FRESHMEN A GAIN: HOW MESSIAH'S Transfer Students Fit In

WRITTEN BY MOLLY MCKIM DESIGNED BY KATE TRIMBLE

The rate of students transferring to Messiah has steadily increased since 2020, according to Messiah enrollment records. What do our transfer students think about their second attempt at an academic institution?

They Want Me to Go Where Now?

At the beginning of their Messiah experience, transfer students are invited to Welcome Week orientation in August or Winter Orientation at the beginning of January. During fall orientation, transfers learn the same information, experience the same events and face the exact expectations alongside hundreds of first-year students.

For transfers coming to Messiah at the start of a new academic year, they participate in transfer student-specific events, such as a transfer social. They are also placed in an orientation group, sometimes with an orientation leader who was a transfer student.

In January, Winter Orientation is primarily geared towards transfer students because they make up the majority of students entering the university between semesters.

The Beginning Experience

Has orientation done its job of helping transfer students get adjusted to Messiah? For some, the bonding experience between transfer students has created long-lasting friendships. For others, it felt frustrating and isolating due to a lack of events and places to meet new people.

“Finding friends was challenging at first, everyone has their someone or group of people to be with and I wanted to find that for myself,” said Makayla Garrett, a sophomore biochemistry major.

Lauren Forlow, a sophomore film major, was also feeling a sense of detachment from her peers.

“[After transferring], I didn’t have too many friends, and I was struggling in the Theatre department. I was considering transferring again,” Forlow said.

Others found that their first steps were easygoing and smooth, thanks to the people around them.

Morgan Adams, a junior elementary and special education major, felt that being a member of the basketball team made her transition to Messiah easier.

“I got built-in friends right away, so I was able to spend so much time with them and meet their friends and things like that, meet people in my major, it was so nice having that established group of friends right away so that I had people right from the start,” Adams said.

Forlow found reassurance from her RAs during her first year as a transfer. “We had weekly activities, she talked with me every time I saw her, she met up with everybody individually, and she genuinely loved us. She was one of the reasons why Messiah started to feel like the place I belonged after my first semester.”

Continuing Feelings

Based on enrollment numbers for Fall 2022, transfer students make up 0.03% of our student population, most of whom live in an underclassman residence hall, Bitner. However, not all of them are first-year students. Still, transfer students are highly encouraged to attend all freshmen-oriented events, such as the Wittlinger freshmen chapel series and the first-year games.

Hannah Tiner, a junior psychology major, said that Messiah does welcome transfer students better than some other schools. However, events like first-year games and transfer floors being in first-year dorms make her feel like she’s a freshman.

“I didn’t feel like I was transitioning into my year, but transitioning into the freshman class,” Tiner said. “My primary complaint is that I feel like we’re freshmen. Which is

JP Edmunds is the Assistant Director of Student Engagement and oversees Welcome Week and Orientation. According to Edmunds, Messiah currently does not have a person in charge of transfer services. This unfilled position means that individual offices, like Resident Life or Academics, can decide how they want to handle transfer students.

For example, Resident Life chooses to place transfer students in an underclassman residential hall with freshmen. Whereas in academics, transfer students are not required to take first-year seminars.

Edmunds said he encourages students to reach out to staff closest to them, like your RD or himself.

“There are so many different people here to see you succeed and if something is not working for you, go to someone on your team, tell them that, and see if something can be changed,” Edmunds said. “We care a lot about transfers. We have just as much interest in making sure that transfers suc