At the beginning of August I started a new journey as I started school here in Statesboro. I originally attended a smaller, liberal arts college fresh out of high school. I hated it! I’m not sure if it was the location or just the people. I was in a bunch that wasn’t as melanin as I would like. The university was 6% African American and over 80% white. I’m definitely not HBCU material so I wasn’t expecting to see any resemblance. One of the main issues with the liberal arts school was that it was made almost completely of stereotypical sorority girls & stereotypical fraternity boys. I knew I didn’t “fit in” there & applied to transfer three months in. When I got to Georgia Southern I was so happy to see so many different people.
Transferring was one of the most irritating things I’ve ever had to deal with. It took my high-school over four months to send my transcript and my final transcript got lost in translation. I had to get an additional shot which nobody likes, and I had my bestfriend and my now boyfriend fussing at me everyday until everything was turned in so I could finally be in Statesboro with them. This leads me to give 5 survival tips for a transfer student:
1. Make sure you request to have transcripts, scores, and immunizations sent months before the set deadlines. Everybody makes mistakes and you never know how many transcripts the secretary has stacked on her desk to send so by giving them ample time you’ll have a leg to stand on when you finally go off from frustration.
2. Do a lot of research on your new school. It would be a tragedy if you leave a school because you hate how many squirrels run around campus and go to a school that has double the amount of squirrels as the first school. Transferring is a pain & I wouldn’t advise anyone to transfer more than twice.
3. Have legitimate reason(s) for transferring. Don’t just transfer to a school because they have parties all week or because your boyfriend goes there but an actual reason such as, your sanity!
4. Get to know your new campus a little before your first day of classes. The liberal arts school I attended was so small. The campus was under half the size of Georgia Southern’s campus. Even though I did get to know GA Southern’s campus a little, I was still overwhelmed but it did help that I knew where the RAC was!
5. Don’t babble on about your old school too much, no one cares in Eagle Nation.