With the spring semester beginning, many IU students are returning to campus. However, approximately 1,000 transfer students are stepping onto campus for the first time, according to IU Office of Admissions.
Bailey Moss, associate director for transfer initiatives at the Office of First Year Experience Programs, said IU considers how transfer students’ needs are different than the needs of students coming to campus directly from high school. Moss said those considerations help shape the resources IU offers for transfers students.
“We recognize that transfer students are unique because they have already experienced being a college student and understand many of the demands already,” Moss said. “Our goal for transfer students is to help them learn about all what IU has to offer them so they can be successful from the beginning.”
To ensure transfer students can graduate on time, Moss suggests students utilize the credit transfer tool, a service that shows how courses taken at other universities can transfer to IU, and to speak to an advisor to continue their academic track with ease. Transfer students can join the Tau Sigma Honor Society, a national honor society for undergraduate transfer students who earned high academic achievement during their first term, and the Transfer Student Advisory Board, which allows transfer students to share experiences and ideas while serving in a leadership role. Moss also recommends checking the IU Mobile app and IU Event Calendar for Hoosier Experience program events specifically intended for transfer students.
“IU advertises social clubs through involvement fairs, flyers posted around campus and emails really well,” IU sophomore Hanna Tran said. “I am a firm believer that you get what you want out of IU with what you can offer. Therefore, a community of leaders, minorities and academic peers came (to me) easily because I was proactive in being integrated on and off campus.”
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Tran, a biology major with a pre-dental concentration, transferred from Ball State University to pursue more research, be a part of a bigger campus life, have more career and social opportunities and gain more independence and responsibility.
During the annual Welcome Week in the fall semester, Tran attended the Transfer Student Welcome event hosted by the First Year Experience Programs. At this event, students can meet the Transfer Student Welcome team and other transfer students. The First Year Experience Program also hosts other events throughout the school year, including a DeStress Fest and career development opportunities.
“Talking to local transfer students through attending events specifically for transferred students helped alleviate stress,” Tran said. “I gathered I was not the only one who had these innate feelings of change.”
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Jim Johnson, associate director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, said the Winter Involvement Fair is a great chance for transfer students to discover groups that may interest them, connect with other students and learn how to get involved. It will take place Jan. 18 at 5-8 p.m. at the Indiana Memorial Union and will feature more than 180 student organizations.
“Participation in student organizations is known to have a positive effect on retention, so students who get involved are more likely to persist and succeed academically,” Johnson said.
