Spring in Binghamton means the semester is soon drawing to a close and in just a few short months, Binghamton will be welcoming an array of new students: freshman and transfers. I often watch student tours take place and wonder what these new students are thinking. About a year ago I was one of them. I was a freshman at SUNY Oneonta who applied to Binghamton in hopes of a more academically rigourous school. I remember coming to vist my childhood friend and fellow Her Campus writer, Caitlin Sortino and being a nervous wreck. I met her sorority sisters (who I’m proud to now call my sorority sisters too) and feeling so out of place at a school that was twice the size of the one I already went to. A few short months later I found myself crying the entire four hours home from Binghamton to Long Island following transfer student orientation because of how stressful everything was. I contemplated not coming to Binghamton but decided at the end of July that I would come, and I’m so glad that I did. Transferring to Binghamton is the best decision I have made so far in my college career which I am so thankful for after what seemed would be such a difficult transition to a new school. For those of you that are about to go through the same thing, let me give you some tips on how to adapt to your new school as easily as I did.
1. Stay Organized
I cannot stress how important this is. From the time you end your current school to the time you start your new one you’re going to acquire more brochures and paperwork than you ever thought could be possible. You thought you had a lot of paperwork to go through going into freshman year? You have no idea what’s about to come when you transfer. Making sure all of the credits at your last school transfer to your new one is harder to keep up with than making sure all of your AP credits transfer to the school you start at frehsman year. Thankfully, I kept everything organized. I created charts and to-do lists and saved them all into a folder on my laptop. One of the hardest things I dealt with while transferring was having to pick a new major. I was a Mass Communication major at Oneonta and didn’t even realize that a school like Binghamton would have almost every other major EXCEPT communications. For the longest time I contemplated whether I should be an English Rhetoric major or a Cinema major or both. I really liked both but doing a duel major upon entering sophomore year would have led me to not being able to finish both majors by the spring of 2016. I finally decided on majoring in English Rhetoric and minoring in Cinema. I then had to plan out which courses to take which semester. Sit down with an academic advisor and plan ahead and stay organized so you don’t have to stress over the most important part of school.
2. Get Involved
For some people this is a no brainer; however, so many people plan to join clubs and organizations and once they get caught up with the beginning of school they opt out of using their free time at extracurriculars. At Oneonta I was a member of the campus TV station and Hillel. Both were great, however, I knew that coming into Binghamton I wanted more than just that. The day of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi general interest meeting I contemplated whether or not I actually wanted to join a sorority or not or if I wanted to wait until the spring semester. I am SO glad I made the decision to rush my first semester at Binghamton. Coming in as a transfer, I felt there weren’t as many chances to meet other transfer students as there were for freshman to meet other freshman. I rushed my sorority, got a bid, and pledging and joining Sigma gave me a group of over 50 girls I can turn to talk to, trust, or even just grab lunch with when I’m procrastinating my homework. For some, Greek Life just isn’t there thing, and that’s okay! This semester I also joined the Binghamton TV station and I’m loving it and have already met so many great people through it! Pick things that interest you and attend their meetings and get involved. Not only will club meetings give you something to do, but you’ll meet people that share the same interests with you and you too can have an automatic group of 50+ friends to procrastinate homework and get lunch with.
3. It’s OKAY to be nervous!
Weeks before moving into my new school I had those same pre-move in day jitters I had upon starting Oneonta freshman year. At the beginning of freshman year, I suffered a bad case of homesickness. I felt out of place those first few weeks at Oneonta and I hated feeling that everyone was adjusting but me. I was nervous that going into Binghamton I’d have the same homesickness and I wasn’t quite prepared for that. Luckily, I didn’t have any of that. I was somehow more nervous leading up to move-in than I was those first few days. Just remember that it’s okay to be nervous and scared. In fact, it’s normal. You’re about to enter a new situation all over again and leaving the comfort of the one that took you a while to get adjusted to.
5. Have fun!
Going to a new school is a chance to start over. I took the summer leading up to transferring to Binghamton to enjoy myself. I went to four concerts, met the Jonas Brothers twice, and took a cruise to Alaska and these things also helped to calm the nerves I was feeling throughout the summer of going to Binghamton in the fall. Come time to move-in, I had cool summer stories to share with all of the new people I was meeting and all of these amazing experiences turned me into someone who enjoyed adventure which is why I decided to try and rush a sorority and all of the other fun things I took part in. I don’t recall ever enjoying Oneonta this much and since coming to Binghamton I have felt that I really have been getting the true “college experience.” I have so many friends, I’m involved with clubs, and I’m doing well academically. Most importantly I’m enjoying myself and having fun, and the best part is that in a few short weeks, I’ll be visiting my old school for a weekend to see my old friends and the place I called home for a year.