would push you to transfer to the state flagship school. Although remember it is up to you to make your college experience as you see fit, getting involved in student organizations once you get there is an excellent way to make new friends as well as talking to the people who sit next to you in class..

 

[TheMightySmiter]

Your information is wrong. 3.1 or 3.2 will not get you in, barring extenuating circumstances. You need to decide whether you want the "real college experience" or want to get into med school.

I think the OP means that a 3.1 will get him into his state university as a transfer student, not medical school.

OP, I think it's fine to transfer for the last few semesters if you are really miserable. I would definitely tack on an extra semester or two, anyway, to raise your GPA--that way you will complete five semesters at the new school. Plenty of time to make the transfer worth it. You'll probably have more opportunities for research and student groups at the state's flagship school as opposed to the commuter school.

First, though, you need to figure out why you got poor grades your first year. Was it just a combination of being new to college, not having good study habits, and taking a heavy course load? #1 and #3 you have fixed, it seems, although you may want to have a couple of semesters with more than 14 credits to show that you CAN handle a heavy course load. Have you improved your study habits enough so that you will be able to get the grades necessary for med school admissions from here on out? A bad freshman year won't keep you back unless your grades don't improve drastically. You should aim for a 3.6+ GPA at minimum this coming year, and higher every year afterwards.

 

[TxResident]

didn't read, but just wanted to mention that some schools (I know Texas schools at least... or UT at least...) require that you take a minimum of 60 hours at the university itself to actually be able to obtain a degree from there.

 

[BoxinMoxin]

What caused me to do so bad?

Literally boredom and depression. I was basically alone. I mean seriously, I lived at home, went shopping WITH MOM AND DAD, wasn't living the college life, wondered if it was too late, and it really took time off my academics. Like my parents also ruined my time a lot by putting me down and saying things like "oh this kid went off to Chapel Hill and here you are at a local school", I would tell them that the kid they are talking about went to a private high school and they sent me to a high school in the ghetto and blah blah blah, that interfered with my studying a lot. Then we talked it out and my parents promised me they will not distract me or anything. Didn't know how to use the campus library, usually after class I would go home and sit on the computer wasting time.

Dry social life, depression, bad time management, basically a lot of minor stuff, did me in my freshman year.

 

[BoxinMoxin]

Your information is wrong. 3.1 or 3.2 will not get you in, barring extenuating circumstances. You need to decide whether you want the "real college experience" or want to get into med school.

honestly, with things the way they are, I just want the real college experience

 

[Stumpyman]

I go to a fairly "college experience" type of school and my days/weekends have been spent shacked up in the library studying.
-Forget the experience, work on that GPA.

 

[boobaunutz]

i transferred for the final 4 semesters. at the same time i also started smoking a mountain of weed everyday. neither one will matter for you. getting good grades would help but i'm confident if you just monster the mcat, write a literate personal statement, do some volunteering - or get a job in healthcare if you're not into charity - that you can talk about in meaningful way, and get good letters of rec that'll mitigate any poor grades.
med school admissions is a joke, just tell them what they want to hear and you'll be fine. once you start med school you'll see what a joke the whole med school admissions process is. no one is as idealistic as you all are now and, of the ones I've talked to, residency program directors largely don't care.

 

[BoxinMoxin]

I go to a fairly "college experience" type of school and my days/weekends have been spent shacked up in the library studying.
-Forget the experience, work on that GPA.

you are telling me not to transfer?

 

[Stumpyman]

you are telling me not to transfer?

I'm telling you if you have medicine on your mind then the full on college experience is something you will have to sacrifice.

 

[BoxinMoxin]

I'm telling you if you have medicine on your mind then the full on college experience is something you will have to sacrifice.

guess I may have to make that decision to leave medicine because its not like most people ever have a chance for anything close to a social life after college

 

[Warick22]

guess I may have to make that decision to leave medicine because its not like most people ever have a chance for anything close to a social life after college

Your going to chance a 40 year career in for 2 years in college? I hope that your not just saying this for the sake of it because they doesn't seem like a very rational thought. You can transfer and still work hard and do well, I have always had a "college experience", in a fraternity, go out 3 nights a week but, still have a high GPA. Also, you can do postbac and other things to boost an application.

 

[Morsetlis]

As an introvert who tried both having the full social experience with friends, drinking, and partying...

...I realized that I hate groups of people.

 

[BoxinMoxin]

Your going to chance a 40 year career in for 2 years in college? I hope that your not just saying this for the sake of it because they doesn't seem like a very rational thought. You can transfer and still work hard and do well, I have always had a "college experience", in a fraternity, go out 3 nights a week but, still have a high GPA. Also, you can do postbac and other things to boost an application.

I was saying it for the sake of saying it, yup...........

but it really frustrates me that I have not had that experience of going to parties or meeting lots of people or anything, my experience is mostly dull, I mean do kind of hang out with my friends but even they are busy with people they know that live near them

 

[kpcrew]

You don't need to go to parties to meet people. There are plenty of things you can do like joining a youth program, volunteering, tutoring, etc. I've found that being friends with kids is awesome, they listen to you and look up to you. It feels good to be a role model and to impress them with stuff you can do or stuff you know. If you want to meet people your age, start talking to people in your class or say hi to random strangers and go from there. It will be awkward to begin with but after you gain some experience, it should be easier. This isn't easy to do and you need to put yourself out there but it's possible. You definitely do not need to rely on alcohol and forced social situations to have a great time. I've also found that people tend to exaggerate about their experiences. These kinds of gatherings may be fun for many people but I thought they were meh.

 

[TheBossDoctor]

guess I may have to make that decision to leave medicine because its not like most people ever have a chance for anything close to a social life after college

Are you kidding me? If that was the case, then people would just shoot themselves after they graduated from college (which clearly isn't the case). Are you honestly trying to imply that every adult out there is miserable now that "their social life" is over?

 

[TheBossDoctor]

honestly, with things the way they are, I just want the real college experience

Honestly, the college experience is overrated like crazy. MTV, along with movies like American Pie, Old School, Animal House, etc. fill people's minds with garbage. Don't get me wrong...they're good movies, but they're completely misleading. Real college isn't anything like that, and people don't party and get wasted everyday. The notion of "the college experience" is misleading.

 

[cyanide12345678]

So unfortunately I made mistakes my freshman year of college. I had a 2.8 GPA overall, I made a B in both of my summer physics classes as well. This semester I am taking a lighter load, about 14 credit hours and I already did my calculations, even if I make A's this semester I will only have a 3.1 overall GPA at best due to my B's in physics, and that is a huge IF.

Now my state flagship university requires you to have a 3.2 GPA if you have between 30-59 credit hours. Over 60 credit hours you only need a 2.8 or higher in order to transfer. I have talked to students who have made it in with 3.1s and 3.2s when they have accumulated over 60 credit hours but here is the problem.

I will only have over 60 credit hours after the second semester of my sophomore year. Then I would have to apply in the fall of my junior year and I will be able to attend that university my final three semesters.

Why would I even want to do this you ask? Because the university I currently attend is a commute school, most people go to classes and go home. They do not really have much of an active campus life. My first year here, socially, has been miserable, a lot of students I have met who were freshman have already left. There is a large number of 25+ year olds in classes and quite a few people work, basically, not a real college experience. For my final three semesters I would love to enjoy the real college experience and most of all, my parents support me in that.

Are there any alternatives to my situation? I am just really miserable since I go to college in the same town I went to high school in and boy life is just depressingly boring. Lots of my peers have pushed me to just join the military if that is what it takes.

Make sure to know the graduation policy of your new school. Most schools require that you have ATLEAST 60 hours of credit AT THEIR INSTITUTION before you can get a degree. So, taking 20 credits each semester can hurt your GPA. Also, keep in mind that transferring at such a late stage itself will mean that you will lose many course credits since not all of the courses you've done will not receive equivalent course credit at the new institution. For example, I transferred from the University of Illinois at Urbana champaign to Rice university after 1 year. I did 31 credits in total at UIUC. Although I received 31 equivalent transfer credits from Rice, out of the 31, I received 9 "TRAN 100" credit. So, 3 of the classes I had taken did not have exact equivalent courses at Rice. Having exact equivalent courses is especially important when you are going to be trying to fulfill degree requirements. So lets say you've done differential equations for your degree at your first university. But, the other university has a different set of degree requirements and may now need you to do linear algebra instead of differential equations. So, even if you may get course equivalent credit for diff E, you would still need to take linear algebra now to fulfill the requirements of your new course requirements at the new school. I hope I was clear and helpful. Ask me any more questions if you want.

 

[BoxinMoxin]

my main concern is mainly with getting in at first....

 

[BoxinMoxin]

this semester is pretty much down the drain, I only have a chance of an A in one class, the other I am in danger of failing, and one I have a solid B in

guess my dreams of going to an actual university have just been flushed down the toilet, dear god..........