College Crash Out
How registering at two colleges at once helped me make the right choice.
Today marks the start of my first semester’s spring break.
This is the first time I’ve found space to sit and write something (at my local library 😍) that isn’t required or going to be graded. I miss it.
It’s been a ride. As I waited out my waitlist status at Smith College, I started this spring semester registered at two excellent colleges: Rutgers University-New Brunswick and The College of New Jersey (TCNJ).
I couldn’t decide between them.
The more information I got about each one, the harder it became. Logical decision-making failed because there were equal numbers of pros and cons, so I resorted to emotion-based decision-making. I figured I’d go through the registration process for both, monitor how it went, and see which college felt “right.”
Rutgers University - New Brunswick* is massive. It has almost 40,000 undergraduate students and over 10,000 graduate students. I did my best to complete the numerous online registration checklist items (sign up for email, purchase a parking permit, sign waivers, accept financial aid, etc.), then I signed up for one of the (many) transfer registration days with over 300 other transfer students. Once there, we split off into our respective majors for half of the day, and then the rest was spent all together in a lecture hall, with the expectation that we wouldn’t leave until we had found and registered for all of our courses.
I crashed out. Scrambling through their archaic online system, I fretted over my schedule. Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus is about an hour and a half from me, so I wanted to smush as many classes as I could into as few days a week as possible to minimize driving. Ideally, Tuesdays and Thursdays, avoiding Mondays, Fridays, and New York traffic. I panicked and almost gave up multiple times while waiting for the super-slow system. With hundreds of us on it at once, it dragged, and every mistake of a click felt pressured and detrimental.
Three hours later (much of it spent waiting for a transfer assistant for help), I had a sharp headache and a decent schedule despite whatever had been picked over by the current students who had registered months ago. One of the transfer students angrily yelled out that what was left “resembled a carcass.” We all murmured our agreement, and the transfer advisors awkwardly laughed. Transferring in as a junior means less time to get all the classes in for your major’s requirements to graduate. It was frustrating that they only held spots for three science and tech classes.
I spent the long drive home taking deep breaths to soothe my anxious nervous system. When I checked in on how I felt during the whole process, it wasn’t good. I felt invisible. Like a number. Like I’d have to fight to be seen and heard and make connections. I was a small speck in a sea of students. Would that be the case in the huge classes of 200-300 students? How would I get my many millennial questions answered? Would I get to know my professors, or just their TAs? And if so, what is the point of getting excited about their specific classes? What were the odds I’d be picked to join the coveted 10-student courses out of thousands of students? It felt so huge, crowded, and overwhelming. And yet… solitary.
Earlier in the day, in one of the non-traditional student breakout rooms, one of the transfer advisors pulled me aside and said, “Students with kids get to choose their classes first. Send me a message next semester, so you have first pick.” It felt like the only person-to-person interaction I had that day. A tiny ray of sunshine amidst pouring rain.
Later that week, the English department’s assistant over at TCNJ sent me a few emails to set up a call. I needed to register for their spring semester classes with her. When I did, I was surprised at how pleasant it went. She listened to what I was interested in, answered all my questions, and together, we set up a decent schedule, similar to the one I created on my own at Rutgers. Two days a week, with one night class on a different day. With TCNJ being forty minutes away, this seemed manageable.
This time, after I registered, I felt excited about my classes. Even my family noticed. TCNJ has about 7,500 undergraduate students and offers small class sizes. One of my required literature classes has only 12 students. None of my classes is over 28. The shorter commute, smaller class sizes, and one-to-one attention pushed me to withdraw from Rutgers and continue at TCNJ.
It felt right.
Peaceful.
Because I gathered as much information as I could (including emotional information) before reaching a conclusion, I felt solid and confident about my decision. Despite the ongoing uncertainty about attending my number-one choice (Smith), I was excited about my new school.
Stay tuned for my thoughts on TCNJ now that I’m halfway through my semester and my status at Smith College.
*I also got into Rutgers University - Camden, but after visiting, I knew it wasn’t for me. While taking the tour, we were interrupted every few minutes by ambulances, helicopters, fire trucks, police sirens, alarms, and locals shouting... You name it. It isn’t in a good area (the number of times they referenced the low crime rate was sus), and despite its smaller size, students aren’t allowed to take classes from the other campuses. So dumb.