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The Transfer Student Life

November 24, 2015
Kristina Engert

I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any

unauthorized assistance on this exam or assignment.

8150 Baltimore Avenue

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Apt 631-3
College Park, MD 20740
Ann C. Smith
Assistant Dean and Undergraduate Student Ombudsperson
Office of Undergraduate Studies
2100 Marie Mount Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Dear Ms. Smith,
With 37,000 students on the University of Maryland campus, it is
inevitable that students fall through the cracks. Most thrive; however,
there are several that can be left behind to fend for themselves.
Transfer students are amongst this crowd. Over 3,000 students transfer
to University of Maryland every year and during their transition
between schools, UMD often leaves these transfer students unaided.
This proposal goes into detail with the problem surrounding the
transfer program and how this affects not only these incoming transfer
students but also for the University of Maryland as an educational
establishment. In this proposal I recommend three recommendations
for the transfer program and their feasibility. From this proposal, I want
the University of Maryland to recognize the problem with the existing
transfer program and make changes to help these students transition.
Over the last month, I have conducted several methods of primary and
secondary research that serves as evidence for this proposal. Several
databases were used as support for claims made about the emotional
stability of a transfer student while transitioning. Most of the evidence
used was pulled from primary research that I conducted. These
methods include one-on-one interviews, group discussions, and an
online survey. All of the research that I conducted confirmed that the
transfer program at University of Maryland is lacking.
I would love to speak with you in more depth regarding this proposal.
Please contact me at 908-872-3060 or kaengert@gmail.com if you get
a chance. Thank you for reading this proposal and considering this for
a topic of discussion
Sincerely,
Kristina Engert

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary . . . . . .
.....4
Problem and Significance . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 5-6
Solutions . . . . . .
. . . . . .7-11
Feasibility . . . . . .
. . . . .12-14
Conclusion . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 15
Appendix . . . . . .
. . . . 16-18
Works Cited . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 19

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 . . .
...8
Figure 2 . . .
. . . 11
Figure 3 . . .
. . . 12
Figure 4 . . .
. . . 15

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Currently, the transfer program at the University of Maryland is a weak
program that does not benefit the transfer students or the university.
Fixing the management of the program and redesigning the goals of
the program will help contribute to a better overall experience for
transfer students. This report discusses the problem of the transfer
program at University of Maryland, solutions to better the program,
and the feasibility of these solutions.
Using interviews, survey data, and database research I compiled
information on transfer programs at other universities and how they
compare to UMDs program. In addition, this data provided information
to how transfer students at UMD felt about their transition process. I
received feedback on what transfer students would have changed
about their own experience, which helped me formulate my own
solutions to this problem.
From a cost perspective, two out of three of my recommended
solutions are financially efficient. However, the last solution, a transfer
dorm, will cost the university a significant amount of money. The
benefit of building this dorm will eventually outweigh the cost of the
building the dorm.

While it will take some time to complete all of these solutions, this will
add to the overall benefit of the university by attracting more transfer
students. These solutions are proven to all be feasible and benefit
transfer students and the university.

Problem and Significance

Over 3,000 students transfer to the University of Maryland every year.
After a transfer student receives the acceptance letter, the next point
of contact is an email requesting the students attendance at
orientation and tends to be two-three months after the acceptance
letter is received. In between this time, it is up to the student to seek
out what needs to be done to complete the transfer process. There is
no provided checklist, point of contact, or any other information
provided to these students.
Transfer student orientation dates currently range from May to August
and are a one-day program. Most of the set items on the schedule vary
per student due to different majors; however, the overall schedule of
events is similar. When reflecting on orientation, many students found
it useful and borderline irrelevant. Another problem aside from
orientation scheduling is that transfer students first meeting with their
advisor is held during orientation.
Not having a point of contact throughout trying to find housing and
working through the process of transfer credits is very hard on a

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transfer student. While UMD offers a pre-transfer advising program,
there is no contact information besides a general email address on the
website. From personal experience, I can attest that the pre-transfer
program was a formality and no advisor was able to advise me through
the process. Without an advisor or mentor, this process can be
stressful on a transfer student and can give them a bad experience
before even coming to UMD.
Most transfer students are not provided with on-campus housing,
therefore are often left to find off-campus housing on their own. These
students either end up in one of the surrounding apartment complexes
or commuting due to price and the lack of support from the OffCampus Housing Department and UMD. Students that choose to move
into one of these apartment complexes are often very secluded and
isolated not only from other transfer students but from the activities
that are conducted on the University of Maryland campus.
The main source of the problem tends to fall within the transfer
program management. After searching the University of Maryland
website, there seems to be a lack of information regarding the transfer
program and management to contact. It is being assumed that the
transfer program management is composed of University of Maryland
employees that are formally working in other departments and took on
the side job of working the transfer program when needed.
It is not just one giant problem that sinks the transition for transfer
students. It is the many little problems that are spread through out the
different parts of being a part of a university such as Maryland. The
University of Maryland should take initiative to change the transfer
program structure in order to help transfer students transition into a
stable environment.
Transfer students are common at any educational institution. While
most large institutions similar in size to University of Maryland run into
the problem of transfer student housing, universities such as University
of Michigan and Indiana University. University of Michigan offers the
option of applying to living and learning communities as a transfer and
encourages transfer students to apply for housing on campus, but also
offers off-campus housing options. Indiana University works on a first
come first serve basis with transfer students but also encourages
students to apply to all the residence halls that Indiana offers.
College is essentially a business fighting to keep students applying and
enrolling in their business to receive funds to continue research,
education, and profits. University of Maryland will benefit from having a
strong transfer program because of the larger enrollment of transfer
students Maryland will see. As a transfer student myself, applying to

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colleges again while doing other work was very stressful and looking at
programs that had a strong website and easy navigation for transfers
made it a lot easier. Maryland provides an excellent guide for transfer
students on how to apply and what to do after applying, but provides
nothing for after the students actually get accepted into the university.

Solutions
After looking deeper into the problems of the transfer program. I have
come up with three solutions that I believe would greatly help not only
the transfer program, but also the transition period for transfer
students. Each of these solutions was pulled from the ideas that
Maryland transfer students think would best benefit them.
Transfer Orientation Program
The transfer program at the University of Maryland currently involves a
6-hour day filled with activities that are mostly covered in freshmen
orientation at other schools or common knowledge. I am suggesting a

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stronger orientation program starting with a survey that transfer
students will fill out before coming to orientation for advisors to gauge
what students will be interested in. Based off the results of this survey
and interview research collected, some solutions I recommend before
transfer orientation are:

Send out an email after acceptance letter that contains the

following:
o Sign up for orientation
o Housing Options
o Name of transfer advisor (to be discussed later)
Fill out survey form for potential clubs, organizations, academic
interests, etc.
UMD Conduct and Standards Overview

I propose the following changes to the schedule of the orientation

program. This will improve the overall quality of the program. These
recommendations are:

Split into groups based off of survey results

Meet with transfer advisor (discussed later)
Academic breakdown
Scheduling
Group lunch

A strong orientation is crucial to a successful transition for transfer

students. According to Cox (2012), most transfer students face
academic trauma, social trauma, transfer shock and transitional
trauma within the first few months at a new college. With a stronger
orientation program, the transition process between a students
acceptance and their arrival at school will be less stressful.

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Figure 1- 90 percent of survey transfer students did not
find orientation helpful in their transition process
For the University of Maryland, this means that students will have a
much more stable environment and emotional mind during their first
semester. This can only benefit the school as students will be happier,
succeed in classes, and develop a social life. Successful transfer
student stories are great ways to attract other students that may be on
the fence about transferring to UMD.
Cost- Negligible
Transfer Advisor
As mentioned in the problem portion of this proposal, there is a pretransfer advising program at the University of Maryland implicated for
helping transfer students during their transfer phase. However, this
program implemented by the transfer program, is poorly managed and
inefficient.

(more)
While all transfer students are assigned a transfer advisor, many of
these advisors do not get to know their students personally. Transfer
students have their advisors switched around throughout the transition
process and sometimes throughout the year. This leaves students
unsure of whom to contact with questions or concerns about the
upcoming semester. Therefore, I am proposing a transfer student
advisor assigned to every transfer student for his or her first semester
at Maryland. This advisor would guide them through the following:

Give transfer students their housing options

Discuss future activities and involvement at UMD
Look over academic future, schedules, and semesters at UMD

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Require one 1-1 meeting during the first semester

Be available to meet regularly with student to discuss questions
or concerns
Serve as a mentor and give guidance during the first semester
and transition period

A transfer student advisor would allow for transfer students to have

more structure in their academic and social process.
At the University of Maryland, transfer students are assigned a transfer
advisor for orientation. However, the lack of consistency amongst
advisors leaves most transfer students confused of whom to contact
before or after orientation. According to the NACADA Journal, there is a
psychological importance of aligning an advisor and transfer student
especially during the transition process. Having a stable advisor would
also reinforce the students emotional stability, as they would have
someone to turn to. With a university the size of UMD, it can be
intimidating for students and it is important they have someone at the
university that is on their side.
Similar to creating a stronger transfer program, stabilizing the transfer
advisor would be another draw for students considering coming to
UMD. As stated earlier, coming to a large university is intimidating and
it is important to have a mentor throughout that process. Happier
students will ultimately lead for fewer problems for the university.
Cost- Negligible

(more)
Transfer Dorm
Currently, transfer students may enter themselves in a very limited
lottery to receive on-campus housing. However, Residential Life warns
transfer students that it is unlikely the will receive housing and that
these students should look into other alternatives. This leaves most
transfer students having to lease an expensive apartment from the
nearby complexes or commute.

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While student housing at UMD is already very limited, a transfer

student dorm may be considered a nearly impossible task to
implement. However, I am suggesting that with UMDs new 15-year
plan to redesign campus housing, one of the dorms that will be
renovated should be designated for transfer students. I am suggesting
the dorm for the following reasons:

Allows for transfer students to meet other transfer students

Gives transfer students a similar experience to freshmen housing
Permits transfer students to choose between on and off campus
housing
Promotes a social environment amongst transfers

After conducting a survey with transfer students, 9 out of ten agreed

that having a transfer dorm would have really helped their transition to
Maryland. It would have relieved the stress of finding off campus
housing and would have allowed them to intermingle with more
students.

Figure 2- The current visual 15-year Residential Plan that the

University of Maryland has provided

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According to the University of Maryland On-Campus Housing 15-year
plan, the new expansions for housing includes transfer student housing
expansions. However, the plan does not clarify what is included for
transfer students.
According to Cox (2012) a transfer students grades fall the first part of
the semester due to social reasons of meeting new people and the
academic adjustment. It is very important transfer students are
surrounded or at least have the opportunity to create a positive social
environment.
Like the two other solutions I have recommended, this would benefit
UMD due to the overall well being of transfer students being higher.
Success stories attract more transfer students and will cause fewer
problems for UMD in the longer run.
Cost: Roughly $30,000,000
**Clarified in feasibility portion of proposal
Feasibility
All of these solutions should be accepted with hopes of building a
stronger transfer program. From a monetary perspective, the last
recommendation might be turned down due to extreme cost.
Acceptance
After interviewing recent transfer students, five out of the five students
I interviewed agreed that the UMD transfer orientation was not helpful
in their transition to UMD. Four of the five students agreed that the
program was a waste of time. Therefore, implementing a stronger
program that will help the students identify UMD resources, introduce
them to other transfer students, and familiarize the students in the
course work at Maryland will lead to a much smoother transition. A
stronger program will lead to positive feedback for the program.
As per the University of Maryland website, there is established pretransfer advising for students coming to the University of Maryland.
However, after interviewing many students these advisors are unstable
and only meet with the students at orientation. If these advisors
already exist, they should be willing to keep consistent students from
acceptance through the first semester. UMD would not need to spend
money on this solution, as this pre-transfer advising already exists.
Instead of adding this program, a better system would be implemented
Due to high costs, I believe that creating a dorm strictly for transfer
students may be unfavorable for the University of Maryland Residential

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Life due to the limited amount of beds on campus as is. However, 7 out
of 10 students who completed an online survey agreed that they would
have benefitted from a transfer student dorm housing option during
their transition to UMD. Due to the 15-year plan mentioning the option
of transfer housing but not defining exactly what kind of housing, the
university sees a need to add transfer housing.

30%
Would Benefit
Would Not Benefit
70%

Figure 3- The chart demonstrates the amount of

students that would benefit from a transfer student

Time

Frame
Orientation Program
Brainstorm ideas
Finalize schedule
Implement new orientation
schedule

January 2016 through February

2016
March of 2016
May of 2016

The goal for this recommendation is to start implementing a stronger

orientation program for the Fall 2016 transfer students. Over the
course of the next few months, brainstorming new events for the
program and finalizing events will be conducted. By March of 2016,
events will be established for this program and a finalized schedule will
be in place for the Fall 2016 transfer students.
Advising
Discuss readjustment with
advisors
Assign students to each advisor
Advisors reach out to students

January 2016
April 2016
May 2016

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As each transfer student is already supposed to be assigned an

advisor, the process needs to be restructured by upper level
management. Each transfer advisor should be assigned a student and
should meet with them from acceptance through the first semester to
serve as a mentor for a transfer student. It should be the responsibility
of the advisor to reach out to Fall 2016 transfers once acceptance
letters are sent out in mid April and stay in contact with the students
through the first semester.
Transfer Dorm
Approach ResLife about transfer
dorm
Begin negotiation and confirm bed
#
Confirm location/dorm size

December 2016
January 2016
January 2016

As for the dorm, this is a process that I expect to take 5-10 years due
to possible transfer housing being a part of the Residential Lifes 15year plan. However, in the beginning of 2016, negotiations should
begin with Residential Life to secure a location and size for a transfer
dorm. Once these negotiations are finished, Residential Life will take
over and finalize this in the 15-year plan.

Budget
The costs for reworking the orientation program and assigning a stable
advisor to the students are negligible. As transfers students and their
parents pay for the orientation program and transfer advisors already
exist.
Residential Life 15-Year Plan
$30,000,000*
Estimated Renovation for Building
*According to the University of Maryland Residential Life Housing 15year plan
Lastly, the numbers for this budget have been pulled from the
University of Maryland Residential Life Housing 15-year plan. Currently
in the budget to renovate a current dorm on campus and increase the
amount of beds, the estimate for this building would be the listed price

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above. This price includes the rough estimate price of one renovation
to one building on campus and is subject to change over time.
Personnel
Gerry Strumpf, Director of New Student Orientation, will be able to help
restructure the orientation program for transfers. Transfer insight will
help enhance the program to make it more efficient.
William Cohen, Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies
would be the person to collaborate with about who is going to assign
advisors to students. He will also take a look into how current advisors
tasks will be divided to take on students stably throughout the
semester.
Margaret Holt, Business Manager, Deborah Grandner, Director of
Residential Life, and Joann Prosser, Director of Assessment and
Research, would need to be involved in working towards building a
student dorm. While these people are all in different departments,
Prosser would be able to help define the research that has been
conducted on the 15-year plan thus far and Grandner would be able to
share how many on-campus beds transfer students would be able to
gain from this plan.

Conclusion
A university as large as the University of Maryland runs into tons of
problems every day, ones that are brought to attention and others that
are left behind. While restructuring the transfer program at UMD may
seem like a big task, the solutions proposed would help benefit the
UMD in the long run.
Many transfer students that come to UMD are not prepared for the
transition between universities and the new turning point that they are
about to experience. When transfer students first come to Maryland

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they are not provided direction with how to transition. Most universities
provide a checklist to transfer students after they are accepted.

Figure 4 30 percent of students remember seeing a checklist

before coming to UMD. 40 percent of students dont remember
receiving a checklist. 30 percent dont remember if they received a
checklist.
Going back to the statement earlier in this proposal about college
being a business, UMD is fighting every other college in the nation for
students. If UMD offers an enticing and organized transfer program,
they will be more likely to attract other students to come to UMD
instead of other schools that provide things such as a strong transfer
orientation program, stable advisors, and a transfer dorm. Even the
little things like adding a checklist will make the biggest difference in
the long run.

Appendix
Survey Questions

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Interview Questions
What year did you transfer to UMD?
How was/is your first semester?

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Did you feel like UMD aided you through the process?
What are your thoughts about orientation?
What would you have changed about orientation?
Did UMD help you find housing?
Where do you live now?
How have your academics been since you got to UMD?
How helpful has your advisor been?
Any comments/questions for me?

Works Cited
Grites, Thomas J.1, and Amanda1 Farina. "Enhancing Transfer Student
Success: The Transfer Seminar." Teacher-Scholar 4.1 (2012): 719. Education Source. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

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Robbins, Rich, and Leigh Shaffer. "From The Co-Editors." NACADA
Journal 33.2 (2013): 3. Education Source. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Tobolowsky, Barbara F., Rhonda McClellan, and Bradley Cox.
"OPPOSING FORCES An Organizational View Of Transfer Policies
And Practices." College Student Affairs Journal 32.1 (2014): 6779. Education Source. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Tobolowsky, Barbara F., and Bradley E. Cox. "Rationalizing Neglect: An
Institutional Response To Transfer Students." Journal Of Higher
Education 83.3 (2012): 389-410. Education Source. Web. 23 Nov.
2015.