As many of you may know, even though I was a sophomore at Marquette, it was actually my first year here. I transferred from a small college in North Carolina and had to adjust to a lot of changes at a school that was almost triple the size. To the students that are transferring, here is some advice on how you can fit in on a new campus.

The first and major point that I want to highlight is the fact that you need to get involved on campus. When you transfer to a new school, you are entering into a totally different social dynamic than what you were used to at your old school. You must get involved with clubs and sports, if your athletic, to help make friends on campus. Making friends is the one way to help make the transfer process even better.

Secondly, do not overwhelm yourself. The biggest mistake that I made was that I got involved with a lot of different things on Marquette’s campus. If I look back on the past year, I would have done less than half of the stuff I did and the items that I decided to stick with I would put in 150%.

Instead I spread myself toothin and I would catch myself running here to get to this meeting to run to class to run to another meeting. This would go on and on until I would lose my mind because I was exhausted.

Third, It is important to get out on the social scene. Once you start to make friends, it would be awesome if you are able to go out with them. Once you do that you can expand your friendship circle and meet more people.

The funny thing with that is, you never know who you will meet. You might be able to meet your next boyfriend and girlfriend. If you are not a partier, then I would suggest that you try to at least get out of your dorm and hang out at different places around campus. Even with doing this, you are still able to meet new people and create special bonds that can last a life time.

Finally, try not to freak out if you tried all of these and it seems like it is not working. A lot of the time, it takes some time for people to warm up to new people. Trust me, been there done that.

If you feel like with every attempt you are doing is not working, just keep trying. Once you give up, the whole transfer process will not be successful for you. It is important that you keep trying and trying if it does not work or you are still trying to find the group that you want to fit into.

I feel that the advice I have given is really important to pay attention too. I wish when I transferred that someone told me all of this information. When looking back on this year there were a lot of times that I gave up because I did not feel like keep going.

If I did give up, I would not be able to say I was apart of creating Pride Prom, become the President of the GSA, and make a lot of friends in the process. So, to the transfer student that will be reading this, never give up on yourself because there is always a place for you at the table.