A lot of people will tell you that choosing the right college for you is one of the biggest and most difficult decisions you’ll ever make. I can tell you from experience that those people are very wrong, deciding what to do when the right college turns out to be the wrong one is far more challenging.
In an article on The Choice, a blog sponsored by The New York Times, author Jacques Steinberg states that “about 1 in 3 students…will probably transfer [to another college] at some point.” What Steinberg doesn’t tell you is what life is like for that one student post-transfer. Luckily, I’m here to share the good, the bad, and the ugly of my transfer experience.
The Good: A Second First Impression
Transferring to another school is essentially a fresh start. No one knows that it was you who tripped on the sidewalk that one time or accidentally wore your shower shoes to class. Transfer students get to take what they learned as a freshman and use that knowledge to make better choices the second time around. This is a pretty awesome perk.
The Bad: Life as an Expatriate
I’ve realized that it is going to take a while for Kent to feel more like home and less like a foreign country. In the meantime, I’ve accepted that I’ll probably continue to wear all of my previous school’s gear, secretly root for their sports teams, and begin many of my statements with “well at (insert previous school’s name)….” It’s okay to hold on a little bit, right?
The Ugly: Netflix is a Frenemy
The hardest part of transferring, at least for me, has been coming to a school where I know only a couple of people. It’s tempting to stay in the comforts of a dorm room and spend the day binge-watching Orange is the New Black because watching Netflix is much easier than going out and meeting new people. I’ve found that it’s important to limit one’s Netflix viewing time and devote a good portion of each day to discovering what Kent has to offer.
Whether you are a new transfer student this semester like me or you are considering transferring in the future, know that you are not alone!