I had a conversation with a student from my leadership class today. He is a legislator in the Student Government Association and one of his projects throughout this year is to help lobby for transfer student initiatives across campus. He hopes to provide a seamless transition for our students both in the transferring process and once here at UM. I told him about all of the things that we currently do for transfer students including pre-transfer advising, orientation, a welcome event, classes and this blog. He seemed mildly satisfied, but still wanted to do more. I offered him some advice and posed the question that I would like to pose to this community:
When is a transfer student no longer a transfer student?
I don't think that I have an answer. Most institutions have an official answer such as after one semester or after one academic year. But emotionally, socially, psychologically when is a transfer student no longer a transfer student? Administrators say that they want transfer students to feel like a part of the community at a University, but then we continue to treat them as a separate entity. I am a strong advocate for transitional support, but when does that support need to be weened away, if at all?
Thoughts?
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I think that inherantly, once you're a transfer student, you'll always identify as a transfer student - in a good way of course! It wasn't until around my sophomore year that I stopped formally identifying myself as a transfer student, and began to assume the identity of an outlying commuter (which of course, I was at the time when I first transferred). I think that everyone finds their identity on campus. I still embrace my identity as a transfer student as a senior, even though I transferred my freshman year of college from community college. My brother and I, in experiencing community college at AACC, embraced the identity and experience we had there - we would never want to erase the great times and lessons we learned from that institution. It was truly an eye-opener: so many students go to community college for two years because of finanical issues - something that most people don't understand, and sometimes even ridicule. Every Thursday, my brother and I are glued to the television watching Community, a comedy show about community college, which does not poke fun at it, but instead embraces it and shows the lives of people who have encompassed it as their identity. So to answer the question, I don't feel like transfer students ever loose their identity - I don't think that they want to. While they may encompass more identities along their college career, the ultimate goal is to allow students to identify themselves as a Terp first, and a transfer second. Being a transfer and continuing with identifying with being a transfer student is not necessarily an issue of being "stuck" - sometimes, people and students see it as a historical landmark in their college career, and therefore choose not to eliminate it, but embrace it and incorporate it into their new identity as a UMD student.
ReplyDeleteHi! My name is Scott Raileanu and I am a Jewish Studies major in the Arts and Humanities College. I am going to be an orientation advisor as I am formerly a transfer student, so I feel quite a connection to this issue. If you ask me there is no distinct line that all transfer students can apply to indicate when they have switched from being "the transfer" to just another face-painting, Chevy-Chase dancing, Testudo loving Terp. It simply depends!
ReplyDeleteSome students transfer after just one semester at another university and come here and immediately pick up on Terp traditions and get involved in campus and do all the things necessary to submerge themselves in the culture that is University of Maryland. Then again there is the third year student that needs to finish their last 30 credits and wants a certain major that comes to UMD hoping to commute and not fully invest in the Terp culture. Both students are transfers but are looking for different things out of the University and are willing to put in different amounts to their personal experience.
And then there is me. I transferred after two years from graduating high school. I spent one year as a freshman at a small school in LA, Occidental College (no… I didn’t go there by accident) then came home and took classes at the University of Memphis for a semester and followed that with a semester completely off to travel. So I arrived at Maryland feeling like a Junior, academically a Sophomore and confused like a freshman. For me, I was ready for a traditional college experience but knew I would have a different path.
I wanted to emerge myself in Maryland culture as quickly as I could so that by the end of my two or three years, I could truly say I was a Terp! I enjoyed my transfer orientation day and my advisor so knew that being an Orientation Advisor would be great for getting to know Maryland and making friends. Then I found Maryland Images (tour guides) and that’s working out great! There is a ton of ways to meet people and get involved even if you’re a semester or year or two late in the game. The opportunities exist; you just have to commit yourself to finding them and making your Maryland experience special for yourself.
So as you can see, there’s no clear cut line. Some transfers immediately make the transition whether they are second semester freshman or juniors. Then some chose to keep their distance from this great University. It’s up to them. I feel like I WAS a transfer but now I bleed gold and black in addition to red. I am part of the Terp nation. So ya, I didn’t experience freshman life on North Campus, but I jumped into the Maryland culture and have made myself as much a part of The University of Maryland as Testudo is, and the best part is… So Can You!