Dear Transfer Student,

I am in the same exact boat as you are; not knowing what is going to happen in the fall. This may be your second time changing schools or more, and it terrifies you to no end. What if I do not like this new school? What If I want to go back to my old school? All of this seems just to crazy because you did not know you're life was going to change....again. You thought that moving to one college was it for you. You had a plan on staying there for the next four years making that new place your home. It is funny because life is not always easy. Things change, people change, what you want changes, and the most important thing is to realize when you are finally happy being at a college you can actually be happy in.

I know you are nervous about walking to your first lecture at the end of the summer; finding out who you are going to meet, seeing your professor for the first time, and for me..seeing what a 300 class lecture entails. (If you come from a small school like me, there may a chance you might feel a culture shock, but do not let that scare you.) I know you are thinking about trying to impress others, but in all honesty there are so many people passing you by that they won't give you the time of day. The only person you should to impress is yourself because once you make it through that first semester, the rest will be a piece of cake.

I know I should not be the one to talk because I have not been to my first class as a transfer student, but I can tell you that we are all in this together. We are all nervous, stressed, anxious, excited, and terrified together. Remember how when we first went to school it was all nerve racking and it all seemed like it was impossible to keep moving forward? Do you remember when all of those nerves stopped and we were just living in the moment? We were just doing what we normally do which was go to class & how calm we were. We got used to it and eventually we were pros. The one thing that always gets to me is the unknowing...the unknown of what might happen.

If you are the one student who decided to move back home (like me)...imagine how great life will be now that you are home. I did not have a car, no job, and was the brokest broke you could ever be. You come back home, and you can have it all. I know we wanted to try the college dorming experience and it just was not for us. It is not for everyone and that is okay. You just have to think that you will have it soooo much better off if you were home. You may miss being away for a while here and there, but remember how happier you were once you moved all of your things back home for good.

If you had a really bad experience at your last college that made you decide to transfer, try not to make this time a bad time. You have a fresh new page to start over and make amazing memories and leave that old college in the dust. Join clubs, make friends, do things on campus, and have fun. Do the things you never had the chance to do before. You already had one year of college that was not the best, and you have three more years to make it right.

This is an exciting time in our lives & we should not waste it on fear that it is going to turn out like crap. WE GOT THIS...I KNOW WE GOT THIS. I hope your first day of your new college is exciting & I hope you make memories to last a lifetime.

Good luck :)

Sincerely, A transfer college student