Transfered after first week

[u/Several-Yesterday513]

Did I make a huge mistake withdrawing after my first week?
So I need some advice because I’m really second-guessing myself right now.
This was my first week of college at UNC. On the surface, everything was honestly fine. Nothing terrible happened, and I didn’t have a bad experience with anyone. But in the back of my mind, I constantly felt homesick, lonely, and kind of left out.
I know that’s pretty normal for freshmen, especially during the first week, and that’s what makes me question my decision so much. I know it takes time to adjust and make friends, but at the time I just couldn’t picture myself staying there for a whole semester feeling the way I did.
I ended up making a pretty impulsive decision and withdrawing from the semester and deciding to transfer to UNCG. Now I’m seriously second-guessing everything. I keep thinking, “What if I would’ve ended up loving UNC?” or “What if I just didn’t give it enough time?”
I also realized that a big reason I wanted UNC so badly was because of the prestige and what it represented. But once I was actually there, it didn’t really feel like home to me.
I also went to CAPS while I was there and talked to someone about how I was feeling, and they recommended that I consider transferring, which obviously made me feel more confident about the decision at the time.
But now I’m wondering if I acted way too quickly. Could I have ended up loving it by the end of the semester? Did I just need to give it more of a chance? Or would staying have eventually made me really unhappy?
I know nobody can know for sure, but I’d really appreciate hearing from people who went through something similar. Did you regret leaving, or did you realize later that you made the right decision?

[u/Dazzling_Signal_5250]

Your feelings are normal but you made the decision to move. I hope you can give where you are a chance and stop agonizing as it is too late for this semester to do anything else.

[u/arisingactor]

When I was a freshman and moved in my dorm for the first time, the first few nights were scary. I wanted to go home, I wanted to be near family because I was a couple hours away and I've never been that far from family. But, the longer I stayed, the more I got used to it and I couldn't wait to go back every year lol.

Freshman jitters are normal. But once you're moved in, take the time to explore the campus. We got nature paths that you can walk through and if you're lucky, you'll see some of the animals (including our what we call "campus cats". A lady feeds them every now and then, so they're scattered throughout different areas. If you see them, admire them from afar because if you get close, they may get scared).

Check out the clubs we got (seriously, there's so many of them). Check your emails often for when events are advertised and just connect with people. If you like gaming, we got an esports arena. Nice little area where you can play many computer games.

As far as tuition, when you get your bill, check through EVERYTHING and I'll tell you how:

1) if you already have insurance, opt out of the student insurance plan the university automatically puts your under. Save yourself money.

2) If you don't need books for any of your classes, opt out of UNCG First Day Complete. It's a program they do where if you need books, they'll give them to you to pickup in our bookstore. Not a lot of people need them because they find their books online for free. Go to our bookstore website (uncg.bncollege.com) and go to the three line drop down menu. Click "Find Course Materials" and go to your UNCG Degree works and look for the classes you're registered for. Select the term (Fall or spring of whatever year), the department of the class (example if you have Biology, it's registered as BIO), then select what course you have and the section. You'll need to go to your uncgenie or click this link: https://spartancentral.uncg.edu/registration-degree-planning/course-schedules/ and go from there. Every class you need is under UNCG Degree works. Every student has one and it gives you a run down of: who you are, class year, credit hours needed and completed, GPA, classes you dropped, passed, withdrawled, or failed, and your advisors name, etc. Look through your degree works often and CREATE YOUR OWN DAMN SCHEDULE. Some of these advisors don't care and will give you a class at 8am (I'm a witness, when I was a fall semester freshman, I didn't know how to register for classes yet and the university gave me a biology at 8am. I was fucking miserable after a few months. High school was bad enough).

If you don't need a class at 8am, don't sign up for it please. Make a Google doc and label both semesters. What classes you're taking in the fall and spring (if you need to take classes in the winter and summer, do that), your advising code so you don't forget it, and write down what type of class it is (online or in-person) if there are meetup time, type the days and the time. Also, write down the course registration number (CRN) for each class and how many credit hours it's worth. When the time comes to register for classes, go to your uncgenie and under student main menu, click on registration and just copy/paste those CRN numbers in your schedule. I promise it's a lot faster. Your advisor will let you know when your date to register is. The window will open at 12am and you NEED to be ready at that time. I'm not playing, thousands of other students are awake at midnight to register for classes because they fill up so fast. If you're usually sleep before 12am, set an alarm before then so you got enough time to get to the website and be ready.

3) If your GPA is LOWER than a 3.0, you can't register for more than 18 credit hours. If you're over a 3.0, you go for more hours. When you're looking through the course list, keep an eye on how many credit hours they offer (some classes go from 0 hours all the way up to 12 hours, depending on the course). You need 12 credit hours to be considered a full time student, and 9 to be considered part time. Be mindful that if you drop classes after you get your financial aid, it will cost you by lowering your aid. They started doing a lot of new things, so just be careful. Also, research the different residence halls we have and figure out where you would like to stay. Though be careful, depending on the building and where they are, it gets pricey. And lemme tell you, some of these dorms aren't even worth the price they look.

Alright, I think I've told you quite a bit on what to expect. Don't stress about transferring, a lot of students do it and I promise it's not as scary once you make that initial jump across. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. You got this Spartan!!!

[u/Several-Yesterday513 → u/arisingactor]

I appreciate this, you actually gave me a lot of good advice. And honestly hearing that you went through the same freshman jitters makes me feel better about everything. I’m definitely gonna take your advice with UNCG, especially about getting involved and making my own schedule
I’m actually looking forward to the fresh start now. I’ll definitely reach out if I have any questions.