Each semester new faces can be seen around campus. According to the Office of Admissions, hundreds of those students are transfer students.
While the fall term historically maintains a larger number due to the start of a new year, in Spring of 2016, 1,067 students transferred to A&M. Additionally Aggie Transition Camps, also known as T-Camps, are programs similar to Fish Camp for incoming freshman, used to welcome in new students and teach them the Aggie way.
David Tofel, the associate director of admissions, transferred from the Brenham campus Blinn College to A&M during college and has worked in the Office of Admissions for 10 years.
Tofel recalled that in 2016, many of the graduates from A&M were transfer students.
“Last year, our transfer students were approximately one out of every four undergrads that graduated here from A&M — they were transfer students,” Tofel said. “So we’re one of the best kept secrets here on this campus.”
Tofel said a lot of transfer students attend T-Camp for the same reasons freshmen attend Fish Camp.
“Comradery is part of it, but they are mainly trying to find other students who come from similar backgrounds or can relate to what they are going through and experiencing,” Tofel said. “A lot of students want to go to that if their summer schedules permit.”
Communications sophomore Emy Williams, who is transferring this semester from Louisiana State University, said her first impression of A&M was at Sky Ranch where she was a counselor this past summer.
“I was a counselor at Sky Ranch this past summer and I met so many people that were from A&M,” Williams said. “It was awesome to see those people and be surrounded by those people everyday, and see how well they love each other and how awesome they are so I really got a little taste of the community from camp. That’s what made me want to transfer to begin with. Just seeing all that.”
Williams said while the process of transferring was complicated coming from a different state, the transition was well worth it.
“Especially coming from out of state, that’s definitely tougher just to get all the documents processed and to get all my classes and make sure everything transfers correctly, but A&M definitely made it super easy for me to transition in different ways,” Williams said. “Things went a lot smoother once I got on campus, but the process before applying is definitely complicated, but it’s worth it.”
Compared to her previous school LSU, Williams said the friendly environment of A&M was intriguing. She said she could tell everyone takes the six core values of the university seriously.
“Even before my NSC when I would visit campus, I would just notice such a friendliness about the people there,” Williams said. “Everyone is so friendly and so welcoming, where as LSU is honestly a little more of a hostile environment and it’s tough to be there … Everyone just works so hard to stand for and show the core values of A&M that they state so clearly at your NSC, like you can really tell that everyone takes that seriously.”
Transferring to A&M from Southwestern Assemblies of God University where she played basketball, psychology sophomore Peyton Stephens said she is nervous about adjusting to the way of life in College Station since she comes from a small private school.
“I think honestly I just don’t really know the culture of A&M yet, just the way of life and how to manage going to really intense classes and then also get involved, there are so many things to get involved with, so not overloading my schedule,” Stephens said. “But mainly just the culture of A&M. I don’t really know how life works in College Station, so I’m mainly nervous just to get down there and figure out the pace of life.”
Stephens said learning the Aggie yells at her New Student Conference and feeling like she didn’t know what she was doing was overwhelming at times, but she knew she wasn’t alone.
“I felt like at the conference a lot of times that people knew what they were doing and knew what they wanted to be when they grew up and they knew all the yells and knew all about A&M,” Stephens said. “Just taking comfort in that and that even though you’re overwhelmed that really probably more than less people in this room are also pretty intimidated by the yell leaders.”
Sport management junior Graham Williams transferred during the fall term of his sophomore year from the University of South Carolina. Originally, his decision was made by the potential closer proximity of his home in Plano, but also by the multitude of possibilities to be grasped at A&M.
“First, I wanted to be closer to home because I’m from Texas and I knew vaguely about the community at A&M, and I knew I wanted to get involved with something different and I knew A&M had a lot to offer in terms of that,” Williams said. “That was really what drew me; the involvement possibility.”
While Williams said while he enjoyed his time in South Carolina, nothing compared to the feeling of home he felt in College Station.
“It felt like a much smaller town, like everyone seemed to know everybody kind of,” Williams said. “And then the major difference I would say is just the people in general. Like South Carolina is great, that place will always be special, but the people at A&M and in College Station are just very different … I immediately felt at home, and that was something I never really felt in South Carolina.”
Williams said the most important part of the transfer experience is going out of your way to introduce yourself to others.
“I would say meet people and take yourself out of your comfort zone,” Williams said. “Go out of your way to meet people to find your group. You’re not going to be best friends with everybody, but at least meeting people helped me the most – just getting to know a bunch of different people.”
