Its assumed, after Freshman year you're officially done with orientation. None of those awful icebreakers, random slideshows, crazy presenters, or going back to school early. What is the one thing that will guarantee you'll experience the longest week (other than finals) in your life again? Transferring to a new college/university.
Don't get me wrong, if you transferred to a new school you probably didn't like your old one. But I'm here to provide you with a list of what's horrible about this process so we can all grieve and cry (maybe even laugh), together.
1. Your credits not transferring
We all know about universities and their crazy, lengthy cores... don't even get me started. Going to a new school means not having a lot of your credits transfer because they only fulfilled your previous core, which means you basically wasted your time taking classes on classes like "Atlantis the Underwater City" and other random topics you will never have to learn about again.
Honestly, just be prepared to feel like you're behind for the rest of your college career (oh, and lots of summer classes).
2. Not being able to declare a major
Starting at a new school means starting over with everything... yes that means that GPA you worked long and hard for is now a whopping 0.0 GPA.. While you've been stressing about your grades and doing everything you can to get the best ones, none of that now matters. On top of this, while you're trying to declare majors at your new school, you are most likely going to get declined because your GPA "isn't high enough".
3. Meeting new people & leaving your old friends
We all go to college knowing that we are going to meet friends that are going to stay in our lives forever. Throughout high school drama, our parents tell us that one day these people won't matter. When you meet these people freshman year and you leave school for the summer, you look forward to seeing them again move-in day. Transferring means not seeing these people every day, and you have to form all of these friendships over again.
4. Learning the new lingo
At every university, all of the students have nicknames for just about every building on campus....whether it be the best dining hall or the worst dorm building, it's never called its actual name. As a transfer, you'll be calling buildings who are referred to as "Conn" the Connoly Center and in the process, you'll stick out like a sore thumb.
5. Getting used to a different campus
This final thing that is emphasized if you've transferred from a smaller campus to a bigger one is prepare to ask everyone where you're going for every class. If you are anything like me, get ready to sprint to your class when you sleep in because not everything is a 10-minute walk like your old school...
You'll definitely be running around campus like this...
