Transfer students navigate troubles and triumphs as they enter UNC

Around 900 students transfer to UNC every year from around the country and world. Each fall, there are about 2,500 total transfer students on campus.

Like most incoming students, transfer students apply through the Common Application — creating Onyens, submitting the FAFSA and attending a transfer-specific orientation session. However, the process happens quicker than it does for first-year students. 

When they arrive to campus, transfer students have to navigate new challenges, meeting with academic advising, participating in clubs and often speaking with Luke Fayard, the transfer student coordinator at UNC.

Fayard said in an email that he believes transfer students face unique challenges in terms of being enrolled right into difficult classes, working more hours and sometimes not being prepared for the workload of their courses. 

The University’s Counseling and Psychological Services work with transfer students who may be struggling to discuss mental health challenges. A statement from Media Relations said 454 transfer students received assistance from CAPS in the previous academic year, around 13 percent of all walk-ins.  

Layal Lawandos, a junior and new transfer student, said  after being accepted she had to find answers to many questions by herself and wished resources were more clear. 

“I had no schedule until two weeks before classes started,” Lawandos said. “I had to start fishing for classes and I had to figure out what exactly I needed. Transfer orientation, I thought, was going to be a lot more helpful.”

On Tuesday, the Center for Student Success and University Libraries held a Q&A panel for new transfer students to get answers to some of their questions from those who have already gone through the transfer process. 

Attendees asked about getting involved on campus, finding your way around and feeling left behind in academics and social life. 

Attending a new university can be an isolating experience, but some UNC transfer students combat loneliness by finding community in unique places.

Last semester transfer students Annabel Dougherty and Holland Bodner, along with Graduate Director of Academic Affairs Neil Sharma, decided to put their heads together and address some of these recurring themes. They created a lounge where transfer students can come together to find people in similar situations. The Transfer Lounge is opening on Aug. 26 in Gardner Hall 104 and will be open every Monday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“Whether it’s studying, whether it’s hanging out, whether it’s making a friend, that’s what the Transfer Lounge is for. It’s for that support, it’s for that engagement and we want it to be a legacy at Carolina,” Bodner said. 

The lounge will organize events, provide mentors for students to talk to and host tours to help students get comfortable on campus. Dougherty and Bodner said they also made a guidebook with resources, hints and tips for understanding the UNC curriculum, along with two and three-year planners to help transfer students maximize their time.

Dougherty said she came into UNC without knowing all that was available to her and wants to change for future transfer students. 

“You just kind of get thrown into it. There’s so much that people don’t tell you until you get there for orientation,” she said. 

Even with these challenges, many transfer students are still hopeful about their time at UNC and know that it takes time for everyone to adjust. 

“Every system is a little hard to navigate at first, but you can figure it out,” Lawandos said. “Yes, it might be more challenging here. Yes, you might have to work a little bit harder, but you have figured this out before.”

@dailytarheel | university@dailytarheel