What is it that makes a transfer school a transfer school? Transfer schools are colleges/universities who have students that frequently transfer out of. They're usually the kind of schools whose freshmen class decrease by 50% after the first semester. By sophomore year, only half of the original class is left. So what happens to the students who actually decide to stay the entire four years and graduate?
I remember touring my college and being absolutely excited to come here. It wasn't 100% but it was 99% excitement and assurance that I'd love it here. But the aesthetically beautiful ivy-covered buildings and always (eerily so) smiling faces drew me in.
My freshmen year was as great as anyone could imagine with the ordinary problems that most freshmen have to deal with. Communal bathrooms, passing friend groups, extra workload, etc. Although it wasn't Harvard dorms, I was happy. As the year went on, I realized I was alone in this feeling. Along with the realization, I noticed the declination in my friends around me. People started leaving as soon as halfway through the first semester.
I thought those who left as soon as they could were just not cut out for college. Maybe the workload was too much for them. Maybe my new home was not their new home. But that could only go for so many transfers. I never understood why. I thought that everyone who came here felt just as home as I did.
Don't get me wrong, I have thought about transferring. My college was great but it wasn't the best and everyone else was transferring, why stay? A lot of friendships have fizzled and disappeared right before my eyes because my school was not the right school for them. Although I have decided that this "transfer school" is the right fit for me. I love my college and it is my home away from home.
Yeah, it's really weird being a student who belongs in a place where the majority doesn't. A lot of others won't agree with me when I say that this place is my home. And that's okay. Friendships have come and gone more than anybody should ever be used to. I may never see any of them again and I will be the one of the very few who stayed.
