How to Approach Transferring Schools

How to Approach Transferring Schools We all hope that well get our college decision right on the first try. Obviously, thats the ideal way to do it. Spending months agonizing over applications, personal essays, waiting for those big envelopes in the mail, and looking over every college review site out there you dont want to have to do that again. Transferring schools usually isnt in your four-year plan as you prepare for your university adventure as a freshman but it can happen, and usually when its the farthest idea from your mind. There are a number of reasons this can happen. Perhaps you werent thorough enough on your campus visit or perhaps you didnt make a visit at all. Maybe you didnt do enough research on the availability of academic opportunities you desire or the kind of town atmosphere you want. Realizing halfway through your freshman year that you are not getting the kind of experience you need is never a fun feeling, but its better to recognize and admit it at that point rather than staying in denial and getting cheated out of the college experience you deserve. Also, sometimes circumstances out of your control can come into play and drive you to transferring. Its very possible that you did do all the necessary prep-work to make an informed decision about the college you would attend, but you ended up not being comfortable with any of your peers. Different schools do attract different people and sometimes you just may not find yourself fitting in as well as you would have hoped. And that doesnt always mean youre not trying hard enough or not utilizing enough of the readily available social opportunities unfortunately, sometimes things just dont work out. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, social aspects are a very important part of college, and how can you be happy living on your own if you do not have some sort of support system physically there by your side? A particular environment may not be right for you specifically and if you accept that and believe you are not at fault, then you will be on a healthy track to make the infamous transfer. Now, this all leads up to why transferring can be good. Its very refreshing and comforting to know you have a second chance at the awesome college experience youve dreamed of. You can start all over, meet new people, live in a new place, try new things. Plus, now that you have some of the college experience under your belt, you arent a totally blind freshman who is completely unaware of how things work. You will have some good background about college life to make sure you do it right this time. However, you cannot be nave and think acclimating to a new college in your second or third year will be as easy as going to a new college as a freshman was. Universities make the first few weeks of school a social haven for freshmen, creating orientations and events that are specifically catered to that incoming class. This time, you are not a part of that brand new group you are just a brand new individual, alone. Granted, many students transfer to schools where they already know someone, and that certainly makes the transition a lot smoother. But if you are going into this without knowing a soul, be prepared to work a little harder at breaking into the social scene and learning about the environment around you. Its so easy to get scared by this prospect and just decide to tolerate your original school. But think of it this way is it better to be miserable at a school youre safely familiar with or to nervously put forth some extra effort to get to know a new one? You deserve another chance. You deserve the best college experience you can have. Maybe transferring will make you a little uncomfortable initially, but that wont last forever whereas staying at the first school that you hated, might. Which path will leave you happiest at graduation? Thats the path you want to go on, the path that will end with no regrets.