Why Transferring Colleges Is Worth The Process Leading Up To It
Remember the oh-so dreaded college decision? Please, flashback to your senior year of high school.
Do you remember spending countless hours filling out the common app, baking cupcakes to convince your teachers to raise your average by one point and arguing with your guidance counselor that you want a school with spirit as opposed to a city school?
I mean, it’s a really big decision. This decision will ultimately dictate your job offerings, and maybe you’ll even find your husband or wife.
Flash to May 1, decision day. You chose your school, friended all these random people in hopes of one being remotely normal and stocked up on your sweatshirts.
But sometimes there comes a point in your freshman or maybe sophomore year, when you realize that this place may not be for you. Maybe you chose a school focused on sports and now want to be in a more urban environment, or maybe you realized that you have a different future in mind than the rest of your friends.
Whatever the issue may be, the decision to transfer may just be the most difficult decision of a college career.
1. Losing The Friends You Already Made
There comes a point where you’ll tell your friends about your decision to transfer. This part is never easy. It may be hard for you to tell them in the first place; however, the real difficulty comes after.
Once you tell your friends, some will urge you to stay. Some will miss you, and some will be upset that you’re leaving. A few will stop meeting you for Starbucks before class, and the others will stop texting you altogether.
On that note, this life lesson comes early to those who transfer. Although it's rough to see some of your “friends” walk out on you, it’s just a message that there are better people to come. If people walk out on you now, they could walk out on you in a couple of years.
Cherish the people that stayed by you because transferring is physically and mentally exhausting. If they’re your friend now, they’ll be your friend forever.
2. The Legitimate Paperwork
You don’t realize this in high school, but there’s a load of paperwork and red tape affiliated with transferring. Your school doesn’t want you to leave, so they make it especially difficult to transfer. You’ll probably need to go up and down 30 flights of stairs, cross campus, stamp this and that, email the admissions, etc.
It’s really annoying, but you truly figure out how to do things on your own and be self-sufficient, which will be worthwhile in the future when it comes to applying for internships and jobs.
3. The New School Itself
It’s time to get lost a trillion times, attend welcome week to hear the same thing you heard last year and make new friends. All of these things combined are scary and annoying.
You’re certainly not a freshman and don’t want to be treated like one, but you feel like you’re back at square one. You don’t want to have to sit in the library alone, or not have friends to eat with. Who wants to get lost again?
Just wait; there’s a reason for everything, and you’ll make friends and have great classes. Finding your way? That’s two days maximum. Soon enough, you’ll feel like your regular upperclassman self. Thank god.
4. Watching Life At Your Old School Go On Without You
When your old school starts, the “We Back” Instagrams start pouring in and your Snapchat story is filled with last night’s themed party, you start to wonder if you did the right thing.
Ugh, they’re friends now? Why are they leaving him out? These questions are all so relevant; you can even argue that they consume your daily thoughts. You start to question if you’ll have as much fun as your old friends, or even, if they remember you.
This goes to show that life goes on, and that’s okay. Your life is moving, too, so stop worrying about your past and focus on your future. There are great things to come.
Making the decision of where to go to college the first time is hard enough. Transferring may be even more difficult, but it has the potential to be the best decision you ever made.
Photo Courtesy: Tumblr
