I feel miserable at my college - should I transfer?

Look into the honors college at Arizona State. It’s rated as one of the best honors colleges in the country.

It's you. It seems you can't fit in.

There are maybe 6-7 home football games, right. Relax.

O.P. mentioned other factors besides football: Winter temp., O.P. doesn't like the town. Some non-Catholics do not like Catholic school. [O.p. didn't mention Catholic school, I just figured it out.]

My daughter was very unhappy and finally transferred to another college where she did really well. You aren’t going to be successful if you are miserable.

One more thing. If you have an academic scholarship I believe that you will lose that. I may be wrong about that.

I disliked my big state school my first two years and was accepted at my preferred school twice (University of Chicago), once out of high school, and once again after my freshman year. With a wealthy but absent, high-income Dad, I just could not get aid. Since I was on scholarship, I stayed, despite the crappy dorm life, the jock obsessions, and the well-off frat kids. I feel the OP's issues.

I had an "aha" moment when after the first semester my second year I realized there were far worse places to be (the school is highly ranked for a public school), and I was lucky to land where I did. I sought out people who were less fortunate than me and used them as role models. A lot of us took a series of crappy jobs, but it probably helped us and me in the long-run.

At big schools, you will find your crowd. I found mine in the math department.

I doubt I could convince my Dad and his 20 year old wife to help me pay for school, and even if they did, I doubt they would do it for 8 semesters. At least here, I was free.

I ended up doing great academically and got an NSF to pay for graduate school. My school was never my cup of tea, but I am grateful they helped me out. My coach was aware of my family issues and looking back, he cut me a lot of slack.

I was a little bit ashamed that I felt so entitled to a high-end education. I received great outcomes for little expenditure and met quite a few people who helped me out.

Go to community college, get a degree in something practical and go work at Amazon in the warehouse.

That makes sense. See if spring gets better, but if not then apply to transfer

1) Stop sitting around waiting for the things to get better. They won't without your action. You're unhappy. It's time to move on. Now. Make an educated decision and execute the plan. Even if that means not returning for the spring, applying for different schools next fall, and delaying whatever you think your life's master plan is for six months, its better than rotting in an unhealthy environment for for the upcoming semester.

2) Dorms are baby sitting services for children that need to be babysat. Get an apartment.

I truly believe social capital is what it is all about. You dont have to go to a football game no big deal. You need a circle of friends. Indiana is horrifying as a state yes. But get involved on campus, make some friends. Great education, great diploma, congratulations on getting in.

I went to jesuit schools but the religious part was easy to ignore. I dont know if thats true at ND. Dont a crapload of non-catholics go to ND I assume?

If ya transfer for better weather (understandable), you still need to make friends. Get involved. Sew the royal oats and all that.

I was like you. I also failed at walking on the track team and found myself without many friends, which felt very odd after being popular in high school.

I switched colleges to the one my best friend was having a great time at, and it was the best move of my life. Everything fell into place immediately (well paying part time job, internships lined up, long term girlfriend, more friends than I even knew what to do with, crazy parties every weekend, joined local running club and got faster than ever before).

If you're not feeling it deep down you want to change, make the change. Don't just sit there, DO IT.

Based on your initial post it seems to me the question is why would you NOT transfer?

Get outta there. But also heed what others have said and do some research and make an effort to make friends wherever you go next.

I initially did not like my undergrad experience. I was poor and felt excluded at one of the wealthiest and so-called prestige schools in the country. It was free, though, through athletic scholarship. I was very immature and knew it at some level, so there was lots of rationalizations which didn't help me.

My a-ha moment occurred while sitting on the campus bus on a beautiful day. What a lucky moment. I felt shame (not in a bad way) at feeling so entitled and decided to make what went on in the four corners of the classroom the main priority. I was way luckier than the Teamsters union guys I worked with on my summer job, who were taking on second jobs to get their kids through the local state schools. Those guys, who did not have a formal education would have kicked my rear if I didn't take advantage of the opportunity I had, and frankly, I owe them a lot for caring so much. Their sons and daughters were incredibly fortunate, too. The point is that hard work is just something to be appreciated anywhere. I begged my way into an honors program, and despite not being the caliber of student as the other 9 participants in the program, every month I got better and better and at the end was at the top of the program. I finished my final thesis in the middle of the night on an IBM typewriter in a hotel near Franklin Field at the Penn Relays. The great thing about it was that my fellow participants were my biggest supporters - they knew I was a bit behind academically at the start and by and large people appreciate real effort. Of course, I gave support back in return. I ended up liking my peers tremendously. As tlm1959 suggests, you can find your home, and people matter much more than places.

If the school is University of Illinois, you can find as much challenge as you want. I am from Illinois and did not consider the school, and probably should have (getting home would have been much easier). I was dissuaded by a training run on a visit to campus, where I saw the heat shimmering off the endless flat cornfields, and in my immaturity, said this wasn't for me. Beauty is what you make of it. Lots of great U of I runners likely cherish those runs on the flat terrain of Savoy, and I can see why, especially in the winter where the flat terrain permits seeing things with a clarity that intense running can bring about it. In any event, U of I is a great school, with far more options in terms of fields of study than a smaller school (my school had virtually no vocationally useful majors save for a small (then) engineering school). Like almost every one else at my school, I ended up paying for grad school, and although it worked out very well, the option of working right away in a good job in a field you like is a nice option to have. My stepsister went to U of I and changed majors three times, with a career as a comptroller for a large manufacturer. Illinois did everything right by her.

Transferring is not a bad thing, but the school is what you make of it. Be appropriately skeptical of yourself, and make sure the alternative is truly better for you.

Mostly people are miserable because they haven’t found a good group of friends. The other things are not as important as you think. Transferring may or may not fix this.

It won't matter. You'll probably be just as miserable elsewhere. I can tell. Try analyzing why YOU feel miserable at its core. Quit projecting the source of your misery as being outside of yourself.

Thanks. The only thing keeping me from definitely applying to transfer is that I've made some good friends who I really like, but I'm sure I could do that at a different college as well.

Good luck figuring out where to go hoping that those things on your list will be better.

1) Dorm culture...this is different at every college, and since dorms have PEOPLE in them, you are bound to not like it no matter where you go...this is one reason why people really like it when they finally graduate from college.

2) Football culture? Most colleges will have that or some other thing you can't get into.

3) Climate? Ok, that's easy enough to fix. There will always be something though...over the years college students have been displaced or inconvenienced by wild fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, super hot weather, bugs, snakes, wild animals, volcanoes, other a$$hole students, etc.

4) Academics? College has been dumbed down a lot over the last few decades. Both of my kids found college to be easier than what they did in high school. Part of that is having fewer classes per day though and really being a full-time student if you choose to be.

The grass isn't always greener.