1. Getting asked “What’s your year?”
Unless you’re super lucky to have all of your previous college’s credits go through, you normally don’t know how to answer this question. Saying you’re a “second semester Sophomore, but technically a Junior” just sounds plain confusing, but you’d rather not be associated with the kids a year younger than you. On top of that, it usually takes a few weeks before you learn the term “Middler”
2. The plethora of food on a larger campus
Perhaps not all of us have transferred from a smaller school, however for those who have, the variety on campus is heaven…and your worst nightmare. Freshman-15 all over again? Yikes! (Maybe you’ll over-eat Rebecca’s to the point of getting sick of their food).
3. Going to hell and back trying to transfer credits
The bane of transfer students world wide. Between the frantic calls to your Academic Advisor taking over your summer and the curses you throw at the confusingly-formatted Degree Audit, your experience with transfer credits will certainly be a significant part of your NEU experience. Not to mention being unable to answer what year you are…
4. Trying to make new friends
Let’s face it. Transfer students are much less enthusiastic compared to freshman when it comes to meeting new faces. Orientation is a been-there, done-that experience and you endure it while waiting for the clock to tick to 3 PM. Maybe, if you are lucky, you’ll get the contact info of one or two really chill people that you meet. However, the pace for having fun has drastically slowed as it’s time to get serious about class and graduate as soon as you can. You’ll join some fun clubs and meet people there, but they may already have friend groups and aren’t interested in newcomers. Or, if you can bring yourself to do it, you can talk to that lone freshman in the corner.
5. Being a loner in class
IIf you don’t know too many people on campus, this is generally what happens. It’s okay. That’s what Candy Crush is for.
6. Questioning whether you’re a true Husky or not
It’s easy for freshman to leave high school behind for their completely new lives at Northeastern. However, transfer students came straight from a college and moved to…another college. You may have left that old school with some grievances, but your experiences there are still a part of you—good or bad. Plus, it takes a while to get adjusted to the Husky culture, catch on with the lingo and hot-spots, and stop feeling like an outsider.
7. Starting Over
Enough said.
Even with all of this going on in your transition to NEU, remember that you still did manage to get to a great school. All of your past accomplishments led up to that moment when you headed towards the first day of classes and realized that there is no turning back. You are a Husky now, whether you feel like it yet or not. You are in a wonderful community, filled with awesome and diverse people, and can explore all sorts of academic passions. And even with all of these struggles, you still survive and pull through with new beginnings.