Transfer Student Blog

by Kathryn Rawlings – Associate Director New Student Orientation – Wayne State University

Congratulations on your admission to Wayne State University! Next stop? Orientation!

The most common question (and sometimes statement) I hear from incoming transfer students is “Do I have to go to Orientation? What happens if I don’t?”

Answer part 1: Yes you do.

Answer part 2: Your face falls off.

Just kidding about part 2. Your face won’t actually fall off if you don’t attend an orientation session. But you will miss out on a lot of information. Information that

We designed the program with you in mind. We KNOW you’ve already attended some college or university in your lifetime. We KNOW you know things like the importance of your student ID and that you should be checking that Wayne State email account at least once or twice a week before you start classes.

But, did you know that our transfer students come in with an average of 56 transferable credit hours?

With that information alone, we created a career block during the Orientation program. You can already see the light at the end of the tunnel so you need to get plugged in to our career offices and support programs for those of you considering one of our professional programs.

The first-year students don’t get that piece at Orientation.

You also know that there are resources on campus to support your transition and success here. We just want you to know what they’re called here at WSU so you can quickly access them.

Transferring from Macomb? You may have worked with the Special Services office there. At Wayne State, you should work with the Student Disability Services office.

Transferring from Washtenaw Community College? You may have worked with the Career Transitions office there. At Wayne State, you could work with Career Services, Career Planning and Placement or Engineering Career Services. OR you could work with our Pre-med and Health Center.

Transferring from any institution? You’ll have to access our parking and transportation in a different way.

Finally, we see that our transfer students want to make new friends and connect with other students. Are you going to do a cheesy icebreaker? Probably not. But we do want you to meet other incoming students who may also be in your classes. Just so you know you’re not alone – in fact, more than 1,700 transfer students attended orientation during the 2019 academic year.

So do yourself a favor and invest a few hours on one day to learn more about the university where you’ll be spending lots of time and money (we’ve got a Starbucks, afterall). Our Orientation Leaders will be there and are current students who can answer loads of questions about Wayne State – the resources, the culture and, of course, the food!

Reserve your spot online at wayne.edu/orientation. I’ll see you on campus soon!

Katie Rawlings is the Associate Director of New Student Orientation at Wayne State University

So, you decided to start at a community college. I am currently meeting with a lot of students that are in their first semester at a community college and want to get an early start on transfer planning.  Here are some tips you should know when in your first semester at a community college. I was going to make this a quick read. But, I have been meeting with so many transfer students that graduated from high school last spring I ended up with a lot more than I anticipated.  Enjoy the blog!

Am I taking the right courses?  There is very little you can be doing wrong right now as far as transferring your courses in first semester.  Keep it simple your first year.  General Education and pre-requisites are fine. 

I tested poorly and have to do some pre-requisites. You may have had to take some pre-requisites. This is no problem. It may put you back a little when you graduate. The important item is to be in the correct classes to get you into the classes you need.  

Do I need to decide on my transfer school right now?  No. I get students that want to transfer early. I am not a big fan of this.  The transfer process can usually give you at least 1-2 years of transfer credits. Some students want to transfer for winter semester with only 1 semester complete at their 2-year school.   This is far too early.   This is going to depend on what you major in. Secondary Admissions (Nursing, Pre-Med, Pre-Health) might want you to transfer early.

When should I apply to my 4-year school?  The application will usually open up about a year prior to you starting classes.  MAKE SURE TO APPLY TO THE YEAR YOU PLAN TO ATTEND YOUR FIRST CLASS AT YOUR NEXT SCHOOL.

Meet with your 2-year advisors.  Finally. Continue to meet with your 2-year school advisor and check in at the 4-year school.  Understand the Transfer Guide you are following.  Your advisor will do their best to get you where you want to go!

College Search Round 2?  It is not too late to do a college search, so if you want to start to visit some of your schools now is a great to at a second chance at this!  You will find you are not the only transfer student on tour.  Don’t let the letter jackets in attendance make you feel you are too old! You are right where you want to be.

I spend a lot of time thinking “What is attractive to a transfer student?” Why does a transfer student choose one institution over another? Transfer students have already made one smart decision by starting at a community college. And, make no mistake. Colleges still want you! Do you ever see a college representative sitting at a table in your cafeteria or hallway. That means they want to speak to you. Table visits are still the biggest way schools start the connection process with community college students. So stop by! But what is next? Transfer Open House, Coffee and Credits, Transfer Advisors visiting your campus, Transfer Tuesday (seems every school does this) ,or lots of phone calls gearing you to enroll. Everything is done to gear you to get started at that 4-year school. What is important to you to get started? Come up with this idea and you will be a fantastic leader in higher ed?

What did I want? Since every transfer student is different and come in so many different ways. I thought I would share my experience transferring. I never visited the school I attended. I never had them evaluate my credits. I just liked the name. Never met an advisor. There is no amount of info sessions or reaching out that school could do to get me to start. I was focused on college classes. We often forget that transfer students are already in college level courses. Some work. So, doing all that extra stuff isn’t always possible. I’ve jotted down what was important to me:

• I wanted to be admitted directly to the business program. I remember being angry when I was admitted and I was put as Undeclared.
• I did not want to take anything but business courses. Did not happen.
• Price. A lot of my decision was based on the bottom line. I’m the kind of person that will go to the school because they waived the app. fee.
• I wanted to get away. But, not too far away. I think of other schools that try and recruit transfer students from a much longer distance.
• I figured I would really figure the rest out when I got there! Which I did and you will too!

It’s back to school time for Transfer Students! Some fall ’19 students are still considering starting at a 2-year or a 4-year. This next blog will be good for you if you are still deciding.

I haven’t posted in a while so I wanted to do a quick one on what happens with University Specific Gen-Eds. Remember when you start at a University, you are going to do that schools general education. If you decide to transfer to another school you will be going into that schools general education. Which will be different than your current school. This difference can be course related and group related. For example: Wayne State offers a course called “Detroit by the numbers” This will fulfill the Math requirement for Gen-Eds at Wayne. If you took that class and decided to transfer to most other schools. It would be unlikely that another school will have a class like that.

The group difference is that you are taking the courses to fulfill the gen-ed group at your school. Another school will have a different group. The courses to fulfill gen-eds varies from each school, although there usually some overlap.

I try to do these blogs based on a lot of the conversations that I am currently having with students. University Specific Gen-Eds is something most students figure out the hard way. If you are thinking of transferring, it is usually best to start at a community college. The courses there are more generally accepted at other schools.

My next blog will be looking at the Fall 2020 students. Let’s get planning!

For many reasons students decide to transfer from a four-year school to another four-year school. This can happen at any point and for any reason. It’s actually easier that many think, but does require some careful thought and planning. The largest issue that arises between transferring four-year schools is that you are trying to transfer one set curriculum to another schools curriculum. If you are staying in the same major, a major at one school will look different than another schools program. Here is some guidance on what to do if you are thinking of applying to a different four-year school.

1-Prior to starting at your original school. Ask yourself if this is the place I want to be for the next 4 years? Is this the right fit for me? Do your research take the tours. Meet people prior to enrolling.

2-Consider doing a semester at a four-year school. There is nothing wrong with going back to a 2-year school for a semester or more. This can be help with costs and may open you up to scholarship eligibility at your next school. Very little scholarship money is given to four-year transfers. Moving from one 4-year to another can put a lot of stress on your cost and loans.

2A) Consider doing a semester at a four-year school. Each four-year school has different general education. Transfer back to the four-year school for the MTA. The MTA can “equalize” general education. Transfer your four-year credits to a four-year school. Finish up the MTA and look at possible transfer plans. I strongly recommend this option. Especially for the MTA.

3) Make sure that this is what you really want to do. Make sure you are doing this for the right reasons. Is this decision progressing you toward your educational goals? Make sure you finish out at your school and maybe you can make the decision later.

4) Could your college change be satisfied when you go to grad school? If you are just desiring a change. Remember the graduate school option. You can still get a great experience through graduate school.

The original MACRAO transfer agreement is prepared to sunset this month. Replaced by The Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) in 2014. These two worked as simultaneous transfer options until now. Thankfully, now we only one transfer agreement, I have some final thoughts on MACRAO vs. MTA.

First off. MACRAO was good. Some students could get by with MACRAO without taking a math. Big selling point to some. You now have to take two sciences and a math. With MACRAO, you could get by with eight credits of Science. The biggest problem with MACRAO was it’s name. No one knew what MACRAO was. What is MACRAO? It is the Michigan Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers? Now deemed the MTA is is much more clear to students on what it is. FYI, MACRAO the group is still alive in well. I will be attending the MACRAO summer summit in June. Besides the name, the biggest problem with the MTA was that 4-year schools were not accepting it as it should and covering general education courses. Schools were doing part of their gen-eds or certain sections of the gen-eds. MTA is more streamline. It is easier to follow. It is good! It will continue to help many students just like MACRAO did.

I will discuss more about MTA in upcoming posts. Especially when I speak about 4-year transfers.

https://www.macrao.org/Publications/MTA.asp

What is the Wayne Advantage-Macomb program? Is it an articulation? Is it Direct Admit? What’s the advantage? I came to Wayne State in 2016 to coordinate this dual enrollment program between WSU and Macomb Community College. I believe the intentions of this agreement was to be a direct admit program to Wayne State. I do see interest in this program as a direct admit. But, the most interest I have had is from students to use WA-Macomb as an advising and registration tool. I spent my first year at Wayne State clearing up many of the misconceptions of how a consortium program like this works.

WA-Macomb allows students to take classes at both institutions during the semester. Keeping their access to WSU even if a student decides to leave WSU completely for a term. This also Allows a student to split financial aid between two schools and save on tuition with Macomb’s rates.

The best way to describe Wayne Advantage-Macomb is that is a single admissions/dual enrollment program. WA-Macomb can be used with your transfer plan, associates degree, guest pass, or articulation agreement. Students use this program at many different times whether it’s coming in as a freshman, starting at WSU and going back to Macomb, or deciding to start the transfer process a little earlier than normal. Furthermore, WA-Macomb is great tool for advisors. This program keeps your access to Wayne State. Which keeps your access to your academic advisor at Wayne State. Wayne State uses appointment setting software called AdvisingWorks. A student can continue to make appointments with your WSU advisor. This is a transfer plan in Overdrive!!

For more information about WA-Macomb
https://wayne.edu/transfer/wayne-advantage-macomb/

I have been following the #endccstigma campaign on Twitter. I found out about this program when Insidehighered.com wrote an article about the #Endccstigma campaign. Steve Robinson the President of Owens Community College in Toledo Ohio started this program and I have no doubt that it will be successful. It is new and exciting that a college is now truly understanding the feelings that many students have and facing it HEAD ON. This program is another way to promote community colleges and the price tag/experience comes with. An opposition would say that students need that 4-year university experience. 2-year schools are now offering more than ever at a fantastic discount. The 4-year experiences is a wonderful thing. Students loans and the interest they accrue is a different experience all together.

Best wishes to Owens. More press will come as other 2-year schools and transfer friendly 4-year schools will start to understand this stigma. This is an opportunity to speak to students starting at their institution and find the reasons they are there. For now, at least there is a name to this stigma and we can start to combat it. #endccstigma

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/02/18/community-college-presidents-campaign-against-stigma-about-two-year

In December I attended the Academic Impressions conference in New Orleans on transfer student retention. I was excited to get to New Orleans and meet some people with similar roles as I. During the conference I picked up that most schools face similar challenges as far as recruitment and retention of transfer student. Community Colleges are going through mega enrollment changes and this is affecting most four-year colleges. I felt good that many of the ideas that other schools were trying and considering were already being used at Wayne State.  For example joining a University Center and the support initiatives that are transfer specific.

What I did pick up is that schools are more than ever trying to engage transfer students after they have arrived at their schools. Whereas in the past most engagement is in the terms leading up to enrollment. Ideas like learning communities, specific clubs and offices for transfer students are trending at schools that have the resources to manage them.

The program I coordinate is the Wayne Advantage-Macomb program. This is a dual enrollment program with Macomb Community College. I will blog more about it in my next post. I wanted to get an idea of other schools that were doing something like this. Prior to my trip I researched schools in Louisiana that had a similar program. No success. Unfortunately I left New Orleans with no new ideas on better coordinating a consortium program. I even brought it up to a VP or Enrollment at another school and they said “Their school would never go for something like that.” Fortunately I do know that Wayne State is on the cutting edge of most transfer student initiatives. Warriors truly are transfer friendly!

Welcome to the Transfer Student Blog! Your guide to transferring colleges. Are you considering starting at a two-year school versus a four-year school? Or, do you have past credits that you think can be applied toward a degree? There is no exact recipe to transferring. Experiences and process will change from person to person and school to school and program to program. This blog was created for transfer students. We will be exploring conversations, tips and all things transfer related.