To those who have transferred from another college to WashU, what was your experience?
- How did academics compare? Harder? Easier?
- Why did you make this decision?
- Was the transfer process easy?
- How quickly did you get acclimated to campus?
I transferred to WashU as a sophomore after a year at a small liberal arts school. Academically, the transition was relatively easy for me. I actually found the academics at WashU to be easier than my previous school because I was able to mix discussion based classes with few large lecture classes, which generally have a smaller work load. This is obviously anecdotal, but I would say most of the people in my transfer class had a relatively easy academic transition. There are several academic resources at WashU, which also help many people with this transition.
I decided to transfer because my previous school was too small for me, both academically and socially. It was a tough choice for me to leave, but absolutely the best decision I have ever made. With that said, I think WashU, as an institution, generally handles transfers terribly. Res life rarely offers appropriate housing for transfers (with the Covid situation I imagine it will be even worse). I was initially placed in housing that was a mile from campus and the only other sophomore in the building was my roommate (also a transfer). We moved after about two weeks, but it was a torturous experience trying to get res life to put us into sophomore housing on the 40. The housing issues continues to be a big problem for transfers, because it is very difficult to make friends when you aren’t put into campus housing. There is also very little support for transfers after orientation. The First Year Center is technically in charge of that, but they are a complete disaster and can’t be bothered to deal with transfers.
On a more positive note, I think that transfers generally are very successful at WashU (I say that not only as a transfer student myself, but as someone who worked with many transfers through my campus job and knows almost every transfer who has come to WashU in the past 3 years). If you are willing to advocate for yourself and put yourself out there, it is very possible to acclimate to campus quickly. There are lots of large clubs that transfers join that give them an immediate friend group. For me it took about a semester to feel totally acclimated, joining greek life in the spring was a great thing for me in terms of making more friends.
WashU is a really wonderful school over all, I just graduated and already miss it! Transferring is not easy, but I think if you are doing it for the right reasons you will not regret it!