Transfer Students: the transition is difficult but worth it

John Washington is a Journalism senior and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.

The transfer student experience is a stark departure from community colleges or other four-year universities. Being dropped into a new environment is never easy and often lonely. Transferring schools is unlikely to be a smooth transition for anyone, but with some patience and effort, you will find you made the right choice in coming to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

According to The San Luis Obispo Tribune, Cal Poly accepted 956 transfer students this year, a 10% increase from the 2023-24 year. Many of these students come from the nearby Cuesta and Allan Hancock Colleges and have the safety net of already living nearby, but even that fact cannot eliminate the frustrations that arise for transfers.

To start, the academic side has two problems built into one. Most schools use the semester system, meaning the change to quarters will cause you to lose some earned credits amid the switch.

As a result, you may be playing catch up in addition to dealing with what I call “quarter system fatigue,” which infects many due to increased schedule density.

The spring quarter is almost predetermined to be hell, so prepare, assuming you do not have any motivation left. Then, there are the issues of finding housing and employment, which lead to a pile-on as students are expected to have a career plan simultaneously. 

Term lengths shrinking through the process of transferring means you can no longer afford a bad stretch before recovering your grades at the end of the semester. Consequently, building a routine early is essential to juggle each facet of your life that changed since day one at your new school.

There’s simply less wiggle room to play with. The quarter system means you can get more classes in but at the expense of feeling like they’re flying right past you.

But beyond all that, the social aspect is the leading challenge. For transfer students, the comfort of feeling a sense of belonging is harder to come by, and with two fewer years to adjust, you constantly feel like you are falling behind.

When you show up on campus for the first day of classes, almost everyone you meet already has established social circles. Initially, this fact left me feeling isolated and reluctant to interact, always fearing I would be putting myself somewhere I was not wanted.

But however intimidating that scenario might seem to you, the reality is a lot less scary: college students are always willing to make new friends and are often eager to introduce more people to their clubs, intramural sports teams or sororities/fraternities. 

For those who are more fearful of putting themselves out there, the social growing pains of the first few months can be alleviated by simply saying yes and showing up. Hundreds of clubs are always looking for new members.

These range from professional clubs to clubs whose purpose is simply indulging in a common interest with your peers, whether that be in mycology, unicycling, climbing, you name it. Most clubs accept members of any experience level, so it is the perfect place to see if you can spark an interest and make new friends.

These may seem more rigid than you would expect to build your friendships on, but the people you initially view simply as fellow club members can easily graduate to study buddies, close friends and even roommates.

You are not expected to figure this all out alone, either. You meet other transfers during the Week of Welcome, new student and transition programs are in place, and the Transfer Center on campus is open every weekday for all types of help (and free printing).

These resources are meant to lighten your load as you adjust to this new environment, so use them and be open to change from the jump. From there, everything else will prove you are at the right place.