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Advice from former transfer students:

Get out there and meet people, and if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask, and if the person you ask doesn’t have an answer, ask someone else. People are almost always willing to help.

When they say get involved, they mean get involved! Have fun and remember the atmosphere is different; it’s just another chapter in your life.

The (Undergraduate) library has DVDs to check out, not just educational, but also top movies.

There is a sense of total disconnect from student life experienced by transfer students.

Depression is the most common mental illness among college students, and it’s OK to seek help.

Feeling older than everyone else – I wasn’t expecting that. U of M really doesn’t cater much to the returning adult undergraduate student. . . I’m older than some of my GSIs (graduate student instructors). U of M is really more of a traditional school, so being prepared for that is important. High school mentality was only a few months ago for some of these students, so castes, cliques, and peer pressure do happen.

Stay in contact with other transfer students. I have stayed in contact with three others from our [transfer orientation]. I can vent to them when I need to and can share experiences. . . Of course, no one in the summer will think that they will need it, but when November comes around, they’ll wish they had someone who could understand issues such as: not having parents send money; not desiring to party crawl up Packard St., not desiring to attend student functions, etc...
The only real problems I face are not really being able to meet many new friends. My roommate and a couple of people from class, but not too many people; and that makes being away from family and friends so much harder.