National Transfer Student Week is recognized Oct. 21- 25 across the United States. IU accepts roughly 1,000 transfer students every year. Transfer students make up about 3% of all students who attend IU, according to the Office of Admissions.
IU has many ways for transfer students to get involved, said Lisa Young, Office of First Year Experiences associate director and Hoosier Link program coordinator.
All transfer students are welcome to attend events through the First Year Experience Program. For National Transfer Student Week, the office is inviting students to attend Fright Night Movie at 8 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Indiana Memorial Union's Whittenberger Auditorium and a Nitemare House event from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Oct. 25 at the Maxwell House.
“The events really help students feel welcome and it makes it easier to meet other students and share experiences,” said junior Lucas Chin, treasurer of Tau Sigma, a transfer-only honors society. Chin is a transfer student from Malaysia majoring in business, psychology and textiles through the individualized major program.
Transfer students were invited to attend a meet-and-greet Wednesday night in order to meet new people, interact with other transfer students and learn about more ways to get involved with the community on campus.
Izzy Disagostino is a transfer student from Marian University in Indianapolis, majoring in environmental management. Disagostino came to IU in January in the middle of her sophomore year.
Transferring mid-year was a little hard, she said, because everyone had already formed friendships. She missed out on making friends at IU freshman year.
“It made me realize that I should have come here all along,” she said.
Since coming to IU, the experience has been amazing, she said. Disagostino spent her summer on the Orientation Team, and is now a Hoosier Experience Program Assistant, a program that organizes events through the Office of First Year Experiences. She is also involved in the Environmental Management and Sustainable Development Association and the hiking club.
“Part of the reason I love college is because I love meeting people, but it can be hard to meet people if you aren’t here as a freshman,” Disagostino said.
Disagostino said she would tell transfer students they should dive in, because it’s easy to miss steps when you aren’t here freshman year.
Lela Thielking is a transfer student from Manchester University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She transferred in the fall of 2018 and is in her third semester at IU majoring in accounting.
She said her favorite part of IU is the faculty and how they make her interested in the subjects they’re teaching.
After coming from a small university, she said she was worried about how big the campus and the classes were, but now she doesn’t find the class sizes intimidating or scary.
“This is where I’m supposed to be,” Thielking said she thought when she first arrived at IU.
Transfer students are also invited to events organized during Welcome Week where they can meet other transfer students and get to know the campus guided by the Transfer Student Welcome Team, according to the Office of First Year Experiences’ website.
The office also organizes events throughout the year for students to come and meet each other, Young said.
“We really want to embrace and celebrate our transfer students and continue to grow our transfer community,” Young said.
