Every college student has a different experience from the next one. Whether the students are in their first or fourth year, live on campus or off, join campus activities or not, students’ college paths contrast from one another.
While each student across all colleges in the world has their fair share of experiences, the transfer student experience is one that tends to be discussed quite often. Transfer students have many different reasons for their decision to transfer, and similar to other students who aren’t transfers, their experiences are not one and the same.
On Rowan University’s campus in particular, that is no exception. For English major Allyson Chloe Berona, 24, she transferred in last spring after previously attending Rutgers University-Camden, where she was a nursing major.
“I came here because of the convenience, and because my fiancé also goes to school here. It made for an easy choice,” said Berona.
Berona also shared how she feels that Rowan University feels more community-oriented, safer, and better connected between the institution and the students compared to her previous institution.
“This campus, in comparison, feels a lot safer and more community-based than that campus. I also love how my advisors actually respond to me, and I feel that we get a lot of help from the actual college resources rather than being left on read,” said Berona.
Alyssa Malyuk, 20, an advertising major who previously attended Michigan State University, also feels that Rowan is a tight community, something she noticed prior to her transfer. But before noticing this, Malyuk mentioned that education was a major factor in her transfer.
“I felt like I wasn’t getting as good an education. My classes were much bigger there, which made it hard to form connections with professors,” said Malyuk.
Malyuk also felt that, as an out-of-state student who resides in North Jersey, Michigan State was not the right fit for work and internship opportunities.
“I also lacked opportunities that were convenient, like internships, especially because I was an out-of-state student and a lot of those opportunities were based around East Lansing in Michigan,” said Malyuk.
Shortly after being at Rowan, Malyuk felt that the community was much stronger than her previous institution and found that to be a better experience than what she had.
“I think Rowan is a tighter-knit community. Professors here care about all their students, and I feel like my education has been super beneficial,” said Malyuk.
Another Rowan student shared quite a different perspective as to why she transferred. Ava Fisher, a 19-year-old biological sciences major, transferred in early August of this year and previously attended East Carolina University (ECU), where she played Division I softball. Fisher also shared the impact mental health had on her transfer.
“I had committed to East Carolina my junior year of high school, and once I got to ECU last year, I was feeling very homesick, and my mental health wasn’t great because of how far I was from the people who meant everything to me,” said Fisher.
It is not uncommon for college students to experience some sort of homesickness while they are away; it’s also quite common for this to occur during the first year of college.
But since her transfer, Fisher has seen a more positive impact on her experience compared to where she previously attended.
“My experience has been nothing but positive at Rowan since I transferred. I can’t thank the Rowan Softball coaching staff enough for making this transition as easy as possible and reminding me why I play softball,” said Fisher.
With college comes many different experiences on so many different levels. For transfer students, they may feel like they are outsiders as they have not had the opportunity to attend the school they go to for the full time, but even with this in mind, there are some students who feel as if they were already there and a part of a rapidly growing community.
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