Transfer students: what to watch out for

Matthew Scott, Staff Writer

   The most important decision you can make after high school is whether or not you will attend college. If you decide to go to college, then you have to make another difficult decision: what college will you attend? Deciding what college to attend can be a surprisingly tough decision. There are 4-year colleges and 2-year colleges, or what we call junior college; that is where my future began. I am a transfer student from Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, and I transferred to SNU after one year there.

   Let us begin by saying that not everyone is cut out to going away to school, yet alone a 4 year college. Let us be honest: most people cannot finish school in 4 straight years, so it should be about 5 years to finish school. If you are bent on graduating in 4 years, it is possible with a lot of work and no play. It is very important to get off to a great start in college because I know for a fact that one bad start early on can lead to working harder than you ever have just to get your GPA up to the way you want it.

   Now, that means choosing where you want to go to school is more important than ever before. It is an important decision that you can not make on your own; you need people around you to help you decide. They provide a different perspective on how they see your future, but, ultimately, you will be the one to decide your future.

   Another issue you could have is whether or not you are ready to leave home. Early in high school I was not ready to leave home, but I did not even see that I was not ready. I was so focused on getting away from Tyler that I did not see the big picture. Seeing the big picture involves asking: “Am I ready for college?”

   When I graduated high school the first thing that I thought of was getting away from home. That can be the worse mistake you can make when going to college because it can cost you a lot. I learned the hard way that I was not ready to leave home and go off to college because I bombed the first semester and had to make it up when I got to SNU. Even though I bombed the first semester, I still made the right choice and stayed home for a year, and I am glad I did.

   So let us backtrack for a second: there are many things transfer students need to know. This is your future, so you need to decide carefully what you want to do. You need to consider factors like whether or not you want to go to a 4-year college or a junior college. Do not rush the decision and make it carefully, considering every possibility.  Do not think you’re automatically ready to go to school and leave home because that is not always the case. Make the right decision for you and your future.