Eleanor Roosevelt College junior Kenny Kraisornkowit found UCSD to be a new beginning. Thurgood Marshall College junior Simon Huang did not.
The two transfer students lie on separate ends of the collegiate experience spectrum, but Huang personifies findings of a national study on transfer students.
Indiana University’s National Survey of Student Engagement found that both two-year and four-year college transfer students tend to participate less in educationally enriching activities, and had “fewer interactions with faculty.”
According to the study’s associate director Jillian Kinzie, transfers aren’t taking advantage of opportunities when they move schools.
Outreach resources such as clubs and orientations should focus on increasing engagement to curb the concerning levels of dissatisfaction among transfer students, Kinzie said.
“The pattern of results shows that transfers are less engaged across some important areas of effective educational practices … related to high levels of learning and personal development,” NSSE Director George Kuh said.
Kuh also said that college may benefit transfer students less than other students.
“It’s hard to know for sure [why the results are the way they are] and not all transfer students are less engaged,” Kuh said.
Overall, transfers have fewer enriching experiences, such as studying abroad, mostly because it has to be planned in advance, Kuh said.
The disruption caused by transferring to a different environment may prevent a student from being involved in meaningful ways, the study reported.
“I don’t want to study abroad yet because I want to know the campus better,” said Huang, a transfer from De Anza College in San Jose.
Although he is satisfied with UCSD, Huang said he finds it difficult to build relationships with professors.
“I had great relationships with instructors at De Anza,” Huang said. “Now that I’ve left I have to find new faculty members to build relationships with. It’s like starting over and I’m only going to be here for two more years.”
For Kraisornkowit, who first attended UC Riverside and then transferred to Mount San Antonio College before coming to UCSD, lack of time prevents him from participating in university programs.
“ERC has so many [general] requirements that I have to take care of first,” Kraisornkowit said. “But if I were at Muir or Marshall, I’d take advantage of it because I’d have more time.”
Otherwise, Kraisornkowit is satisfied with UCSD, and disagreed with the study’s findings that transferring schools makes college involvement more difficult.
“I feel more accepted here than at UC Riverside and Mount SAC,” he said. “At UCSD, I thought of it as a new start to be more social.”
Sixth College junior Shuli Lau said she thinks that transfer students can be more involved if they try.
“If you put yourself to it you won’t miss out on things,” she said. “It just takes some time. Compared to freshmen, we have to do it on our own. We’re trying to get used to a new environment.”
All three students said they felt that UCSD is accommodating to transfers.
“For ERC, they send you e-mails about transfer get-togethers.” Kraisornkowit said. “The school gives you ample opportunity to benefit from college.”
Lau said that events for transfer students were an effective way to socialize, while Huang found orientation the most helpful because it showed students the locations of buildings on campus.
Earl Warren College, which enrolls the largest transfer student population on campus, uses the Warren Transfer and Commuter Commission to integrate transfers into the UCSD community through programmed events and transfer orientation. One-third of the commission’s members are transfers, with two positions available for transfer students next quarter, according to WTCC Chair Erik Ward.
“It gives transfers a place to come and meet,” Ward said of WTCC’s events. “While freshmen get the [dorm] life experience, transfers get one orientation and that’s it. [WTCC] allows them to meet and be social in a context that is not forced.”
