For many seniors that transferred last year during covid, adjusting to life on campus has been a rather strange experience.
I am a transfer student myself, and I can honestly say that my first time on campus was kind of scary and weird. I didn’t know where anything was and I felt lost most of the time.
Whenever I had to ask someone for directions, they would sometimes ask me, “Oh are you a freshman?” Embarrassed, I would try to explain to them that I was not a freshman, I was a senior but this was my first time physically being on campus.
This feeling of being both a senior and a freshman at the same time is common among transfer students who are seniors.
“I definitely do feel like a freshman,” said Raveen Pabla, an international business major who transferred from De Anza community college last year.
She’s taking 5 classes, 3 of which are in-person. Luckily, she says, all her classes are in one building.
Pabla said that she had never even been to campus until this past summer when her friends gave her a tour.
She said the tour helped, but it didn’t make adjusting to life on campus any easier.
You might think in-person classes are better for making friends, but Pabla said that she has made more friends over Zoom.
“I’ve made more friends over Zoom because over Zoom we had an opportunity to talk to everyone in the class and now you only talk to the people sitting next to you and because of covid sometimes people don’t sit next to you,” said Pabla.
She also said that people tend to leave immediately after class and go their separate ways which can make socializing kind of hard.
Despite the challenges of making friends, Pabla said she still learns better in-person because sitting in a class helps her focus better.
Psychology major Leslee Patino said she doesn’t feel like a freshman. She transferred from a private school in Washington that was still open and having in-person classes.
She was a little overwhelmed the first few weeks of school because her old school was a lot smaller and coming to a CSU was an adjustment.
“I was overwhelmed the first two weeks of school, especially the first week,” said Patino. “I was wanting to get some in-person help and have some questions answered so I headed over to the admissions office but it was closed until mid-September so that was no help. Most of my questions had to be answered over email and over the phone.”
Patino is taking two in-person classes and three online classes. She said she doesn’t have a preference for in-person or Zoom, but she likes in-person because it’s a different environment compared to Zoom.
“I like being able to raise my hand in class and sitting at a desk and being in a classroom,” said Patino. “I also believe that I learn better by having in-person classes but I do not mind my Zoom classes.”
Tell us how you are adjusting to in-person classes, and if you have any tips be sure to tag us on Instagram @HerCampusSJSU!