Think back to your first ever move-in day. You’re scared, excited, and sad to be leaving everything you know behind but eager for a new beginning. Whether your first day of college life was the best day you could ask for or one of the worst, it was definitely an emotional day that most people would only like to experience once. And most people do, except for the lucky transfer students. And let me tell you, it doesn’t get much easier the second time around.
In a perfect world, being a transfer student would be much easier than being a first-time college student. You are older, you have experience with college classes and you typically know what it’s like to live away from home. But, this is not a perfect world, and the reality is, it’s actually harder to be a transfer. Like your first day of college, you start the semester thinking that it’s a fresh start and it’s going to be great. And while it is great to be getting your education from the university you actually want to be at, not everything is as easy as you wish it was.
To start off, you don’t know anyone, especially if you transfer during the spring semester. There aren’t as many new student camps and orientations for you to get to know people, and when there are, many of them are much shorter and only provide you with information instead of helping you network with other new students. There are less organizations accepting new members in the spring, and most have established their friend groups, making it difficult to connect with people.
Another setback is getting used to your new environment. If you moved from a small campus to a much larger campus, like I did, this takes some time. On top of learning how to navigate a new school, you also have to get used to walking 15 minutes to your classes instead of 5. And along with that, you have to adapt to the workload of your new university. I was lucky. I transferred from a school of similar academic standing, so I was accustomed to difficult classes, but many are not, which makes being a transfer that much harder. You go from knowing how to get the grades you want at your old school to having to abide by your new school’s expectations, which does nothing to ease your time as a transfer.
