<p>It has been officially decided that I will be transferring out of the small private liberal arts school I'm in now to the much bigger Ohio University (not to be confused with OSU). The acceptable reason being that OU has the meteorology program. The other reason being that I just hate it here. </p>
<p>First mistake was choosing to live with a high school friend who is completely antisocial. Some of that has rubbed off on me, and I partially blame myself for the lack of social life. Although to be fair to myself, I have tried to involve myself in numerous activities. Theatre, the radio station. All of the people involved in this have looked down on me like I'm some weird freak (I'm not. This is the kind of people at my school).. </p>
<p>Anyway, at OU I plan on being involved with the marching 110 from the beginning. In high school I was always involved in marching band and I made most of my friends that way. It's a huge time commitment, so besides my meteorology activities, I probably won't have much time right away to engage in other activities. I'm hopeful that marching band will be a good icebreaker to get me to be more social, like I was in high school. </p>
<p>But if anyone has any other tips or experiences transferring, I would welcome them. It's not too often that you get to start over. I just want to do it right this time!</p>
<p>This is what forums are for, asking questions pertinent to each individual.
I would like to hear some experiences too, without bumping an old thread. I’m transferring this year.</p>
<p>I would edge away from thinking of it as “starting over.” This is not a do over. You are about to embark on a completely different, and unique, experience-- complete with a new set of challenges in addition to the ones you faced at your old school.</p>
<p>I agree, But it’s kind of like starting over in the sense that it’s a new social environment, new place to live. And it’s a new chance to change how people perceive you!</p>
<p>Not trying to be a dick, but wasn’t the first time you went to college your fresh start? I mean I wouldn’t get you hopes up about making millions of friends if you couldn’t do it the first time. But, joining band does seem like a good option.</p>
<p>You could say that going to college as a freshmen was the “fresh start”, but sometimes you don’t know what you’re getting into or what the college is really like until you’ve been there for a while. Rooming with a high school friend was a bad idea, one that definitely set me back, at the new school this will not be an issue.
I don’t want to make it sound like its all the school’s fault and not mine, but this small private school is the cliquiest place i’ve ever seen. Jocks run the radio station, and overly snobbish artsy people with huge egos run the theatre department. I didn’t fit in with that, so i didn’t make many friends. I made a few, but not great ones. </p>
<p>when i transferred to a new high school (from private to public, ironically) I didn’t have trouble making friends. More people seemed to equal a greater diversity of people. </p>
<p>This time around i’m going from 4000 to 22,000</p>
<p>I guess the distinction to prepare yourself for is that you are not a freshman at your new school. You are not starting all over as a freshman, you are starting new as a sophomore or junior. I am about to finish my second year as a transfer student and I still mistakenly refer to my junior year as freshman year, because I was forever stuck not quite fitting in with the juniors and not quite fitting in with the freshmen, either. Was a junior but in terms of my relationship with the school I felt like a freshmen, in terms of my relationship with the school I was a freshman but way too mature and college-experienced to actually be one. Transfer students are really almost their own class. And while people do make tons of friends across graduation year boundaries, it can be something of a struggle anyway to not actually fit into any of the existing classes of kids. You don’t have that shared experience of having been there since the beginning, but you don’t have the shared experience of that school being your first exposure to college either-- you are stuck in the middle. Maybe you won’t have that problem, but that is part of what I was getting at when I said to make sure you realize this isn’t a do over. You don’t get to go back to start. You get to start over in the middle. I don’t think you ever get that “freshman year” experience again when it is your first year at a new school. And starting over at the middle can be extremely messy if you’re not prepared for it, and even if you are. A lot of colleges exacerbate this problem because the kind of programs they have for freshmen to get acclimated to the campus culture and get involved and meet each other are largely ignored for transfer students, who are often expected to hit the ground running as an upperclassmen without any of that preparation that the freshmen get. Like I said, you may not have this problem, especially if you click with the marching band, but it is an issue I have had and have heard about from others, as well.</p>
<p>And don’t get me wrong, I’ve made friends at my new school, but I am about to graduate and still don’t really feel like I am a part of this school. I only got two years to develop a relationship with it. I feel like I am still a freaking sophomore and college is OVER. And that certainly doesn’t make the transition into being emotionally ready for graduation any easier!</p>
<p>Your explanation made a lot of sense regarding starting new but not starting over. I will be going in as a sophomore. Maybe it is harder to transfer in as a junior? </p>
<p>My school does hold transfer orientation, and even living learning communities for transfer students. I’m not sure if I want to take advantage of that or not. OU is known for it’s party reputation, and I don’t want to end up with 3 roommates (suit style rooms) that come in drunk at 4am, so I have been considering a single. </p>
<p>Something that may help with the transition though, my cousin who is in my grade already goes there, and my younger cousin is most likely coming in as a freshmen. </p>
<p>Also, being part of the marching band means moving in a week earlier. The first 2 days of band training are freshmen/new students BEFORE returning students even arrive. That may help as well!</p>