If you’re a transfer student, you most likely know as well as I do that it’s not easy. People make it out to be easy. And people think you’re not as smart because “transfers can get in anywhere.” Well, as a transfer student myself, I can say for certain none of the stereotypes are true.

First of all, being a transfer student isn’t easy. Starting at a new school and going through the motions of trying to find friends again is not fun. It’s draining. Also, if you start at a school as a freshman and graduate from that same school, you’ve had four years to fill all the criteria and meet the minimum credit threshold. But for transfers, we have less time to get in all of the residency requirements, gen-eds that other schools might not have, and upper divisions that are required by the major. Not only that, but we also want to experience clubs and organizations just like traditional students do, but we’re so much shorter on time. As a result, we’re constantly scrambling to figure out ways to graduate on time and not have to put in an extra semester, or year. So next time you say that being a transfer student is easy, ask someone who is actually a transfer. They’ll give you a dose of reality.

The other stereotype about transfer students that is utterly ridiculous is that “transfer students can get in anywhere,” and that “transfer admissions is easy,” and that “transfer students aren’t as smart.” I’ve heard all these things so many times and every time I do, I get so mad. The only reason why transfers have a better chance of getting into a school than a freshman is because these students have definitive proof that they are capable of surviving the college world. And also because schools typically don’t get nearly as many transfer applications as they do freshman applications, so they have a smaller pool to choose from. Just because a student is transferring schools doesn’t make that person any less intelligent. Maybe you should try getting to know that person before making snap judgments. It’s cruel, wrong, and quite honestly, extremely offensive to have someone judge your intelligence level based on what type of student you are. Transfer students are people, too.

Next time you go to judge transfer students and get caught up in strengthening the stigma, think about why a student might be transferring. Did that student go to community college beforehand to save money? (The stigma around community colleges is a whole other battle for another time.) Did that student simply fall out of love with the school they started at and want to simply purse happiness? Or did that student change their major and realize the school they started at was not as good a school for their new major? These are all important things to think about and learn before making assumptions.

So, all I ask is that you think about the stigma surrounding transfer students and, instead of participating in it, work to crush it. There are so many stereotypes about transfer students that simply aren’t true. So, ask. Listen to our story. Don’t make snap judgments. That’s all we ask.