How to handle the College transfer process the right way!

Many student athletes transfer from one school to another in the US. I’ll discuss the reasons why someone would transfer, the worst time and best time to transfer, and the process of getting from one school to another.

A lot of international and American students transfer for a variety of different reasons, I know it sounds pretty simple, but essentially you’re moving from one college to another however, it’s not that simple.

You can’t just say in a middle of the semester, “I’m not enjoying myself here anymore. I want to transfer.” And then boom next week you start at another school!

“it’s like going through the recruiting process all over again.”

It doesn’t happen that way, not even for

general students, much less student athletes. You can’t just, at any point in time, just pick up and say, “Yeah, I’m going.” It requires a lot of work. It’s similar to finding an opportunity originally, it’s like going through the recruiting process all over again.

There’s a handful of things that will need to be done that are different to that initial recruitment process. Some of them are easy, some of them are more difficult. There are a few reasons as to why someone would transfer from one school to another.

So, basically, at junior college, you have to transfer if you want to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Obviously, that’s a four-year pathway as well but Junior colleges are two-year schools. And that is a reason as to why someone would transfer, to finish their education. You do your first two years at one place, you do your last two years in the next place; and it involves a transfer to make that happen.

A large

population of student athletes are doing this because they have to if they want to graduate with a 4-year degree. Some might not like university or it just wasn’t socially what they liked.

“Everything you did at university will be transferred and then you can continue your studies”

You can’t just up and leave immediately you have to wait until the end of the semester and everything you did at university will be transferred and then you can continue your studies. And similar if you transfer from a junior college to a bigger school, everything you do at that junior college transfers with you, and you keep going with where you’re at.

So, I guess, the most common reason for transferring then would be; the fact that the athlete or the student athlete is attending a junior college. There’re literally hundreds of junior colleges obviously, and thousands of athletes competing in junior college. So, you can imagine every year there’s a large turn over of athletes and there’s thousands of athletes transferring from one school to the next.

“they’re looking to recruit experienced athletes”

The good thing that makes that process simple, from a junior college to a four year school, is that; all those coaches at four year institutions, they’re looking to recruit experienced athletes. And the first place that they can recruit experienced athletes, on US soil, is to go straight to the junior college system. Look at who did the best, who kept their grades up, who managed to last the two years and do well. And so, it’s an easy decision for a coach at a bigger school to recruit an experienced athlete, give him good scholarship to then come and do their last two years at the bigger school.

So, that’s the first reason as to why someone would transfer. Another reason for transferring from one school to another? Especially for an international student, they may just want a change of scenery.

Different part of the country? Students want to see a different part of the country. And I think, again, that’s why the junior college pathway is really good. Because you’re getting to experience two different things in the one experience. But, let’s say that, even if a student went to one university for a couple of years, and yeah, they had a great time, but they want to experience something else, and see a different part of the United States, well then, they can make that decision to transfer as well.

“Transferring is relatively easy, as long as you’re organised”

Transferring is relatively easy, as long as you’re organised, and you’re prepared! but timing is super important. The time that you, I guess, put in your request to transfer to your coaching staff.

It’s not a process that can happen in a matter of a week, It’s not a task that just happens.

We’ve helped lots of our kids transfer for that reason to see another part of the country or they may just transfer across town. We’ve seen that. We’ve seen kids transfer across the country. We’ve seen a lot of different types of transfers. And assisted in a lot of different transfers.

There’s nothing wrong with transferring. Obviously, it’s always your decision; unless you go to a junior college, then you don’t have a choice. But change of scenery is a good reason to transfer.

“You don’t go to a school that you don’t plan for”

A really good reason why people transfer is to lower costs. If you start out at one school, and let’s say you had a limited scholarship in your first year, in the hopes that it was going to get better in your second, but you have that coach’s meeting and the coach says, “No, we’re going to keep you at the same place.” And that means that you didn’t budget for that. I don’t advise that. You don’t go to a school that you don’t plan for. You can’t go to a school thinking, “Yep, I’ll go in on a limited scholarship and in the second year it’ll be a lot cheaper.” No- That isn’t good.

But sometimes that happens. And so, maybe a reason for a transfer is to go from one school that may have been affordable in that first year, but to sustain that cost over a longer period of time is more difficult for a family so, “No, we’ll pick up and we’ll go to a school that puts us in a better financial position for the longevity of that experience.”

“Scholarship is never in your control”

Obviously, those things are out of your control. Scholarship is never in your control. Obviously, you can do your best in the classroom, which I guess is the easiest way to lift scholarship, because you have sort of a little bit more control over that. Whereas athletic scholarship is always up to the coach obviously. But, other things like, I guess in regards to lowering cost, other things that are at your control; tuition rates and fees rising, that’s something you can’t control. The Aussie dollar-The exchange rate

So, those things you can’t control and if one school becomes, I guess, not affordable for a family, then obviously we help our athletes transfer from one school to another to lower costs. And if you’re going at it alone then obviously that’s something you’ll need to do off your own back, and it needs to be the right time. Which again, we’re going to talk about in just a second. But, we have another couple of reasons as to why someone would transfer.

“You’re not getting along with your teammates”

Another big reason why people transfer is for just general happiness and wellbeing. Like let’s say that you are just not happy where you’re at. You’re not getting along with your teammates. The adjustment into the program hasn’t been as seamless and as positive as what you thought that it was going to be.

So, you don’t want to stay somewhere where you’re unhappy. And, makes sense.

I want everybody to have the best time, have the most fun possible, make great friends, and have a great experience. And if a student is not happy at one school for any number of reason, then yeah. Let’s pick up and let’s get you somewhere else in the hopes that that situation is going to improve.

Moving an athlete based on their happiness is always super important. Obviously, if one of our athletes come to us with those particular concerns, we’ll always try and work it out to begin with. Give it some time, just relax. There’s a thing that we go through called the 10 week wall. and I’ll explain that.

“I’m 37 years old and I still get homesick at times”

I think one of the biggest things that we deal with, and parents deal with, when they send their kids overseas is homesickness … I’m 37 years old and I still get homesick for my family at times. And so, it’ll be crazy to think that an 18 year old, 19 year old, student leaving home for the first time isn’t going to get homesick at times.

Usually when a student first gets there, it’s exciting, the weather is good, and everything is all new. And then, you get into that routine, and then the weather starts changing, gets a little bit colder, home starts feeling a little bit further away-

Homesickness and that 10 week wall, it’s a real thing. I think everybody goes through it in that initial year that they leave home. And, if someone is wanting to transfer just because they’re homesick; well, transferring is not going to change your homesickness.

“it’s new and it’s exciting”

What you got to do is rely in the people around you. Rely on your teammates, the counselor, the international advisors, your coaches. Really push through that 10 week wall, because once you get through that 10 week wall, you got to a couple more weeks until Christmas break. And then once you get to Christmas break, you got three and a half weeks too … Some people come home, recharge their batteries; like visit with family, friends, and then feel good about it and then head back. Some students get to that break and go and travel; go and experience something different and change the scenery up a little bit so that when they get back to college again, it’s new and it’s exciting again for that second semester.

So, if it’s a situation that we can work through it, you can push through and there’s not something inherently wrong with where a student is at, it just maybe the mental side of things for the student getting though that, then that’s not a reason to transfer. But, that 10 week wall, like I said, it’s a real deal. If a student is unsettled right from the beginning, doesn’t settle in at all throughout that semester, then again, that’s a completely different sort of scenario where we’d say, “Okay, let’s look at your options.”

Exactly. If you’re not happy, not getting along with teammates, not, I guess, getting along with coaches where you feel like they’re out to get you, who I assure you they’re not, if transferring is what you want to do, then obviously, we’ll make that an option for you if you’re in the program, if not, then it’s something you can always contact us and we can sort of give you some guidelines and steps but, that’s something you’ll have to sort of figure out yourself.

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