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[beccalynn2010]

For the advisors out there, I would love to get suggestions for a list I am compiling on common pitfalls for transfer students.  I am considering putting it together and providing it to our campus incoming transfer coordinators to send out.  Some of them I have thought of are:

1) Not researching the program they are transferring for.  From failure to look at the website and being aware of deadlines to not having a clue about policies and published curriculum, I have seen an increasing number of students coming in to meet with me who just haven't done any leg work, and are then excessively upset to find out that have missed a deadline (I advise in a competitive entry major), that their classes from former school won't necessarily meet our core, or that they don't have the GPA necessary to proceed.

2) Waiting until the last minute to transfer.  I have also seen an increasing number of students who decide to start the transfer process a month or less before classes start, and whom are then shocked by the limited availability of classes we can put them in when they get here.

3) Not reading their admissions letter.  Many students show up in my office having done none of the requirements admissions puts one them before I can advise and register them (turning in immunization records, submitting final transcripts, completing the online transfer orientation).  They are then upset that I can't help them more when they do show up.

So what are some other issues advisors out there have run into with transfer students?

[geoteo]

This relates to doing research on the school: understand the philosophy/worldview/mission of the place they plan to attend.

Anyone who looks at Weird Niche's website can see clearly that it is a FAITH-BASED school.  Thus, I should not have to get tough with students who say, "Two religions?  Nobody told me I would have to take two religions.  That's bogus, man.  This place is stupid," because they should already have looked at the curriculum to see what that means.

[dale1]

@beccalynn2010:

My assumption is that you may be working at a 4-year institution that gathers quite a few "completers," is that right?

I think the list needs to have two parts - common pitfalls and resources.  So you provide the "warning" and then the "remedy." 

One of the things I see quite often is students have not considered how long the transfer process will take, and how many credit hours will actually transfer.  Related to this is availability of courses at times that are convenient and time-to-degree.

So I think we have to consider most if not all 2-year college students "transfer bound" at some point, and earlier rather than later, in order to help eliminate these barriers.  There was an article on InsideHigherEd.com the other day about students that start in the 2-year sector and their time-to-degree.  Turns out (predictably) that it's awful.

[beccalynn2010]

@beccalynn2010:

My assumption is that you may be working at a 4-year institution that gathers quite a few "completers," is that right?

This is definitely part of my transfer population, and I have been working with the advising staff/transfer centers at our biggest 2 year school feeders to get information on the program I advise for to them so they can give students the information up front.

The other two big populations I am seeing are students transferring from other 4 year schools (my competitive entry program just expand our acceptance numbers, and despite being in the Mid-South, I am now getting students from CA, GA, WA, and FL calling about transferring) and students with prior degrees in other fields who want to transfer.  These two populations of transfer students are almost my worst offenders.

[cj405]

This biggest problem I've noticed is just the difference in academic cultures between our university and the students’ previous institutions.  These things can be relatively easy to address, like a student who had completed an AA from a small community college in New England who had never used a CMS before.  She was really well prepared academically, but she was a little confused when her professors would tell the class that they could find something on Blackboard.  As this point she was taking 3rd/4th year level classes, so of course the professors didn't take the time to explain how these things worked at the beginning of the term.  It took me about 10 minutes to show her how to navigate the site—problem solved (I feel like this is something that would be covered in an orientation session, but somehow she missed it.  Those sessions can be overwhelming, so I usually give the student the benefit of the doubt).

It is much harder when they are just not prepared for the level of work they will confront if their old institution was not very...rigorous.  For instance, I teach an academic improvement class for students who are on academic probation.  Unfortunately, I see a lot of transfer students in this class.  One of our units covers improving writing skills.  At the end of the unit, one of my students said to me, "This was really interesting.  I think it will help a lot!" 

As you can imagine, I don't get comments like this often, so I asked what part was helpful.  Paragraphs, she tells me.  She had never written a paper with more than one paragraph before, and the way I had taught them to split their essays up into paragraphs was really helpful.  I should have quit while I was ahead.

I have developed the world's best poker face over the years, thankfully.  I'm sure the reaction I suppressed would have been really unprofessional.  At the same time, I can't help but feel like something went horribly wrong with this person's education—she made it through high school and at least a year of college before coming to us, and she had never written an essay made up of more than one paragraph before.

[dale1]

I also think a big issue is something that is hard to quantify, but the "magical thinking" of transfer.  That is, "It'll all work out," regardless of circumstance.

Case in point, I have an international transfer with about half of the credit hours required to earn a degree.  The student wants to know how the other X credit hours will be taken, in terms of a long-range plan.  The magical part is that of these half (approx. 70) credits that transfer, only about 40 will actually apply to the degree.  So the student has transferred 70ish, may get credit toward the degree for 40, and has 80ish additional to go.  He was expecting about 50 to go.  Big difference - at least one academic year.

So in other words, transferrer beware!

This is definitely part of my transfer population, and I have been working with the advising staff/transfer centers at our biggest 2 year school feeders to get information on the program I advise for to them so they can give students the information up front.

The other two big populations I am seeing are students transferring from other 4 year schools (my competitive entry program just expand our acceptance numbers, and despite being in the Mid-South, I am now getting students from CA, GA, WA, and FL calling about transferring) and students with prior degrees in other fields who want to transfer.  These two populations of transfer students are almost my worst offenders.
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[zharkov]

As part of my role as a sort of DGS, I analyze student transcripts for possible transfer credit.  I find the greatest source of misunderstanding (and disappointment) on the students' part is they don't understand that we transfer in courses not credits.   

[dale1]

Ah, yes! Another thing about transfer I had forgotten to mention.

Institutions transfer courses, some transfer credit hours as well.  Our institution does both, but not in a way that may make intuitive sense to students.

Rule 1: Only grades of C or higher may be transferred from outside the system.
Rule 2: Courses that are not articulated to a course at our institution are "undistributed" meaning they are a course in discipline X but not Discipline-X #1234.  This is a major source of confusion.
Rule 3: Only certain faculty or staff can make decisions on the applicability of undistributed and other courses to a degree.
Rule 4: Finding this person is not easy.

[polly_mer]

Oh, that magical thinking.

The most useful thing I could think to tell transfer students is to consult early and often with the people who will be accepting the transfer.  Early means "before registering for that first semester at the local school once you have decided that a transfer is in your future".

I would hate to see a situation that tops the one I saw last fall when a "junior" showed up in my office in tears because she couldn't keep up in my class and it turned out that she was a transfer student who had been, according to her own report, advising herself before transferring to our institution that semester.  Her background was a mess.  After looking at the transcript and having had her in a couple weeks of class, I can believe her story of having the official transfer advisor for her program throw up his hands in disgust and registering her in mostly freshmen classes over her protests.

She blamed that first semester registration fiasco on a prejudice at our school against her prior school, but (a) we have lots of students from that school with minimal problems, (b) her transcript was not a logical program for the major she claimed to have had in mind all along, despite having a few upper-level classes in that major, and (c) she was not capable in the math, reading, and writing that she should have had by this point in a college career.

If she had followed a logical program, then her transfer would have been smooth.  As it is, she is worse off than Dale's student with a whole stack of credits that count for nada since they don't transfer and she obviously didn't learn what one would expect her to have learned from them with a passing grade.

[beccalynn2010]

I also think a big issue is something that is hard to quantify, but the "magical thinking" of transfer.  That is, "It'll all work out," regardless of circumstance.

Oh, yes, the Magical Thinking...

One of the best I have seen recently was a student wanting to transfer from their professional program (Nursing) at another school to ours.  The problem was, he had been expelled from their program.  What they had told him was, if he went to a technical school and got his LPN licensure, they would consider readmitting him to their ADN program.  What he heard was "Yes!  We will give you a letter of good standing!"  We actually called ahead of his meeting with me and spoke to his program director who confirmed that no such letter would be forthcoming.  That was a fun one.

And I can completely related to this:

Rule 1: Only grades of C or higher may be transferred from outside the system.
Rule 2: Courses that are not articulated to a course at our institution are "undistributed" meaning they are a course in discipline X but not Discipline-X #1234.  This is a major source of confusion.
Rule 3: Only certain faculty or staff can make decisions on the applicability of undistributed and other courses to a degree.
Rule 4: Finding this person is not easy.

It gets even more convoluted here.

Rule 1: It must be a C to automatically transfer.  A D may be transferred at the discretion of the Academic Standards Committee.  Please don't transfer Ds, this is almost NEVER to the benefit of the student.
Rule 2: Your classes come in and can count as credit towards graduation, if it:
a) transfers as an equivalency or can be used towards required electives and
b) meets all other requirements (acceptable for State Minimum Core, or as a degree requirement)
Rule 3: Courses that transfer without a direct equivalency really only work as electives, unless you petition them, and even then, maybe not.
Rule 4: Transfer grades will display on your transcript, but don't count in your cumulative GPA.
Rule 5: Rule 4 not withstanding, the competitive entry majors may consider said grades in your application to that program.
Rule 6: If it is not listed on the transfer equivalency guide, I can guess how it might transfer, but nothing I say is binding, and all final decisions must go through the Registrar.
Rule 7: Even if it comes in as a direct equivalency, our TechFlake student information program may not read it and let you register for classes without an override.

[helpful]

Why does one need immunization records?

[scampster]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

[helpful]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

Thanks. Never heard of that. None of the universities or colleges I have attended have asked for that. What particular diseases/vaccines are they looking for?

[scampster]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

Thanks. Never heard of that. None of the universities or colleges I have attended have asked for that. What particular diseases/vaccines are they looking for?

At my grad school it was measles and you had to have had a TB screening in recent history.

[helpful]

Why does one need immunization records?

Some places require that you be immunized from certain things before you can enroll.

Thanks. Never heard of that. None of the universities or colleges I have attended have asked for that. What particular diseases/vaccines are they looking for?

At my grad school it was measles and you had to have had a TB screening in recent history.

Well, where would someone get such a record? I recall getting a measles shot as a kid, but wouldn't have a record for it in my possession.