Beginning Again: Insight on Transferring and Transferring Students
- Gabriella Valentin
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Regarding advice to other students Victor Chavez, a student graduating from Wright this spring, said, “Make the most out of your time here. Like if you are always sitting in the back of the class or you’re always going home after you finish classes I'd say to stick around for a bit and explore or just meet some new people.”
Graduation is here as students celebrate the ceremony on Saturday at the Wintrust Arena and the last day of classes is on Thursday for most students. Graduating can be an exciting but also a scary time because what's next after time spent at Wright is completely a student’s choice. Transferring to a 4-year university is commonly the choice of many in the pursuit of furthering their education. Transferring is a big decision and requires a lot of research, planning, and hard work. Wright Times interviewed graduating and transferring students to get their input and advice on transferring and gathered information on transferring to inform any future graduates who are interested in the process.
Transferring this year, Samantha Vargas, shared she is thinking of transferring to either UIC or Northeastern. She shared that she is considering UIC specifically because it is close and because of the community. Vargas shared that she is drawn to the demographics of the school. She explained that there are more Hispanic people and that she feels more comfortable with people of her community. She revealed that her cousin went to UIC and has been helping her and giving her advice on the school.
Chavez said, “Even though it makes me nervous, I’m excited to start on a blank canvas and get to start from the beginning again.”
Chavez said he is waiting to hear back from UIUC and IIT. He is majoring in mechanical engineering. He said that he has always been interested in how things work and how to fix them. Chavez shares that the biggest aspects in choosing where to transfer to are finances, resources, transportation, and environment.
Sean Ogilvy shared how he is transferring to Amherst College in Massachusetts, a prestigious school that is ranked second in the best national liberal arts colleges. Ogilvy is majoring in English literature.
“The pursuit of an English degree is not so much for the pursuit of a career. I just really love English literature. I love literature in general. And so the process of studying it is the reward for me,” Ogilvy said.
Ogilvy explains how he has loved literature since he was a child. Later on, he started to struggle in school and associated school with literature, so he fell out of reading. He got back into reading when he was around 16 or 17.
Ogilvy revealed that Susan Calabrese, director of the Advising and Transferring center, helped him with the transferring process. He states that Calabrese had encouraged him to apply to more prestigious schools when, to him, it had felt like “a shot in the dark”.
He also credits English Professor Michael Petersen, who runs the honors lit classes, as having had a huge impact on him in this process. He refers to Petersen as a mentor and a great friend.
For Ogilvy, Petersen's classes and extracurricular opportunities helped him in distinguishing himself and his passion. He said that Petersen encouraged him and helped him become himself academically by giving his students freedom to choose what interests they would like to write, read and learn about. Ogilvy also credits The Great Book Student Society club which he is editor for. He explains that they would read and discuss literature and poems. The club opened him up to new interests like poetry. He said that great club members, time with Dr. Petersen and events such as their Banned Books event were his favorite memories at Wright.
“You have to find a thing that you are especially interested in. For me, that was literature. I made my entire life revolve around literature. You know, that's what it took for me. I don’t know if it’ll take that level of dedication for other students. I mean, maybe they're smarter than I am, but I had to be guided. I had to be guided by my passions. By things that I really cared deeply about. So if you can care deeply about something, that’s your best way forward. Follow that thing”, said Ogilvy, on his advice to future graduates and transferring students.
The Advising and Transferring Center here has multiple resources for students who are interested in transferring. The center has advisors who work with students in their progress and plans on transferring. The center also provides transfer guides, transfer newsletter, and calendar of events. Susan Calabrese, the director of the Advising and Transferring center, shared some insight for people interested in transferring. Calabrese went into detail how meeting with an advisor is the first and most important step. “Your advisor is helping you to plan your coursework semester by semester, and incorporating all those transfer requirements, making sure they’re taking the right courses that are going to allow them to be admitted to the major program and the university that they’re planning to attend,” Calabrese said.
Her advice to people who are planning to transfer is to start planning on day one and to meet with college advisors to start planning and take advantage of the opportunities here. There are workshops like “Planning to Transfer", which is for first year students as a transferring 101 guide. Then, if students are in their second year, there is a workshop called “Are You Ready to Transfer.” This workshop is seeing where you are in the process and connecting with universities as they are visiting this campus. These events are for students to get their questions answered and to connect with college representatives.
She also recommends applying for scholarships and any financial packages early. She says to check your emails and attend workshops to be on the lookout for any scholarship opportunities.
Now what if students are interested in transferring to a more prestigious school? Calabrese explained that doing your research and preparing early are the first steps. Students should be preparing at least a year in advance like looking at application deadlines, essay requirements and finding recommenders for a letter of recommendation.
Calabrese said, “Most of those schools do require letters of recommendation and that is one thing we also emphasize. Build a relationship with faculty, visiting them in office hours, getting to know them, letting them know who you are, so that when the time comes, you feel confident about asking one for that letter.”
