Senior year is probably every kid's most anticipated time in high school. Everyone knows that senior year is the most eventful with prom, senior trip, basically running the school, and most of all, graduation. How the school year seems to drag on until Christmas/New Year's break. Once you get through the slump, January to June seems to fly right on by! You're taking your whole senior year (maybe most of junior year as well) planning out where you're going to go for college, financial aid, and all that fun college stuff.
Unfortunately though, sometimes plans change. You could be going to your top choice and end up transferring because of something you didn't like. Maybe you picked the wrong major, the classes weren't as challenging or as easy as you thought they would be, or maybe there were not enough resources that you thought there would be. Sometimes, you even transfer more than once. It's okay if you're not sure what you want to study or where you want to study. Being somebody who has transferred schools about three or four times, I can honestly say that figuring out what I wanted to do was such a problem. Also, transferring multiple times makes it hard to make friends.
Being one of those somebodies, I can honestly say that it's all true. I graduated from high school in 2014. I then went to my top choice, Salem State University. I attended their Summer Bridge Academy program that Summer, and then attended that Fall for communication, concentrating in media studies. I left after the Fall semester and then began my "journey" to become a hair dresser and attended Empire Beauty School from January 2015 to February 2015. Yes, you read that right, a whole month. I missed one day of school, and I felt as if I had fallen so far behind that I just dropped out. I then took the time off to work for a bit and decided what I wanted to do. That's when becoming an Infant Teacher was a thing for me. I attended Massachusetts Bay Community college from September 2015 to May 2016, obtaining a certificate in their infant and toddler teachers program. I would still be enrolled at MassBay right now if it were not for the financial aid issues I had with them for the Fall 2016 semester. I then took that semester off to think about where I REALLY wanted to go. I had been thinking about it for a while: a high school guidance counselor. I had gone through a lot in high school, and I wanted to help those who may have gone through what I had went through. I had asked my old guidance counselor about it, and she recommended either Salem State, UMass Boston, or Merrimack. I applied to all three for sychology and was rejected from two out of three. I was so thankful that Merrimack had accepted me! I now knew where I would go to and finally finish a study.
Whether you transfer into one other college or three, just know that it is okay! As mentioned earlier, sometimes you just don't know what you want to do. At the time you may want to be a criminal justice major, then the next minute you want to become an education major. Tuition might be too much per year, so you transfer to another college or community college; it's absolutely fine! There will be times when you may feel like a failure, but remember, some of our greatest inventors right now didn't even go to college, may have dropped out of college, or even dropped out of high school! We live and breathe by Apple products and Facebook, am I not wrong? They help people stay connected now a days and keep you in the know on what's happening, and where it is happening. Steve Jobs (Rest in peace) and Mark Zukerberg were both either college drop outs or never went to college. Both of them were talked down to and told they would never accomplish anything. Now they make or made millions of dollars off their ideas! I am sure there are many more stories like theirs, but that right there just proves that there are great minds in those of us who do not attend school after high school.
As for making friends and getting involved on campus, try stepping out of your comfort zone and do what makes you happy! Whether it's sports, intramurals, theater, community service, robotics club, the gym, the radio station, etc., do it! You will make friends, believe me. Even if you decide to live on campus at the school you transfer to, you could even make friends with the people you are placed with in your dorm. It's difficult, thinking everyone is thinking badly of you or seems to be ignoring you when you first start. It's hard to start all over again. I've learned from transferring to where I am at now that sitting outside seems to be a good way to meet people as well. Even complimenting someone on something may spark a friendship!
Even if hometown or high school friends don't go to the college you transfer to, they are always a phone call or text away! Reconnecting with old friends always helps, too.
Always remember that you is kind, you is smart, you is amazing. You will get through being the transfer student!
