Being a transfer student can come with its disadvantages, especially when one is trying to figure out what to do with themselves for the rest of their life. This is what makes the transfer process from one college to another so vital: it’s a turning point in a student’s life that will have a domino effect on everything that happens to them afterwards. Therefore, it is important that every student has all of the information, guidance, and tools in their disposal before they even consider making the jump to a new college.
I, for one, struggled to find out a number of things which delayed my transfer process. I didn’t know anything about tuition costs, any recommendations on how many credits I should take before transferring, or even that I could take credits at the community college to count towards my bachelor’s degree after obtaining my associates degree. These are things I had to research on my own. It shouldn’t be this way. One can easily miss these important bits of information. Because of my confusion about transferred credits, I ended up taking a semester off because I simply didn’t know if I should take more credits at my community college and when I should transfer them — let alone knowing what colleges would be best for me based on credits I gathered so far. This added to my anxiety and depression at the time, as I felt completely lost on my college path.
Joseph Torres is a student at CUNY-Hunter College, and a Spring 2021 Young Advocate with YI-New York.