Transferring has been one of the most difficult choices I have had to make in my academic career thus far. However, despite the strife I faced coming to a decision, I could not be more assured in my choice. Bucknell has been incredibly competent in immersing transfer students like myself in its culture and making us feel like an individual, rather than an admissions statistic.
I am not a typical student here, as a transfer, but I’m not even typical in that sense either. As someone who is chronically bad at making decisions, I did not transfer to Bucknell as a sophomore but rather a junior. It took two years of barely tolerating my previous university before I realized that college doesn’t have to be something that is a struggle. Don’t get me wrong, my words are no condemnation of my old school—I’m sure it’s the right place for many people, but I was not one of them. I’m not going to jump the gun on declaring Bucknell to be my mythical “right place” after just a few weeks but so far, it’s starting to feel that way.
For my part, Bucknell has certainly made acclimatizing smoother. My first week on campus was scheduled with event after event as part of my transfer orientation; I was impressed with the effort put into getting myself and other transfer students up to speed and connecting us with staff and potential activities we may be interested in. I was able to connect with other students in a similar place as I was: the awkward limbo of not being new to the college experience but being new to this specific college. Easing into Bucknell was not a seamless process, but befriending people in my situation made me feel significantly less alone.
During orientation, the event that most deeply affected me was the “I Am Bucknell” welcome that first night in the Weis Center, specifically one of the speeches. While I can’t remember who gave it, what they said stuck with me; I was told about the incoming class at Bucknell, down to the specificities of their interests and places of origin, their organizations, their activities in high school, even down to the most common names of those entering the student body. I was more moved by this than I had anticipated. Coming from a large school (think in the tens of thousands) I had gotten more than acquainted with feeling closer to a number instead of an individual.
Having so many peers made it difficult to be known on a personal level by the staff and even some professors. However, I had only been at Bucknell for a day, and I was hearing the new students described on an individual basis, details that were painstakingly combed through and remembered. This notion truly propelled my feeling of belonging—that I could be known on a deeper level, a virtue of transferring into a significantly smaller student population. Since then, that feeling has only been amplified. I am reached out to, instead of having to always reach out. I am able to attend smaller classes where professors have the ability to address us all personally and where I often recognize fellow students from other courses or even from the same affinity house that I currently reside in. The people here all actually feel connected, and, as a result, I think I am beginning to join that connection myself.