Going to a university that allows you to live at home, or otherwise save money, for your first year, or even first two years, can work.  Moving after three years and completing your last year elsewhere is likely to raise lots of complications, and you would end up transferring those fourth-year credits back to your original school for graduation.  One challenge in transferring is ensuring that the credits from one university are fully recognized at the second university.  That’s rarely a problem, especially for first-year courses, but it’s something to work out before transferring to the new school. 

Much of the university experience has to do with how fully you become engaged as a learner and member of the university community.  If you’ve made a start at building relationships with students and some faculty in your first and second year, you might decide that continuing to build upon those relationships is even more important than the benefits you had in mind for the second university.  If you do end up transferring after two years,  it’s important to be highly proactive in becoming a part of your new departmental and university community.  That is important for your learning, for your personal and social development, and for developing the kinds of mentoring relationships with faculty that can help open doors for after graduation.

Philip Smith, Department of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island, and 3M National Teaching Fellow.

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