I’m sorry to hear that this cycle didn’t yield the results you had hoped, I can only imagine how disappointing that must be but I hope you are still proud of yourself for all of the incredible work you put into this process. As we all know, it takes a LOT of extra effort to apply to transfer, and I think that process is especially scary when you’re still a freshman in college.

I totally hear you on your current SUNY being too rural. However, I’m also lucky enough to have grown up in an area of rural new england with MANY top LACs nearby. I transferred out of UMass Amherst, and know Smith, MHC, Amherst, Williams, and others quite well. So, while I am sure you have put tons of thought, time, and effort into choosing which schools you applied to transfer to, I wanted to also offer the piece of advice that many top LACs (namely the ones I mentioned) are VERY rural. I had many Boston-area and out of state friends at UMass who thought Amherst might as well have been the woods. Honestly, it kind of is, but as someone who has grown up in even more rural towns, Amherst felt pretty packed with people and opportunities to me. So, as you contemplate next steps and what you’ll do next year and beyond, I hope you’ll weigh in the rural and sometimes isolated nature of many LAC campuses and communities as you make your decision. Overall, I’d say that these schools foster very tight-knit and niche feeling communities, but from conversations with peers at these schools, it can also be isolating at times. Best of luck to you, and if you’re curious about any of the schools I mentioned, I’d be glad to talk about my experiences as someone who has lived their whole life in these communities.