{"id":5506,"date":"2022-04-25T14:08:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T18:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/imprint\/?p=5506"},"modified":"2022-04-25T14:08:18","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T18:08:18","slug":"transferring-to-ucf-finding-my-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/imprint\/transferring-to-ucf-finding-my-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Transferring to UCF: Finding My Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emma James<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transferring schools midway through quarantine wasn\u2019t how I expected my college career to go, but there\u2019s nothing worse than a story that ends exactly how you expected it to.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I initially planned to go to UCF for all four years of college, but due to circumstances out of my control, I chose a school closer to home at the last minute so that I could commute. Knowing that I was settling for my second choice gave me some deep-seated feelings of bitterness toward the school I ended up at. I felt that I could accomplish more elsewhere, and I was wasting time there. As well, it seemed I\u2019d fit in better somewhere else. I struggled to find my place even though I had friends who shared my interests. I was part of several organizations on campus, but I felt like an outsider no matter what I did. <\/strong>I knew pretty much every single person in my major by name, but we never really got past acquaintanceship\u2014most of them were strangers to me. I struggled to make connections; my mind was always elsewhere. My professors were wonderful and my classes were interesting, but I was unfulfilled. I just couldn\u2019t shake the thought that I didn\u2019t belong there. I always felt like there was something missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact of the matter is, it was a small school. A tiny, private institution with less than 4,000 students, and it seemed like everyone there knew what they were doing, while I was wandering around lost. Plus, it was too close to home\u2014I didn\u2019t really feel like I was in college. I went to a small high school in South Florida, so attending a small university in North Miami wasn\u2019t much of a change. I craved new experiences. I wanted to have room to grow and the space to try things out just for the heck of it, but I was limited. Being so close to where I grew up, I also didn\u2019t have as much independence as I would have liked. No one goes to college looking to be babysat, but I constantly felt like I was being watched. By my professors, my advisor, my peers\u2014I felt a crushing pressure to perform well because I was one of so few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone expected a lot from me, and I thought if I didn\u2019t constantly outperform myself, I\u2019d be disappointing them. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I found myself fantasizing about all the things I couldn\u2019t do where I was; the things I\u2019d learn somewhere else that would better prepare me for the world, the people I\u2019d meet that would somehow foster more meaningful relationships, the places I\u2019d go that would change me in ways my current school never could. I was fixated on a hypothetical place or point in my life where I\u2019d be fulfilled\u2014where I was at a school that challenged me without banking on my success\u2014and it made it impossible to enjoy myself where I was. I couldn\u2019t wait to transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was pretty touch-and-go for a while (I was a part of so many seemingly endless email chains that my inbox was perpetually cluttered) and I ended up having to transfer a semester later than I planned, but finally after two and a half years, I was at the school I wanted to be at from the beginning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second I got to UCF I noticed a shift. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My classes that first semester were all online, so I made sure to reach out to my professors directly and introduce myself. I knew that it would be easy to become a face in the crowd at such a big school, so I wanted to make sure they remembered me. I emailed all five professors, and all five responded enthusiastically. Congrats on transferring, nice to meet you, tell me about yourself!<\/em> I was ecstatic; I didn\u2019t expect the first friends I made at my new school to be professors, but I wasn\u2019t going to complain. On top of that, every conversation I’d had with my advisor had been insightful and left me feeling hopeful, which was in stark contrast to the meetings with my advisor at my old school where I always left dejected, stressed and worried. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first impression of UCF was that it was home to some of the most kind and welcoming people I\u2019d encountered in college thus far, and it was extremely refreshing. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I had an overwhelming feeling that I was suddenly on the right track after being lost for so long (or maybe I had always been on the right<\/em> track but for the first time I was moving at a pace I was comfortable with). I decided to keep the ball rolling and perused the UCF website trying to learn everything I could about what kinds of things went on here. I also followed every single UCF Instagram account I could find, which led me to FL PIRG<\/a>, a student-run activist organization that advocates for things like racial and gender equality, affordable housing, renewable energy, and assisting with hunger and homelessness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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