5 things incoming transfer students need to know
October 17, 2022 | by Ryan Litchfield, contributor
When it comes to transferring universities, there are a lot of preconceived notions that these students are able to just jump right into the classroom and successfully finish off their last two years, especially since they have already had the college experience. But research shows that these students have a lot of barriers in front of them because they are sometimes overlooked. Here at Lamar University, we want to be able to break down those walls for students transferring to the institution and make that transition just a little bit easier for them. I have a lot of advice to help our students transferring to LU, but here are the top things that I think incoming transfer students need to know. 
Campus Life and Getting Involved
If I could give one major piece of advice to start with, it would be to just get involved on day one of arriving to LU. We have transfer orientation for students, which happens before courses begin. When transfer students come for that event, we would love to see how they can get involved while they're here at orientation. It's the perfect time to meet other students, meet your professors and just see how you're going adapt to Lamar University campus life.
Finding a Job on Campus
Another opportunity for students is working on campus. So, we have work-study and we also have part-time jobs that students can work on campus. There are tons of jobs and we love the perspective of transfer students and we would love for them to know that they can get involved as soon as they become a student here. I have to give a shout out to my good friend Jhocelyn Alvarado, who is our current admissions marketing manager in the Office of Admissions. As a transfer student, Jhocelyn worked as a student worker and she brought in a lot of great perspectives that helped us recruit and reach out to transfer students in a more positive light to help make the transition for them a little bit easier.
Get to Know Your Professors
I always recommend students get to know their faculty. At Lamar University, we have small class sizes and our faculty always just want to get to know you. The last two years of your program are probably going to introduce you to your most favorite professors and personally speaking from experience, my professors during my last few years were the absolute best. They want to know about your personal experiences as well from your previous institutions and so we want to celebrate you all coming into Lamar University, but we also want you to feel at home and welcome. Our professors are a great resource for doing that.
Financial Aid and Scholarship
Scholarship opportunities are also available and a lot of students tend to forget about that in the shuffle of moving from one institution to another. We have a really amazing simple system called MyScholarships. So, once students are admitted to Lamar University, they can apply for scholarships that way and we do have many scholarships that are geared toward transfer students. Again, a lot of students tend to think that there may not be so many opportunities or that they don’t qualify, but here at Lamar University, we do have a lot of those financial opportunities.
Don’t Be Afraid
We want our students to know that transferring is never a scary thing to do. Here at Lamar University, we try to make it as simple as possible for students to make the transition. We have a lot of resources here on campus to help students out not only with their coursework, but also with the whole transfer process. Each transfer student has their own admissions counselor and I like to say that our admissions counselors here at LU are our students’ life lines to the university before they get started here, so if there's ever any situation where transfer students feel uncomfortable or they might need some additional assistance, they can reach out to their local admissions counselor who's right there, Monday through Friday, to help them through this process.
Campus Life and Getting Involved
If I could give one major piece of advice to start with, it would be to just get involved on day one of arriving to LU. We have transfer orientation for students, which happens before courses begin. When transfer students come for that event, we would love to see how they can get involved while they're here at orientation. It's the perfect time to meet other students, meet your professors and just see how you're going adapt to Lamar University campus life.
Finding a Job on Campus
Another opportunity for students is working on campus. So, we have work-study and we also have part-time jobs that students can work on campus. There are tons of jobs and we love the perspective of transfer students and we would love for them to know that they can get involved as soon as they become a student here. I have to give a shout out to my good friend Jhocelyn Alvarado, who is our current admissions marketing manager in the Office of Admissions. As a transfer student, Jhocelyn worked as a student worker and she brought in a lot of great perspectives that helped us recruit and reach out to transfer students in a more positive light to help make the transition for them a little bit easier.
Get to Know Your Professors
I always recommend students get to know their faculty. At Lamar University, we have small class sizes and our faculty always just want to get to know you. The last two years of your program are probably going to introduce you to your most favorite professors and personally speaking from experience, my professors during my last few years were the absolute best. They want to know about your personal experiences as well from your previous institutions and so we want to celebrate you all coming into Lamar University, but we also want you to feel at home and welcome. Our professors are a great resource for doing that.
Financial Aid and Scholarship
Scholarship opportunities are also available and a lot of students tend to forget about that in the shuffle of moving from one institution to another. We have a really amazing simple system called MyScholarships. So, once students are admitted to Lamar University, they can apply for scholarships that way and we do have many scholarships that are geared toward transfer students. Again, a lot of students tend to think that there may not be so many opportunities or that they don’t qualify, but here at Lamar University, we do have a lot of those financial opportunities.
Don’t Be Afraid
We want our students to know that transferring is never a scary thing to do. Here at Lamar University, we try to make it as simple as possible for students to make the transition. We have a lot of resources here on campus to help students out not only with their coursework, but also with the whole transfer process. Each transfer student has their own admissions counselor and I like to say that our admissions counselors here at LU are our students’ life lines to the university before they get started here, so if there's ever any situation where transfer students feel uncomfortable or they might need some additional assistance, they can reach out to their local admissions counselor who's right there, Monday through Friday, to help them through this process.