DePaul University is home to over 1,300 transfer students. It is safe to say if someone at DePaul is not a transfer student, they know someone who might be. Moving to college is one of the biggest and scariest adjustments young adults have to go through in their lives, so it can be hard to imagine doing that more than once.
Typically, a student who attends DePaul starting their freshman year has the opportunity to attend an overnight orientation on campus during the summer. Most freshman also live on campus in residence halls and have events with their RAs. Moving to the third largest city in the nation can seem daunting, so DePaul tries to create a community and provide a lot of resources to the incoming students. Ideally, a home away from home atmosphere is created.
Transfer student do not get the chance to go through these experiences at DePaul, and often end up commuting, living off campus, or in an upper classmen apartment complex residence hall. So, how do transfer students make DePaul their home? One way is to get involved on campus. During the beginning of both fall and winter quarters there is an involvement fair where majority of DePaul’s organizations come together in one place and talk about their cause to students. In the fall, the fair is held outside in DePaul’s quad and each organization is given a table to promote their club. DePaul has over 350 organizations that can be found on Orgsync! You can even make your own organization. Recently, students have created new acapella teams and organizations about mental health!
In addition to creating a community, transfer students can also go to the Career Center to meet with their career advisor to work on resumes, cover letters, and get a jump start on internships. The city is our campus at DePaul, so it is important that students feel comfortable in the Windy City and one way to do that is to try out different internships. The Career Center can direct students on how to get an on campus job through the Office of Student Employment’s job board or an internship through Handshake. Most jobs and internships have other students involved, so it is a great way to meet new people!
Last but not least, transfer students can also learn about the many different resources that DePaul offers. Counseling services, financial fitness, and exercise classes at the Ray Meyer Fitness Center are all included in our tuition at DePaul. A great first step to understanding all that DePaul has to offer their students is to take time to explore DePaul’s Lincoln Park Student Center and The DePaul Center in the Loop. Taking the Brown Line downtown using the student Ventra (also included in tuition) is another great way to see Chicago from a new perspective.