Stop. Breathe. Reflect. Choose. Thank you, Health Services, for the perfect mantra for students deciding whether or not to transfer. As the stereotypical Wendy Wellesley barrels through her time here, she overthinks problem sets and underthinks her happiness, forgetting to consider that she might be happier as a Wendy Wheaton or Wendy Wesleyan.
Transferring can be a very positive experience. Most students make their college choice based on only a few visits. The very lucky live close enough to spend an overnight or visit friends, and the very unlucky have never seen their future four-year home at all.
If a family were to move to a different state, surely they would visit it more than once — why should the decision of four years’ residency be any different? Making a mistake in school choice is so simple when one only sees the campus briefly!
After spending a couple semesters on campus, students are in a much better position to figure out whether or not their school is a good fit. Sometimes, a school just doesn’t live up to someone’s expectations, and that’s okay!
There is a misconception, especially among the intensely academic collegiate group, that getting into a “good school” is more important than their satisfaction, or that they have some obligation to attend the most prestigious institution willing to take them. But college should be about finding one’s niche, and in a world that feels entirely foreign and unfriendly, that is impossible.
Of course, this isn’t intended to send the first-years scurrying to the printer to pick up their transfer applications. Quite the opposite — any student intending to transfer needs to mull over the decision for some time before making a final choice. Waiting to transfer may seem painful, but finding out at school B that you really did belong at school A would be far worse.
Go ahead, go window shopping for the right school. Neither Wellesley nor any other college is going to kick you out for researching other institutions. Choosing a college does not have to be a lifelong commitment.
So stop. Breathe. Reflect. And, at the end of that reflection, choose —whether it means transferring or not—to be happy.
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