People say all the time that college is the best four years of your life. I am sure all of us have met alumni who get the biggest smile on their face when they hear that we go to Boston College. “Ah, BC. Best four years of my life!” However, there is a group of us that can’t exactly say that. My fellow transfers and I have only had the pleasure of attending Boston College for three, or even two, years. After I heard four “regular,” as we call people who have been here since freshman year, seniors give their last admissions panel, I thought about my experiences at Boston College and what graduation means to me. I also wanted to hear what some of my fellow transfers thought. How do they feel about graduating? Are they glad they came to BC? What has being a member of the Boston College community meant to them? How has being a transfer student impacted them? Here are some of their thoughts.
Nathalie Alexis
I am filled with mixed feelings about graduating! I am excited to start anew and become part of the “real” world,” but I am definitely going to miss the comfort of being at BC. I have experienced such personal growth and I have no doubt that BC and my transfer experiences have prepared me for what is to come. I never regretted coming here. I have met some amazing people- both transfers and non-transfers as well as very compassionate and helpful professors that have made my transition into the community easy and my three years here unforgettable.
Marisa Massaro, Stephanie Armstrong, and I at our first Red Bandana Game.
Stephanie Armstrong
Coming to Boston College was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am so sad to be graduating! I wish I had another year to absorb everything on The Heights. Being a member of the BC community has meant so much; it is such a strong legacy that you come into, and you feel a responsibility to get involved and contribute. Whether that’s through service, athletics, dance (shout out BCID), or academics, I think BC pushes you to become a better person, whatever that means to the individual. I’ve been so humbled by my experience at BC, having met so many people who are talented in so many areas. In this extraordinary microcosm of the real world, you really do get a sense of where you belong, what kind of person you are, and what kind of person you want to be. People at BC inspire me every single day and I can only hope that I have some way of carrying on that legacy after graduation.
Kelly Preston
I am excited to graduate but sad to leave BC at the same time. The past four years have definitely been interesting but have tested me and made me grow. I am glad I came to BC and although the first year was a bit of a transition, as a senior it has become to feel like home. For me I feel like transferring forced me to grow up a bit faster compared to some of the people I met here – experience a bit more. Though it was hard, I am thankful for the things I did my freshman year at a different school because it made me more open during my time here at BC.
Some transfer ladies on our first Marathon Monday cheering on Kelly Preston.
Mary Naugler
I am so glad I came to BC. I always kind of knew that I would be graduating from here and when I got in as a transfer there was no doubt in my mind that this was the right place. I’m so happy to have even had three years at BC and being a member of this community that graduating isn’t scary. As someone who had to start over again as a sophomore, I feel like I’m ready for the challenge of real life and that I am well prepared for post-grad life. Of course it will be strange, but I think I am just so glad to have gotten the BC experience that it won’t be terrible. I love that as a BC community member I was able to cheer on BC Campus School runners on “Marathon Sunday”, and that I can truly be a “man/woman for others” through nursing in the community and the hospitals. Going on Chorale Spring Break trips and singing in beautiful basilicas and cathedrals has also been an amazing part of this experience. Being able to come to BC and graduate from here has been a dream of mine since the age of 8, and now it has come true. I feel like being able to experience BC has allowed me to grow as a person and really solidify who I am and what I want for my future. Honestly, I don’t think I would have been able to get the experience that I got from BC anywhere else.
Elizabeth Powers
I don’t think graduation will fully hit me until I’m a few months out of college and living a different lifestyle. But I am so happy that I came to BC, and that I was given the opportunity to do so. I owe my parents a huge thank you; there is no way I could have come here without everything they have given me. It’s funny, I went to back to visit my friends at University of Illinois, where I went my freshman year, and they asked me if I wished I had stayed. In a way, I do—I made some really great friends their freshman year. But BC has always been my dream, and I am so glad I transferred here. Academically, it was exactly what I was looking for: a very strong liberal arts program, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary learning. I study English and International Studies, but there has been quite a lot of overlap of ideas in both majors. Another draw of BC was its emphasis on service; I got the chance to participate in PULSE, a service-learning course, and it was one of the most formative experiences I’ve had at BC. I am so grateful to be at BC. Being a part of the BC community means so many things to me: it means being in a creative nonfiction class with some incredible writers; it means going to the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston to help out with research for my professor; it means working on campus over the summer for ResLife and meeting some of my best friends; it means performing in the Vagina Monologues with a group of strong, talented women; it means studying in Madrid; it means exploring my faith at 10:15 mass. There have been so many opportunities I have been afforded at BC that have shaped the person I am today. Sometimes, I wonder what it would have been like if I had been here all four years, especially since so many friendships are made freshman year. But then I think of all my amazing friends who transferred, who I probably wouldn’t have met had I not transferred, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world. So, in short, I guess what I have to say is thank you to everyone at BC, and thank you especially to my parents. I wouldn’t have had this incredibly formative and blessed experience without you.
No real BC article is complete with out a GassonGram.
All right, my turn. I have mixed feelings about graduating. I am glad to be done with some of the immature college stuff that I have been over for quite some time, but leaving the comfort that Boston College provides scares me too. Choosing to transfer to Boston College was the best decision I ever made. The worst decision I ever made was not coming here in the first place. Boston College encompasses everything that I value in life. Each piece of BC, every aspect of this community, fits together into what I see as the perfect college puzzle. It means so much to me that I get to be a piece in that amazing puzzle too. I don’t think I would have felt complete in my college experience without BC, and I like to think that BC would not have been complete without me, or any of us, either. I think that being a transfer has made me value all the greatness of BC even more. I am so happy to forever be a part of this legacy.
Us transfers are some of the best BC has to offer (6 percent acceptance rate my year, just sayin’) and I really appreciate the insight my fellow transfers have given me in seeing how our adaptability has provided us with strength and maturity. Although we only got three years at Boston College, I’d like to think that missing out on Perspectives discussions and the Newton bus didn’t set us back too far. We have gotten to experience the same highs, like our first Marathon Monday, and the same lows, Marathon Monday 2013, as the rest of our fellow graduates. Regardless of when we got here, I think we are all proud to be members of the Boston College Class of 2014.
With all this being said, I seriously hope college is not the best however many years of our lives. With the G word in T minus two weeks, I hope there is still life beyond The Heights, though I will always remember these three short years fondly.
Special thanks to Nathalie Alexis, Stephanie Armstrong, Kelly Preston, Mary Naugler, Siobhan Gavagan, Elizabeth Powers, and Marissa Massaro.
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