When I first transferred to SJSU, I was excited but nervous since I was moving to a new city and didn’t know anyone there. I was so used to being active and busy with my school, work, and volunteering that I did back home but moving to a new place was a whole other story. On top of that, I had to learn how to be independent and figure things out for myself, which was a learning curve since I am personally very family-oriented. Although I was excited to have received my associate degree in business at my community college, and I was glad I had made it this far, there are things people don’t mention about being a transfer student.
It personally took me about a year to finally find my own footing at campus and feel like my old self again. My first semester (Spring 2019) I was one of those students that focused solely on attending classes, going to work, and repeating the process, and that’s considering I lived a couple of blocks from campus. I will say, during this time it gave me time to take a breather from being constantly busy while also figuring out who I was independently. However, when the Fall semester came around, I knew I needed to make changes in my routine and be more open and present on campus.
A message to transfers is that it is hard because when you hear that you are transferring to a four year, you feel like you made it. However, it really is only the beginning of the journey for you. One must learn how the curriculum of the classes are at the new university, being ready to tackle these upper-division courses, and keeping yourself grounded. I highly encourage you all to find something, test out clubs, or just involve yourself on campus. If you are an introvert, like I sometimes am, feel free to use campus resources like CAPS or the gym (when it opens again) to open yourself up. If not, I guarantee other students and or friends would be more than happy to just listen, they might even be on the same boat as you.
More than happy to listen,
-Emily Acosta (VP of Membership & Recruitment