I wonder how Madison's story might have been different if her parents had encouraged her strongly to withdraw for a semester (or longer) to regroup or to significantly reduce her courseload, not just transfer. I wonder if she would have felt so trapped if someone had told her that she could scale back until she found her comfort zone.
Not all schools LET you withdraw for a semester. Large top ranked states schools don't always allow one to withdraw without a medical reason. And once withdraw don't make it easy to get back in. And the paperwork & documentation to get a medical isn't necessary easy. They just have too many students that look good on paper to care much about those that don't keep up. Although I would expect that a private school like PENN would probably let a student withdraw for a semester.
