Something that I heard at the beginning of the year that really surprised me was that “experts” (whoever they are) say that if you don’t think you like your college within the first six weeks, it is not a bad idea to consider transferring. This statistic was given to my entire discover class, which is basically just a freshman orientation class, and some of us were shocked. We had all probably been in school for six weeks by then, and I think the reason so many of us were surprised was because it felt as if we had just started at DePaul.

I have heard of several people transferring out of DePaul, and while I love it here, sometimes I understand. It definitely isn’t for everyone. It is in a major city and while there is still a sense that you’re on a real college campus, you can be quickly reminded that you’re in an international city. There are a lot of people that go to school here, close to 25,000. While there are always people around, either going to DePaul or just the people living and working in Chicago, sometimes you can feel really alone. Because of these reasons, I can see why people feel like they don’t fit in, and I can see how after six weeks of feeling this way, someone may consider transferring. For me, however, the first quarter (10 weeks) of school was definitely a learning experience and I don’t think that I would have had enough experience after only six weeks to make an informed decision.

Everyone needs to give themselves time to adjust to a new environment, and college is definitely one of those things. I was fairly nervous to move in but I was excited to make new friends. Despite all the efforts that DePaul makes to get people involved, it was a little harder than I imagined it would be to make really good, strong relationships with the people around me. Everyone is on different schedules and live in different places and sometimes it is hard to get to know someone with so much going on. On top of that, you have school to worry about and sometimes even a job to look for or work. Needless to say, it took a while to find people that I really liked and could really spend a lot of time with.

There are still a lot of things that I need to get used to and I have almost been at school for a full academic year. It is hard to know if you made the right decision, but all anyone can do is try to make the best of the situation. All I'm saying is, consider trying to adapt for more than six weeks.