One of the great things about being in college is that you get to meet tons of people from many different nationalities and backgrounds (see: hot foreign exchange students). This is definitely a good experience for those who come from towns where the only color they see is the one of their own skin.

But the sad fact is, many students don’t take advantage of getting to know the diverse kinds of people occupying the same lecture hall or dorm as themselves. Instead, they choose to stick with people who resemble them because it’s what they’re comfortable with; which goes to show that colleges (and the United States as a whole) are not melting pots, but merely salads where different groups of people simply coexist without choosing to mingle with others.

It drives me insane!

As a kid I had friends who were every color under the rainbow, so I assumed that college would be no different. I imagined a vast body of people from places all over the country who intermingled with one another on a daily basis. When I arrived on campus however, it was like stepping into some type of reverse culture shock. Read More »

The University Experience sure has changed. It’s now normal to take longer than four years to complete your degree; students are known to switch majors repeatedly (and often at the last minute); and transfer admissions offices are swamped with applicants who realize that the college they chose senior year of high school just isn’t making the grade.

I know all about the stress of transferring and adjusting to a new school. When I began my undergraduate career, I wasn’t content with attending the state university that 83% of my classmates were enrolling in. Oh, no - I had to get away. So I enrolled in a small private school in London, England.

My freshman year was a blast– I was in a major city, surrounded by hot men with hotter accents, and I didn’t even need a fake ID. But eventually, reality sank in, and I opted to transfer back to the same state school that I’d once adamantly rejected in order to prevent graduating with student loans up the wazoo.

My first semester at the state university was miserable. I’d missed out on all of the freshman year bonding, got stuck with a lame random roommate, and when I did go out, it was because one of my high school friends was kind enough to let me tag along with her group. It was so bad that I took a semester off to figure out if I wanted to go through the transfer process again. I ended up going back to the state school, and - thankfully - things got better. In fact, college kicked some major ass.

So, having been on the Maybe-I-Should-Transfer fence and a member of the Transfer Students Association, I thought I’d share some pro’s and cons with anyone who isn’t quite sure that they are attending the right school. Read More »