News, On campus

Tech celebrates National Transfer Student Week

Tech is not only a place to begin four years of a college career, it is also a place that roughly 3,500 students transferred to finish their degree.

 

“A third of our student body are transfer students,” Alex Callis, tech’s transfer specialist, said.

 

October 21-25 is National Transfer Student Week. This week is celebrated at colleges across the United States, raising awareness about the challenges transfer students face.

 

“When people think college, they think, ‘I’m going to start and finish at the same university,” Callis said. “Those students are just as important and just as experienced.”

 

Transfer students often experience new challenges just like incoming freshmen, Callis said.

 

“Even though I was excited, I still had puddles of anxiety in the back of my head,” junior Matt

Borring, a transfer student from Roane State Community College, said. “Was I going to be smart enough to keep up with the university curriculum and make the grades I needed, or was I going to bomb everything, drop out, and become an acrobat at a carnival?”

 

Transfer students at Tech said they found their transition to be different than what they expected.

 

“I had it easy due to having people offering me to hangout during welcome week,” junior John Forth, Volunteer State Community College transfer student, said.

 

“I was in upper division classes, but I felt like I was a freshman,” Nashville State Community College graduate Hannah Knox said.

 

For Knox, transferring to Tech allowed her to finish her accounting degree.

 

To make the transferring process beneficial for students, Tech provides Student Success Centers, the Center for Career Development and a mandatory Transfer Orientation during the summer, Callis said.