National Transfer Student Week is Oct. 21-25. The Daily explores the experiences of transfer students new and old and what it’s like to be part of their unique community.
SHAE LAKE: When I first transferred here in the fall of 2023, I remember multiple transfer PAs telling me, “No one loves Northwestern like a Northwestern transfer loves Northwestern.” Throughout my experience integrating into the community, I’ve thought about this phrase and wondered how being a transfer student has shaped the experiences of my fellow transfers. I decided to hear the stories of some transfers on campus, from the newest ones fresh from The Arch to the oldest ones less than a year away from graduation.
From The Daily Northwestern, I am Shae Lake. This is What’s New at NU, a podcast that covers everything happening on campus. Today, we’re doing a deep dive into the experiences of some of Northwestern’s transfer students.
SARAH TALBERT: I was terrified to be transferring and starting at a new school. It’s just such a daunting experience to pick up your life again and start over.
SHAE LAKE: That was Sarah Talbert, a Weinberg senior who transferred from Boston University in the fall of 2022. She has been a transfer PA for the past two years and is on the executive board of the Transfer Student Organization, or TSO. Talbert said she wanted to be part of a smaller student population than the one at BU. She also wanted more freedom to try new classes and figure out what she wanted to study.
SARAH TALBERT: Something I was really nervous about was that I’d be judged for being a transfer, and I never really felt that, which I was kind of surprised about, especially because I hadn’t gotten in my first time. I had a little bit of a feeling that maybe I didn’t belong.
SHAE LAKE: Talbert said that when she arrived at NU, she never felt judged for being a transfer student. She explained that Wildcat Welcome helped her realize she could have a positive college experience, and she wanted to help other transfers realize that as well.
NOELLE TERRELL: At the end of Wildcat Welcome, I was ready to lay my life down for this school. Not going to lie, the purple was in my blood at that point.
SHAE LAKE: That was Noelle Terrell, a Weinberg junior who transferred from Baruch College in New York this fall. Terrell said there was not much of a community at their old school, because it was a commuter school with only three buildings. Terrell said their Wildcat Welcome experience was overwhelmingly positive. However, other transfers, like Weinberg junior Ariba Vohra, had mixed feelings.
ARIBA VOHRA: Because there was a lot of freshmen, I felt really lost during Wildcat Welcome. It was definitely daunting, because I didn’t know who to talk to or who to be with unless I was with my PA group.
SHAE LAKE: Vohra, a Rogers Park local, always used to see the Intercampus Shuttle passing through her community. When she graduated from high school, she decided to attend Harold Washington College, a Chicago community college, for financial reasons as she figured out what to study. When she started researching schools to transfer to, she realized NU was a great fit.
One of the biggest struggles for transfer students is adjusting to the quarter system, especially since many come from universities with semester systems.
NOELLE TERRELL: It feels like I just landed here, and everyone’s like, “Have you taken your midterms yet?” I’m like, “Hello, I’ve been here less than a month, man, and I’m already having midterms stacked up at my door.”
SHAE LAKE: What makes NU’s transfer community so unique is its size. Compared to many other top schools, the University has a higher acceptance rate for transfers. NU typically admits under 15% of transfer applicants, in contrast to the less than 10% accepted by most Ivy League schools.
The University admitted 286 transfer students this year, one of its largest such classes.
ARIBA VOHRA: I see transfers everywhere. I think no matter what room I go into, I meet a transfer, which is really nice, because when you go in and you’re like, “I’m a transfer,” and someone says the same thing, you automatically connect.
SHAE LAKE: Those transfer connections can lead to lasting friendships. Haley Tuohig, a Weinberg senior who transferred from the University of California, San Diego, in the fall of 2022, said many of her best friends and all of her roommates are transfer students.
HALEY TUOHIG: I feel like we’re all very down to earth, because we’ve all been humbled at least once.
SHAE LAKE: Tuohig is one of the co-presidents for TSO, and she explained that she wants TSO to become more of a social organization where transfers can bond through various events.
Talbert, the senior who transferred from BU, said most NU transfers are open to talking about their experiences and the schools they came from. She said that last year, the transfer PAs hosted a night where they all wore swag from their old schools.
SARAH TALBERT: I think if I got into a school that didn’t have such a big transfer community, I would have tried to be like, “Oh yeah, I’ve been here the whole time,” and just pretend like I wasn’t a transfer. But here it’s because there’s so many of us it’s become a sort of point of pride.
SHAE LAKE: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Shae Lake. Thanks for listening to another episode of What’s New at NU.
The episode was reported and produced by me, Shae Lake. The audio editor is Edward Simon Cruz. The digital managing editors are Carlotta Angiolillo and Sasha Draeger-Mazer. The editor in chief is Jacob Wendler.
Our theme music is “He’s Gonna Come and Get You Baby” by Xennial, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and provided by the Free Music Archive.
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Related Stories:
— Digital Diaries Episode 5: Redefining what it means to “catch up” as a transfer student
— Transfer students reflect on introductions to NU
— Profs head initiative to make NU more accessible for community college transfer students
