Transferring universities: A unique admissions process
By Annabel Benjamin
Driving up the beautiful coast of California along the Pacific Coast Highway, Tal Abutbul, made her way to her new university, the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Filled with anticipation and excitement, she could not wait to continue her college career at a university she only dreamed of attending.
Abutbul is a third-year transfer student and sociology major at UCSB. Taking the more traditional transfer route, Abutbul decided to attend community college before transferring to a four-year university.
Beginning her education at Santa Monica College, Abutbul used this time to explore her options and her passions. “When I finished high school I didn’t know what I wanted” she said.
But, for Abutbul the transferring process had many challenges and when asked what the greatest benefit to transferring was she did not believe there were any.
“Getting used to the quarter system was very difficult, and getting used to the new environment as a whole was difficult” Abutbul reflected. She explained how the classes at her community college were easier and the system functioned differently, making the adjustment to UCSB difficult. “I also had a hard time making friends, initially,” she said.
As Abutbul’s experience exemplifies, being a transfer student presents many social and academic challenges that one might not face when entering a university as a college freshman, such as transferring university level credits and fulfilling pre-major requirements.
At UCSB the transfer student population makes up 33% of undergraduates. These students were granted admission with an average GPA of 3.80, proving that UCSB’s admissions process is highly competitive.
Situated on the pacific coast, the University of California, Santa Barbara has been ranked the eighth best public university by US News and World Report. As of 2018, UCSB had 16,842 transfer applicants. Only 23.5% of which were granted admission to the prestigious university.
An article by the Washington Post explains why so many students, 37.2%, are deciding to transfer universities, some even more than once, considering the rigor of the college admissions process.
“Over 50 percent of binding Early Decision applicants and the push towards Early Action applications, students are being forced into decisions that they might not otherwise be ready to make,” explains Brennan Barnard, a director for college counseling at Derryfild School in New Hampshire
Barnard suggests that it is the mindset of students in today’s world that has sparked this rise in transfer students.
For example, he explains how today’s youth are interconnected by technology and social media therefore remaining in contact with high school friends, even after going away to college. He says that this not only creates a false perception about their friend’s college life but also inhibits them from creating relationships in their new communities.
Student’s mindsets are also influenced by the pressure put on them from an early age. Barnard suggests parents attempt to protect their children leaves students have a “delayed adolescence”. In turn, they are unwilling “to persevere in the face of adversity.”
But overprotective parents often also pressure their children into making decisions they are unprepared for or unsure about. “Graduating high school students are often under the impression that they must know what they will do with their life” Barnard says.
McKenzie Smith is a second-year communication major and transfer student at UCSB. Unlike the 94% of UCSB transfer students who come from community colleges, Smith transferred from a four-year university.
Smith made the decision to transfer from Villanova University to UCSB only after a semester of attending the school, realizing that the small, religious community was not where she fit in. “I made friends quickly because of how small the school was, but I really did not click with any of them” she said “I could not see any of them being my life-long friends”
Smith’s experience exemplifies the reasons Barnard gives in the Washington Post as to why so many students transfer. She explained how she went to Villanova for business school, a degree she realized she did not want to pursue.
Like Barnard suggested, Smith also felt as if she was attempting to connect with her friends back home through social media, but their posts only made her feel more disconnected as she began to compare her perception of their experiences with her own.
Being from southern California, transferring to UCSB seemed like a comfortable choice Smith explained. “I am happy I took the risk to move across the country for college” she said “but I knew it was not the right community for me.”
Smith reflected positively on her transfer process explaining that although making friends with those who had already established relationships was difficult, she was able to find a support group by joining Greek life.
“I wanted to go to a big school with many students and create as many connections as possible” she said. The UCSB culture just seemed more like home to her and she explained how she was ready to move back to California.
Like Smith, Abutbul was also able to adapt to her new environment through the connections she made in the UCSB community. By getting to know her professors and teaching assistants she was able to find a passion for her major. And, by joining a sorority she explained that she quickly became part of a welcoming community of friends who helped her get accustomed to a new school.
“Don’t expect too much and just be yourself” she advises students who are transferring to a new university.
“It was the vibe, how everyone is so nice and friendly” she said when describing why she chose UCSB. She explains how it was the relaxed environment that helped make her decision to transfer to UCSB so easy. She was excited to live in a real college town, unlike her community college, and become fully immersed in the vibrant community.
An article published by US News and World Report explains that applying to four-year universities as a transfer may be even more difficult than applying as high-school student. “The acceptance rate for transfer students (64 percent), according to NACAC, is slightly lower than the acceptance rate of first-year students (69 percent),” the article states.
It explains that SAT and ACT scores are less important when transferring universities than when applying as a high school student and that grades are more highly weighted in the transfer process.
The article also suggests that transfers should be aware that some universities have more room for them than others. For example, larger public universities tend to accept more transfers than smaller private colleges do.
It also important for transfers to apply to school that are “transfer friendly,” that have coordinators, housing, and programs specific to transfer students, the article hints.
UCSB is a transfer friendly school with a “Transfer Student Center” that has academic advisors, peer mentors and workshops to help ease their transition to the university and help them get on track to graduate. “The Center provides a place for transfer students to study, meet other students, talk with peer mentors, and build a shared community of support and learning” the UCSB Transfer Student Center website reads.
Lezli Ballesteros, a peer-educator at the Transfer Student Center, says that being a transfer is “a very unique experience” with challenges but also advantages such as having a different perspective on college life and having developed academic goals, which many freshman have not.
“Transfer students seem more excited and take full advantage of their time here because they have less time to explore” she says.
She explains that one of the greatest challenges for transfers is finding their own community on a campus as large as UCSB. They are often in need of a support system and a place where they feel comfortable and as if they belong.
The Transfer Student Center is meant to function as a comfortable and open space, Ballesteros explains. Everyone there can relate to the challenges a student may be facing in their new environment. “It is a good space to come when you are overwhelmed because you can find someone to give you reassurance. To know you are not alone”, she says.
Ballesteros also mentioned the resources available to transfer students at UCSB, aside from the physical space available at the center. There is a mentorship program helping transfer navigate their resources and events such as the first-generation forum, allowing students from similar backgrounds to come together and form a community.
“We offer specific sessions for transfer students throughout the year and we also host community college info sessions and tours specifically for students going through the transfer process” says Mitchell Wright, a tour guide for the Gaucho Tour Association.
Wright explains that there are much fewer transfer applicants than freshman applicants therefore UCSB approaches welcoming transfer students in a more specialized way. For example, Wright says that when giving tours to transfer applicants he makes sure to emphasize the student resources available to them.
“While UCSB does base admissions off of a 50% 50% academic to nonacademic scale, there is a slightly greater emphasis on the academic side of the transfer student application,” Wright explains. But transfer students also tend to focus more on academics when applying to colleges and Wright says that the majority of questions he gets from transfers tend to be about that.
“The people around you can truly shape your experience in college and I think that the student body here at UCSB is incredibly supportive, which can make the adjustment of transferring smoother” Wright says, “I think they are eager to take advantage right away of the opportunities here.”
Both Tal Abutbul and McKenzie Smith have done so, allowing them to assimilate themselves into the UCSB culture by making many connections with those around them and making the most out of every experience they have.
Abutbul is a third-year transfer student and sociology major at UCSB. Taking the more traditional transfer route, Abutbul decided to attend community college before transferring to a four-year university.
Beginning her education at Santa Monica College, Abutbul used this time to explore her options and her passions. “When I finished high school I didn’t know what I wanted” she said.
But, for Abutbul the transferring process had many challenges and when asked what the greatest benefit to transferring was she did not believe there were any.
“Getting used to the quarter system was very difficult, and getting used to the new environment as a whole was difficult” Abutbul reflected. She explained how the classes at her community college were easier and the system functioned differently, making the adjustment to UCSB difficult. “I also had a hard time making friends, initially,” she said.
As Abutbul’s experience exemplifies, being a transfer student presents many social and academic challenges that one might not face when entering a university as a college freshman, such as transferring university level credits and fulfilling pre-major requirements.
At UCSB the transfer student population makes up 33% of undergraduates. These students were granted admission with an average GPA of 3.80, proving that UCSB’s admissions process is highly competitive.
Situated on the pacific coast, the University of California, Santa Barbara has been ranked the eighth best public university by US News and World Report. As of 2018, UCSB had 16,842 transfer applicants. Only 23.5% of which were granted admission to the prestigious university.
An article by the Washington Post explains why so many students, 37.2%, are deciding to transfer universities, some even more than once, considering the rigor of the college admissions process.
“Over 50 percent of binding Early Decision applicants and the push towards Early Action applications, students are being forced into decisions that they might not otherwise be ready to make,” explains Brennan Barnard, a director for college counseling at Derryfild School in New Hampshire
Barnard suggests that it is the mindset of students in today’s world that has sparked this rise in transfer students.
For example, he explains how today’s youth are interconnected by technology and social media therefore remaining in contact with high school friends, even after going away to college. He says that this not only creates a false perception about their friend’s college life but also inhibits them from creating relationships in their new communities.
Student’s mindsets are also influenced by the pressure put on them from an early age. Barnard suggests parents attempt to protect their children leaves students have a “delayed adolescence”. In turn, they are unwilling “to persevere in the face of adversity.”
But overprotective parents often also pressure their children into making decisions they are unprepared for or unsure about. “Graduating high school students are often under the impression that they must know what they will do with their life” Barnard says.
McKenzie Smith is a second-year communication major and transfer student at UCSB. Unlike the 94% of UCSB transfer students who come from community colleges, Smith transferred from a four-year university.
Smith made the decision to transfer from Villanova University to UCSB only after a semester of attending the school, realizing that the small, religious community was not where she fit in. “I made friends quickly because of how small the school was, but I really did not click with any of them” she said “I could not see any of them being my life-long friends”
Smith’s experience exemplifies the reasons Barnard gives in the Washington Post as to why so many students transfer. She explained how she went to Villanova for business school, a degree she realized she did not want to pursue.
Like Barnard suggested, Smith also felt as if she was attempting to connect with her friends back home through social media, but their posts only made her feel more disconnected as she began to compare her perception of their experiences with her own.
Being from southern California, transferring to UCSB seemed like a comfortable choice Smith explained. “I am happy I took the risk to move across the country for college” she said “but I knew it was not the right community for me.”
Smith reflected positively on her transfer process explaining that although making friends with those who had already established relationships was difficult, she was able to find a support group by joining Greek life.
“I wanted to go to a big school with many students and create as many connections as possible” she said. The UCSB culture just seemed more like home to her and she explained how she was ready to move back to California.
Like Smith, Abutbul was also able to adapt to her new environment through the connections she made in the UCSB community. By getting to know her professors and teaching assistants she was able to find a passion for her major. And, by joining a sorority she explained that she quickly became part of a welcoming community of friends who helped her get accustomed to a new school.
“Don’t expect too much and just be yourself” she advises students who are transferring to a new university.
“It was the vibe, how everyone is so nice and friendly” she said when describing why she chose UCSB. She explains how it was the relaxed environment that helped make her decision to transfer to UCSB so easy. She was excited to live in a real college town, unlike her community college, and become fully immersed in the vibrant community.
An article published by US News and World Report explains that applying to four-year universities as a transfer may be even more difficult than applying as high-school student. “The acceptance rate for transfer students (64 percent), according to NACAC, is slightly lower than the acceptance rate of first-year students (69 percent),” the article states.
It explains that SAT and ACT scores are less important when transferring universities than when applying as a high school student and that grades are more highly weighted in the transfer process.
The article also suggests that transfers should be aware that some universities have more room for them than others. For example, larger public universities tend to accept more transfers than smaller private colleges do.
It also important for transfers to apply to school that are “transfer friendly,” that have coordinators, housing, and programs specific to transfer students, the article hints.
UCSB is a transfer friendly school with a “Transfer Student Center” that has academic advisors, peer mentors and workshops to help ease their transition to the university and help them get on track to graduate. “The Center provides a place for transfer students to study, meet other students, talk with peer mentors, and build a shared community of support and learning” the UCSB Transfer Student Center website reads.
Lezli Ballesteros, a peer-educator at the Transfer Student Center, says that being a transfer is “a very unique experience” with challenges but also advantages such as having a different perspective on college life and having developed academic goals, which many freshman have not.
“Transfer students seem more excited and take full advantage of their time here because they have less time to explore” she says.
She explains that one of the greatest challenges for transfers is finding their own community on a campus as large as UCSB. They are often in need of a support system and a place where they feel comfortable and as if they belong.
The Transfer Student Center is meant to function as a comfortable and open space, Ballesteros explains. Everyone there can relate to the challenges a student may be facing in their new environment. “It is a good space to come when you are overwhelmed because you can find someone to give you reassurance. To know you are not alone”, she says.
Ballesteros also mentioned the resources available to transfer students at UCSB, aside from the physical space available at the center. There is a mentorship program helping transfer navigate their resources and events such as the first-generation forum, allowing students from similar backgrounds to come together and form a community.
“We offer specific sessions for transfer students throughout the year and we also host community college info sessions and tours specifically for students going through the transfer process” says Mitchell Wright, a tour guide for the Gaucho Tour Association.
Wright explains that there are much fewer transfer applicants than freshman applicants therefore UCSB approaches welcoming transfer students in a more specialized way. For example, Wright says that when giving tours to transfer applicants he makes sure to emphasize the student resources available to them.
“While UCSB does base admissions off of a 50% 50% academic to nonacademic scale, there is a slightly greater emphasis on the academic side of the transfer student application,” Wright explains. But transfer students also tend to focus more on academics when applying to colleges and Wright says that the majority of questions he gets from transfers tend to be about that.
“The people around you can truly shape your experience in college and I think that the student body here at UCSB is incredibly supportive, which can make the adjustment of transferring smoother” Wright says, “I think they are eager to take advantage right away of the opportunities here.”
Both Tal Abutbul and McKenzie Smith have done so, allowing them to assimilate themselves into the UCSB culture by making many connections with those around them and making the most out of every experience they have.