Live and Unfiltered: A Transfer Student Panel from The Assembly

This special podcast crossover episode was recorded live at the first-ever convening of The Assembly, AACRAO's conference on learning mobility, held in Arlington, Virginia, in July 2026. Host Heather Adams joined Dr. Loida González, conference director and host of the Transfer Tea podcast, to moderate a plenary panel featuring three transfer students from DC-area universities. Two transferred from New Jersey community colleges to The George Washington University, and one transferred from GW to Georgetown University.

This conversation challenges us to see transfer beyond policies, processes, and data—and through the eyes of the students experiencing it. The panelists talk about the parts of the transfer process that slowed them down and the people who helped them through it, and they offer concrete suggestions that practitioners can take back to their own campuses. Because transfer students aren’t just participants in our systems. They are experts in how those systems are experienced. 

Guests

• Dr. Loida González, Acting Director of Advising and Retention at Texas A&M University–Central Texas; Host, Transfer Tea: An AACRAO Podcast; Conference Director, The Assembly
• Darianny Bautista, 2026 graduate of The George Washington University; transferred from Bergen Community College
• Daria Grishina, student, Georgetown University; transferred from The George Washington University
• Naomi Long, student, The George Washington University; transferred from Brookdale Community College

For more information about AACROA’s The Assembly, visit the event webpage: https://www.aacrao.org/the-assembly/

You can also learn more about and listen to previous episodes of Loida’s Transfer Tea podcast: https://www.aacrao.org/resources-publications/resource-library/podcasts/transfer-tea/ 

Show Credits
Host | Dr. Heather Adams
Producers | Rhian Waterberg, Emily Kittrell, Caitlyn Potter Glaser
Sound Editing | Abraham Urias 

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Transcript

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Dr. Heather Adams

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Transfer Nation Talks! Today's episode is a special one, because we recorded it live on stage in front of a room full of transfer professionals. This summer, AACRAO (the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) held the first-ever Assembly, its annual conference on learning mobility. I got to team up with my friend Dr. Loi-da González, conference director and host of AACRAO's Transfer Tea podcast, to bring our two shows together for a live transfer student panel.

Our three student guests were generous enough to share their stories with all of us, and they'll introduce themselves in just a minute. Toward the end, you'll also hear some great questions from folks in the audience. So grab a drink, or maybe a cup of tea, and let's get into it!

Dra. Loida Gonzalez

One of the guiding principles of learning mobility is that the work should always be learner-centered. Throughout this conference, we'll be talking about policies, technology, processes, and innovation. But none of that matters if we lose sight of the learners who experience that. This morning, we're putting together learner voices at the center of our conversation. I'm especially excited because I have the opportunity to trade my conference director hat for another role I enjoy, host of Transfer Tea. Joining me is Dr. Heather Adams, host of the Transformation Talks, as we bring our two podcasts together for a special live conversation with three outstanding representatives. They'll introduce themselves in just a moment, and we'll hope you listen not only to their stories, but also to the lessons that they offer all of us as we continue to advance learning mobility. So with that, I am going to leave the podium, grab a seat with Heather and our special guests, and let's get the conversation started.

Dr. Heather Adams

Alright hi, everyone. I'm Heather Adams, thrilled to be here for the mashup, live podcast mashup. If you don't know, the Transfer Nation Talks podcast is just an opportunity to have casual, honest conversations about what's working, what's not. It's very much like Transfer Tea. We trade episodes often and trade ideas for episodes as well. But today is really about the open, honest conversation around students, the student experience, the transfer experience, especially, because let's face it, we're all transfer champions in this room. And so we're really interested to hear the story of our learners. So I want to have you all introduce yourself. Maybe your name, some of the institutions you've transferred to or from, and maybe your favorite thing about your transfer experience. 

Naomi Long

That's good. Hi, everyone. I'm Naomi Long. I am a community college graduate from Brookdale Community College in New Jersey and a current senior. Are they here? I am currently a senior at the George Washington University here in DC. My favorite thing about transferring, I think, is the community that I found. I'm the current president of the Transfer Student Association at George Washington, and it's been an incredible experience to hear everyone's stories as they come in from different institutions with different journeys. And to be able to connect them with resources and different people at our school has been just so incredible.

Daria Grishina

My name is Daria, and thank you so much for having me here, everybody. I'm really happy to be here. I currently attend Georgetown University and I transferred from the George Washington University and I'm also really thankful for GW for setting me up with a good foundation in my coursework. What I'm really grateful for is being able to pursue a unique path of study that is tailored to my interests. So I'm studying international politics with a concentration in international law and receiving a certificate in diplomatic studies. Thank you.

Darianny Bautista

Hi, everyone. My name is Darianny Bautista. I recently just graduated from George Washington University in May. I earned a double degree in political science and philosophy, and I transferred from Bergen Community College in New Jersey. So I'm New Jersey through and through.

Dr. Heather Adams

Got a lot of New Jersey in the house.

Darianny Bautista

Yes, a lot of Jersey. They like to say that DC is full of people from New Jersey. But I currently serve as the education justice paralegal at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. And If I have to say just one thing out of the many things that I loved about my experience at GW and transferring, it was definitely how embraced and welcomed I was. I started my role as the first transfer admissions ambassador at GW on my second day on campus when I went to go complain about the fact that I hadn't gotten my transfer merit scholarship. They offered me a job. And I actually was the founder of the Transfer Student Association And GW really just embraced my experience and my intersecting identities as a transfer student. And that paved the way for a lot of the work that we're doing now, especially the work that Naomi is leading as current president. And so I'm just really, really happy to be here. And I'm super proud to be a transfer student.

Dra. Loida Gonzalez

Now, because we are live and unfiltered and we want all the tea, so thank you for sharing what you have so far. We want to know, what were you excited, nervous, or uncertain about?

Naomi Long

I think for me, it was going from such a small community. I went from a really tiny community college, not that tiny on New Jersey standards, but a relatively small area to going to a college as large as GW. It was really intimidating. And I felt uncertain because I felt like I was going to get lost on campus. I didn't know how many other transfer students there were going to be. I didn't know how many other people like me there were going to be. I was really scared about adapting to the very different lifestyle in DC. I was worried that I was going to be left behind, that I wasn't going to be able to be academically or professionally competitive. And it was really intimidating. But I think that finding that community at GW and finding out that everyone else felt the exact same way was really encouraging. And it did a lot to make me feel at home.

Daria Grishina

Yeah, for me, I've grown up in the DC area, so I didn't really have to worry about having to adapt to a new environment city-wise, but for me, I was definitely nervous and a little uncertain about maybe the difficulty of the classes and how that would play out, as well as I've heard that Georgetown has a competitive club culture environment with the school organizations and clubs, so I was kind of nervous about the integration into those groups and also about potentially if I could get any leadership positions within those. And then with transfers, there's also, you get late housing, you get the last selection, and you get a random roommate automatically. So there are also some uncertainties there, but thankfully it all played out well and I was able to get along with my roommate really well. So I'm happy about that.

Darianny Bautista

I think for me, so for reference, I come from a very low income community in New Jersey. I'm from Newark and I'm the first in my family to go to college. I went to a very low income high school and I actually failed my first year in community college because I just did not have the academic foundation and I struggled A lot. And it was thanks to the support services at Bergen that I was able to stay afloat. And actually, like January of 2023, I had a 0.625 GPA. And in September of 2023, I was getting ready to transfer as a spring transfer with a 3.78. And so it was thanks to the support that I got at Bergen that I was able to really in nine months, do two years of community college in the span of a year. And so a big worry of mine was, am I going to be able to stay academically afloat when I transfer at whatever institution that I transfer to? And at GW, that was a very, very big concern for me, especially because of how academically rigorous I heard the institution had been. Am I going to receive the same support services? Is my experience as a first generation, low income student from my background going to be considered not just in the social and community aspect, but also in the aspect of academics? And I did receive all of those amazing support services, and my professors were so, so welcoming and just so sensitive and understanding of my circumstances and I did graduate magna cum laude. So it was a great experience.

Dr. Heather Adams

So I'm curious, when did transfer first become real to you? How did you understand transfer or come to know that was something that you that that was a path you wanted to follow?

Naomi Long

I think coming from a community college, it makes that path very clear to you because that there is a next step for you, which makes it a lot easier because you have that support built into your classes.

Dr. Heather Adams

So you had advisors or somebody who was telling you that?

Naomi Long

Yes, I had a political science director at Brookdale Community College who was definitely a key person in my academic journey. I have a really interesting background where I was homeschooled for 14 years. Neither of my parents went to college. And all of my siblings went to Bible college, which I obviously did not do. And so coming from that kind of background, I had no idea what it looked like to go to college. I had no idea what it looked like to navigate institutions that frankly my family didn't really love the idea of me navigating. And so having someone at my community college that was in my corner and really believed in me and that I could make these steps and push myself forward and become the person that I really, truly wanted to be was life-changing for me.

Daria Grishina

Yeah, for me, I'm definitely very grateful for all the support I got in my transfer, transition into Georgetown. So right away we get assigned dean, so kind of like an advisor. And it was a really smooth process with getting all my credits accepted. And she had also sent me out a list of recommended classes to take for the incoming fall. So I found that guidance very helpful. And then of course, the moment kind of, I guess the process became real was definitely just the start of the school year and the orientation program where we were also placed and a group with other transfers. So it was cool to meet other peers kind of navigating a similar journey.

Darianny Bautista

I think for me, I went to community college on a whim. I graduated high school in 2021, right after the pandemic. And every single woman in my family, I come from a family of teen moms and I grew up in a single mom household. And everyone, all of my sisters, my mom included, had gone to attend one semester of community college and had failed out. And so I was kind of like in that same of I want to go to college. I've heard of what an education can do. I really wanted to kind of break the cycle in my family. And so going into community college, I knew that the next step is to transfer. I had heard about it in high school. I had chosen community college very intentionally, not only because I didn't have a stellar academic record in high school, but also because I had just come out of the pandemic. And so I was like, I don't know what it's looking like at universities and colleges. Let me go to a community college. And I ended up going to one of the largest and biggest community colleges in New Jersey. And so I like, even though I didn't know exactly what I was doing, what I was thinking about transferring. I had no idea what that entailed, didn't know what any of that looked like. I had to actually switch advisors while at Bergen because not many advisors that were available were really supplying students with consistent information. And I ended up finding my advisor, Tim Foote, love that man. He was grounding me and he really supported me. So for me, I always went in with the intention of, I want to get a bachelor's degree. I want to earn my associate's degree. And whoever was willing to give me that information, I was open ears and always open-minded to that opportunity.

Dra. Loida Gonzalez 

Awesome. You're sitting in a room full of people that are change makers. people that have committed to improving transfer, improving the learner experience. So this next question is really important to us and the reason why we're here and working really, really hard to change this whole system for you. Where did the transfer process or system make your journey feel harder than it needed to be? 

Naomi Long

One of the biggest struggles that I think I had transferring to GW was at that time I transferred in fall 2024. We didn't have a transfer student orientation. You had regular orientation. You were in with all these 17, 18 year olds who were doing college for the first time. And many of us who were transfer students were a little bit older, came from very different backgrounds and had a lot of experience already navigating college. And you felt lost. I mean, you showed up to this huge city campus, my first time on a city campus. I had no idea where to go. I had no one to help me. And I remember sitting in, we had a small group session and our small group leader was not a transfer student themselves. And they said to us, they were like, you know, transfer students can be so jaded. And I was like, I really wanted to be there. And I really wanted to become a part of that community and really wanted to dedicate myself to that. And it felt very discouraging that there was really no place for me to go. And I think that GW since then, both Darianny and I have worked really closely together building that community and that home. And we really have since then received a lot of support. And I think the biggest thing has been like, GW has been so receptive to us speaking up about it and us saying, you guys are lacking X, Y, and Z. And really when we were doing that, I felt very scared because it felt like it was something that I shouldn't be saying. It felt like I should be like, GW gives me so much money, it gives me a place to be. It felt like I was being ungrateful, but they were about it. And they heard us and they made those changes immediately. And that's not the case anymore. I'm really excited to be a part of the new transfer student orientation, which is going to be happening on the 19th next month. And seeing the way that process has completely changed the transfer experience and how much more encouraged people feel when they're coming in now has been so important to me.

Daria Grishina

Building off of that, I'm definitely grateful that for my orientation I was kind of placed within a transfer group. So the new student orientation takes place for all students, but then within that we had smaller discussion groups. and where we had a tour of the school and other activities within smaller subgroups. And so there we were placed with only other transfers. And I think also having an older transfer student speak to us about their experience and how they were involved on campus was definitely very great mentorship from their end, so I'm very grateful for that. For me, the only kind of issue that I faced was a little bit with the credit transfers. So I had a pretty smooth experience. Everything transferred except for at Georgetown, the language credits don't transfer. And that was a bit unfortunate because I'd taken nine credits worth of languages my previous year. And so that was kind of a lot to lose. And so the only way that you could get those credits back was to take another language class at Georgetown. And for me, I'd gotten to a level of Spanish that I was already kind of pretty happy with, like an advanced level, and I hadn't really intended on pursuing more classes. So the only kind of setback is that then in the fall I had to take a Spanish class again when I didn't necessarily want to be there. And it's just that I had no option to take any test or place out of it to like show my abilities. So that's just kind of one thing I would change in the process is maybe to have the option to do a certain placement test for languages or for any other classes.

Darianny Bautista

I think for me, I've grown very accustomed to understanding that a lot of the systems when it comes to higher education don't often and are not designed to consider or center the experiences of underserved students. And so not only did I not know how to, for example, do a CSS profile, which I did not know that even was until December, a month before I was transferring to GW, but just not having, in addition to the fact that there was no infrastructure before me getting to GW, there was no student association, there was no dedicated orientation team. There was no dedicated staff in the admissions office to transfer students. Really we were just kind of, it was a free for all and we were kind of sent in into this new institution, to this new city to kind of navigate it on our own. And so not only was there the aspect of not having this infrastructure which all students were struggling with, but also being somebody who's an underserved student, I don't know how to navigate even my financial aid processes. I don't know how to necessarily obtain half of the records that I need to obtain. And so a very big issue for me was that because there were no support services at GW for financial literacy for prospective and incoming students when it came to CSS profiles, when it comes to financial aid, when it comes to applying to transfer scholarships, none of those were available. And so I actually ended up messing up my CSS profile. And again, I come from a single parent home. CSS profile requires you to put in both of your parents. I didn't have my second parent. And so it ended up getting very prolonged. I didn't get my financial aid offer until a month into being at GW. And then even though I had an estimated family contribution of negative 15,000 for my family, I ended up getting charged $20,000 for that semester. And it was extremely scary because my mom, again, we're very low income. If my mom could have a negative credit score, she would have it. And there was no way that we could get any loan, even like a plus parent loan. And it was thanks to actually one of the heads of the registrar's office of the financial aid office. He ended up taking that entire balance out for me. I was, again, so, grateful because I also didn't end up getting my Phi Theta Kappa honors scholarship from GW. GW had done a very poor job at communicating that spring transfers were not eligible for the PTK scholarship, but fall transfers were. And so that was something that I really worked on throughout my two years at GW is like trying to garner the transparency when it comes to transfer merit scholarships, but truly considering that a lot of these processes don't center financial need and the needs of very underserved or more vulnerable students, I think one of the best ways that an institution can really consider and center the intersecting identities of transfer students, especially those that are coming from low-income backgrounds, students of color, is to center their experience in financial processes. GW actually, in collaboration with me, we started a financial literacy program where students are now able to view videos. They can hop on Zoom throughout each transfer cycle and ask us questions about the CSS profile. We support them with their CSS profile application. And that made all the difference. And it was thanks to them listening to me and my experience that was able to happen. And so I really do believe that transfer students deserve to be financed and that's one of the best ways to kind of bridge that gap.

Dra. Loida Gonzalez

As a follow-up, I wanted to share this and I've shared it on my podcast early on in the beginning stages that one of the first things that I was told early in my transfer career was we don't have these resources because transfer students should already know. They're coming from a community college. They already know how to claim their e-mail. They should know how to claim their ID. What is your reaction to that?

Darianny Bautista

I didn't know how to do any of that. Actually, I had to call them. I don't know how to, I'll go into my portal. I don't know how to get into my e-mail. I didn't know how to even get into the G website, which is where you see your courses. I didn't know how to register for classes. I didn't register for classes until the week before. And I think, honestly, it's insensitive because it takes a lot of privilege to know those things. A lot of community colleges are very under-resourced. My last year in community college, the governor of New Jersey had actually proposed a $20 million budget cut towards community colleges in the state. Mind you, we're one of the states with the highest ranking for education. And so there's a lot of irony there. And so I think there's this assumption that, oh, you're going to community college, you have this previous experience, you'll be better resourced. Not the case at all. I think in order to be sensitive and understanding of those experiences, we can't make those improper assumptions as to what resources someone may or may not have.

Dr. Heather Adams

All right, so we've got a bunch of self-starters here, and you've advocated for yourself very well. You've mentioned a few people, Dr. Foote, was it Tim Foote? Shout out to Tim Foote. and maybe organizations or departments that have supported you along the way. Are there other tools or specific individuals or elements of the experience that were super helpful, that were like, catalyzed your experience in some way?

Naomi Long

At GW, definitely to give a huge shout out to our associate director of admissions, Christine Butler.

Dr. Heather Adams 

Yay, Christine.

Naomi Long

She's my hero. I love her so much. I remember trying to navigate taking over the Transfer Student Association and feeling really lost. We as an association were like one of the least funded on campus. We had no money, we had no resources, we had no office. It was really overwhelming trying to do that with an incoming class. We were expecting like 3 or 400 new transfer students. And we were expected then to attend the sessions with them and be a resource for them. And we didn't have anything. I was like, I don't know how to answer these questions because, especially at GW, we have about. almost an even 50-50 split between horizontal and vertical transfer students. And I'm a vertical transfer student. I don't know anything about being a horizontal transfer. I don't know what it's like to be at a four-year institution and navigating to another four-year institution. So it was overwhelming for me, definitely. And I remember reaching out to Chris and being like, I'm getting asked all these questions about housing, about financial aid, about things that I don't have resources to. And she was like, let's get coffee. And she sat down with me for two hours and just listened to everything. And as soon as we were done, she turned around and she said, we're gonna figure this out. She gave us funding. She gave us food to bring to our events. She gave us institutional support that I didn't even know was possible at GW. And it was because she cared. It was one person made that huge change. and really felt like we could build something at GW and make a home for transfer students. And we have. And I'm so excited now we're working with advising in three of our different schools at GW to work on first year experience classes for transfer students, which is a brand new thing. We never had this before, where transfer students now, as they come into GW, will be able to take classes that teach you how to register for courses, how to navigate applying for graduation, how to navigate appealing your financial aid, things like that are so relevant specifically for transfer students that other students may not know how to or other advisors even may not know how to approach. And so we have, because of Chris, been able to build this beautiful community and it was genuinely just her going out of her way and being encouraging to us.

Daria Grishina

For me, I had a lot of opportunities of different types of mentorship in my transfer transition and that I found really helpful. So there is, for example, in the summer, we were paired with a transfer student from a previous year that was most of the time it was a current senior. And so We got, it was like an e-mail list. There's around 20 students or so paired to one other older transfer and they held Zoom sessions as well as just e-mail threads where we could talk about any questions we had or we could learn about the older transfers experiences with their involvement in clubs. So that I found helpful. There was also this one time there was an invite. It was actually an informal gathering at alums. house. And so that was also, that wasn't only for transfers, that was for all new students, but there were also a couple transfers there. So it was just kind of a gathering and you would get to talk to different people. Also there were some current students answering a couple questions. So gatherings in informal settings like that prior to the start of the school year definitely made me feel welcomed. Another experience I would highlight is Escape, which is a Georgetown program also for first years, but they have a special group dedicated to transfers. So it's for one weekend and you go on a retreat to the mountains in Virginia and you just do a lot of group activities. Like hiking and then they have, you sing songs together. Yeah, it's kind of like summer camp vibes. Yeah, but that was great. And there were also the leaders of that escape weekend were also older transfers. And so they also talked about any challenges they faced and also their transition. So I think kind of events like that where it was especially kind of outside of a more formal academic setting that was kind of less pressuring. You kind of got to get away from any academic stress and just kind of get to know people in a more informal setting was very great for me.

Darianny Bautista

Can I get invited to that? [laughter] For me, of course, I mentioned Tim Foote. He was absolutely amazing. And like Naomi, Chris Butler is my hero. I actually just grabbed coffee with her last week. Chris was the person who I spoke to on my second day on campus when I went to go complain about the fact that I hadn't gotten my PTK scholarship and she is the person who offered me my job. She cornered me into starting my job as a transfer admissions ambassador. She also cornered me into starting my role as the first transfer orientation leader. She also cornered me into starting the Transfer Student Association. And so I truly like the infrastructure that is in place today that Naomi and I have been able to pioneer would not be possible if it hadn't been for Chris really like pushing and wanting and desiring and really centering that transfer student experience. We were talking about it like last week. She was like, I know I had to push you into it because I was like, I need to like academically stay afloat. I don't have time to become the transfer student admissions ambassador. Why am I responsible for now creating all this infrastructure and leading this charge. But very quickly I found my place in that work. I found my passion in that work. And I'm now working in education justice entirely because of that. And if there's one more person that's different that I would have to also credit, it would have to be Professor Seamus Gibbons at Bergen Community College. He was my summer English professor and he actually dedicated his entire course that summer. It was only six weeks long. to affirmative action and learning about college admissions from the lens of an underserved community. And it was the first time I had ever heard of affirmative action. I had ever heard that it was different from where I had come from. I did not know that educational disparities were a broader issue. I had no idea that there was anything, any patterns beyond what me and my family had gone through in those cycles. I didn't know that was a broader issue. I had really started to believe that I was dumb and that. College was not for me, school was not for me, and that I needed to drop out. And I was really teetering in dropping out. And it was that course, it was Professor Seamus Gibbons pouring into me. It was me learning and having that opportunity to education and learning that I wasn't the problem and that I was just a product of my environment that really changed my mindset and the way that I looked at the I stopped internalizing and I started moving away from the idea that I didn't belong in the classroom to understanding that I was underserved. And that just meant that my path was not going to be linear. It meant that it wasn't going to look like the traditional path and that I was going to have to work harder. But it didn't mean that I didn't belong in a classroom or that I wasn't built for an education. It just meant that I needed different support services and I found that at GW.

Dr. Heather Adams

All right. So you are in this room, as Loida said, full of change makers and folks who can affect things at their campuses. So we kind of want to get really direct. What would you like folks in this room to know that they can take back to their teams about what they could do differently? We're gonna talk about the good things. We talked about a lot of the great stuff, but I wanna kind of do like a start, stop, keep sort of exercise, right? Is there one thing you would say to folks in the room that you think institutions should stop doing?

Naomi Long

I would say the biggest flaw that I see a lot of times that admissions officers tend to kind of overlook when it comes to transfer orientation is transfer students need a home. Like they can't just come to your campus and they can't just get like two dozen emails telling them where to go and how to navigate. That can be really overwhelming for people. And a lot of us are first generation students. A lot of us are underserved communities. A lot of us are part-time, we have part-time jobs and we're handling other things. Many transfer students have families. There's a lot to navigate. And so when you throw resources at them, it can be done in a helpful sense. It can be, I'm trying to give them as much access as I can to this. And it can really easily get completely lost because oftentimes there's just bigger issues. So what we're working at GW to do right now is to build somewhere where when you look up transfer students GW, there's a page. And there's a page that says transfer students on it. And there's a page that tells you, here's where to go for this, here's where to go for housing, here's the timeline for financial aid, here's where you can find resources to this. Do you want to connect with students? Here's a resource for that. To answer all of those immediate questions that transfer students are inevitably going to have, rather than having them do all these steps to 1st set up their e-mail and then receive 24 emails from 24 different offices and have to jump between those, Having something that is a one stop that gives you, here's what you need to know, ask us if you need more help. That is so important for transfer students because frankly, a lot of times transfer students just, they get so distracted by everything going on. Sometimes they don't need the social events. Sometimes they don't need to go to every coffee chat and networking event and meet other students. Sometimes they need to know where the financial aid office is. And that needs to be easily accessible for them. Because if I'm running late to work, but my financial aid offer hasn't come in yet and I'm stressed about that, it can be a lot. And it's a reason why a lot of transfer students end up stopping out because they feel overwhelmed, because they feel like they don't have time to go to six different offices and look through all these different emails. So having something where transfer students can get the answers that they need immediately, even if it's just a page, even if it's just a webinar, even something like that, it can really change a lot of experiences for transfer students.

Dr. Heather Adams

All right, I like this. So institutions could stop making assumptions about transfers that they're exactly the same as maybe another student community and start this one-stop shop focused working with students to create resources for students. I love that. All right, so start, stop, keep. What are you thinking, Daria?

Daria Grishina

I honestly can't really think of a specific element for what to stop, but I would definitely second Naomi's point that institutions should stop assuming that all transfer students are the same and just providing as many opportunities as possible to integrate themselves into the community socially, academically, professionally.

Darianny Bautista

I think I second both Daria and Naomi. And I would say start financing your transfer students. I recently got a grant from an organization called Go Passport that focuses on giving grants to first generation low-income students to do internships over the summers. And if organizations like that can see the investment in first generation low-income students and students from different backgrounds, in more diverse backgrounds, then I think we as a collective can see the value in having transfer students who are truly such a diverse pool of applicants that come from so many different backgrounds and walks of life. We can see the value in having them at our institutions and having them pursue a higher education. There are not many merit scholarship opportunities for transfer students. It's like a historical thing. You have to go get the Jack Kent Cook Scholarship if you're lucky. And that's like a below, I think, like 1% acceptance rate. I have a couple friends that are Jack Kent Cook Scholars, and that's amazing for them. But I would not have been able to attend GW had it not been for my financial aid offer. I would not have been able to live half of the life that I've lived up until this point. My circumstances have completely changed because I was financed, because I was valued, and I was seen as an investment into the GW community and into the future of higher education. And transfer students truly deserve to be financed. So start financing your transfer students. Start considering them in your budget, not just the fall transfers, but also your spring transfers, and make sure that they have access to financial aid, access to scholarships, because it's extremely important.

Dr. Heather Adams

I think maybe we should throw it to the audience.

Dra. Loida Gonzalez

Yeah, let's get to the fun part.

Dr. Heather Adams

Yeah. All right, y'all. Pressure's on. There's mics in the middle of the room. What questions do you have for these amazing ****** women powerhouses here? What do you want to know? Let's get into it. Hi.

Speaker 2

Hi, good morning. So surprise, I'm from George Washington University. I'm the university registrar. So I just want to say, while I don't have a specific question, also huge shout out to Chris Butler. She's fantastic. Pretty sure we all want to be here when we grow up.

Dr. Heather Adams

All right, we're going to get her for a keynote next year, I think.

Audience 1

She is absolutely fantastic. But I did just want to thank you guys, really all three of you, as to an alum, a former GW student, and a current GW student for everything that you guys have done for our student population and for our transfer students. I recently have been having the pleasure of writing a portion of our self-study for our re-accreditation. And the Transfer Student Association is one of the things in talking with Chris that we are highlighting in my chapter. And really just wanted to thank you guys for the transformation for our student population, specifically on transfers that you guys have made.

Audience 2

Good morning. Thanks so much for being here. It's exciting to hear your stories and learn a little bit more about your experience. Excuse me. My name is Kathy Clark and I serve as registrar at a private school in Pennsylvania. And I am very curious, we've not talked a lot or heard a lot about this this morning. What has your transfer experience been like with credit evaluations? So how did your transfer transcript, how were those courses evaluated and then applied to your program of study. If you can talk a little bit about that.

Naomi Long

Yeah, I had a big problem with the way that GW did transfer credits the first time that I came to GW. The process that it happened, I think it's a little bit different now, but when I went through the transfer process, you submit your transcript. And for me, I had transcripts from like 3 different colleges, right? So first of all, it was expensive. It was a lot of money. As a person, again, I don't have a lot of money. I work three jobs. It was a lot to do that, especially because I applied to more colleges than GW. So 3 transcripts to X amount of colleges, hundreds of dollars. It's really expensive. So that was tough. And then once my transcripts went through to GW, it took quite a while to get a response, which was scary, right? Because I had different options, but GW was like my shining star. I wanted to go to GW so bad that I committed without knowing my transfer credits and without a financial aid offer, which was terrifying, right? Because I knew that if it was more than $20,000, I would have to drop out. And so that was really scary. And it was a huge discouragement to begin with that, to begin with such low hopes about a college that I was so excited for. And then when I did get my credit response back, I wasn't able to talk to anyone about it, right? Like they gave me a response, they gave these credits have transferred, these haven't, this is where they went. And most of them were just gen. eds that did not count toward my degree. And then I didn't have anyone to talk to about it. There wasn't an e-mail. And in fact, the e-mail that I got about it said, please don't respond to this e-mail. And so I was like, shoot. So I didn't know where to go. And that was tough. And that is the number one question that I get asked now as the president of the Transfer Student Association. When new students come in, they're like, this is not right. Who do I talk to about this? And the way that we handle credit appeals at GW is very much on an individual basis. You go to your advisor and you really don't get to advocate for yourself. You say, this is what I want, this is what I think should happen, and then the advisor takes it from there. And if it happens, it happens. And if it doesn't, that's it. Right? And most of the time it doesn't. And that can be really discouraging, especially for older students who are like, I don't want to take university writing again. Right? I've taken university writing three times. That's too many times. I know how to write. I think. So, and then when I did end up taking university writing at GW for the third time, I didn't do that well in it. because I was in a room entirely with 18 year olds, right? Which is fine. I was late to work almost every day afterwards because it was on our secondary campus. So that was tough. And I just, I was so tired. I didn't want to do it again to have to prove to my college that I am worth being in these other classes again. That was so tough. And at GW, there's ways to get around it and there's ways to get credit for the things that you've already done, but it's hard. And you have to advocate for yourself a lot. And that wasn't always a problem with me because I'm an extremely stubborn person. And so it ended up working out for me. For a lot of our students, it doesn't. And it is unfair to expect students to have the time and the resources and the self-confidence to be able to do that. Because a lot of them don't. A lot of them are first generation. A lot of them don't know that you can do that. A lot of them don't know that you can argue with your college, right? And so it can be really, really difficult for students to then have to take an extra semester or an extra year and spend more money and spend more time. And so I would say that is like, it's a huge part of the transfer experience is making sure that you as a registrar, you as whoever handles courses at your college is accessible. And that is even if like sometimes nos are nos, right, for transfer credits and that's fine. But be there to have the conversation about it.

Dr. Heather Adams

So Daria, you're kind of, you're dealing with this right now. Right, especially with the Spanish classes that you're brought in.

Daria Grishina

I mean, I transferred, it was like last fall.

Dr. Heather Adams

Okay, got it. Got it. Any other issues other than the languages?

Daria Grishina

No, I mean, yeah, the languages was kind of mostly it. I know it kind of depends, like some of my other transfer friends that I know of, like they didn't really have as smooth of a process of getting their classes accepted. I don't really know how that system works exactly. I think it kind of just depends on maybe the school or the type of specific requirements that they're looking to satisfy in every class. But for me, the process was pretty smooth. I think I was able to receive my transcript from GW to send it over, pretty easily accessible for a small fee or maybe even for free. And then after that, once I confirmed my acceptance, I had the transfer dean reach out to me and kind of explain the process. And she asked to send over again my transcript and also just the different syllabuses for each class. And then I think it took around a week or two for her to look over all the materials. And then she sent me kind of like a spreadsheet of what had gotten approved and like for what category had gotten counted for. So everything, if it wasn't able to pertain to one of their specific requirements, it was just taken as an elective. And another thing that Georgetown did is they waive, I think it's like a first year seminar that freshmen have to do, but they waive it for the transfers. So that was nice that there was like one requirement that we didn't have to go through again.

Darianny Bautista

For me, I had 12 credits from a Spanish CLEP exam that I had taken in community college that GW just would not take. They refused. So I was 12 credits behind when I started my time at GW. Other than that, I was very fortunate to my community college actually giving my transcripts to institutions for free. And GW was actually the only college that I applied to that did not have a pipeline partnership with my community college. I had only applied to two schools out of state. I had applied to GW and NYU. NYU had a pipeline scholarship and partnership with my university, with my community college. GW did not. But because I went to a community college that is one of the largest, and I believe it's the second or first in the state of New Jersey in terms of ranking, all of my credits other than that CLEP exam actually transferred through. And so I still was very, very fortunate to have that opportunity. I felt like especially because everyone, every single one of my friends that had transferred with me were having some very serious problems with getting their credits evaluated. I had a friend who had transferred from the University of Washington in Seattle. I had another friend who had transferred from Ocean Community College in New Jersey, and almost half of their credits were not. actually being accepted by the university. And I think I credit a lot of the opportunity of my credits actually transferring to what institution I attended. Because I went to Bergen Community College, GW, actually had a better relationship in terms of how those credits actually transferred. And actually a year later, I ended up going with one of our former admissions officers at GW for the transfer team to Bergen Community College because they wanted to formally start a partnership program with Bergen Community College. And so I really like to say on the terms of registrars and actually having those credits evaluated, having those partnerships available is extremely important because it truly made my experience so much better.

Naomi Long

Brookdale is number one in the state.

Dr. Heather Adams

So we probably have time for one more question if anybody, oh yay, go for it.

Audience 3

Hello, is this on? Can you hear me?

Dr. Heather Adams

Yeah, we can hear you.

Audience 3

Hi, I'm Owen. I work at the greenhouse team at College Board leading the transfer success team. And thank you for sharing your experiences. As a designer and researcher myself, I love hearing from students, understanding your pain points, what you do, what you use, how you've filled in gaps and so forth. So I'm going to ask a question sort of building upon that credit equivalency question you just had. Tell me more if you did or how you did this, any pathway planning you may have done to help sort of map out your entire journey or think about your community college, not just the credit transfer, but where you want to go in the degree. And if you were able to sort of navigate a pathway, because it's clear you've done some things, but I want to understand more what tools or things you've used. And also what maybe you would have liked to have had access to. What would have made that pathway planning easier? Because I imagine it has been difficult. So I'd love to hear more about that.

Naomi Long

Absolutely. GW has this really awesome resource called Degree Map. which it will intake your credits and it will tell you, this is what you need to go, here are your options, here's who you talk to about it for a degree that you are taking, for something you're enrolled in, or something that maybe even you're just curious about. You have the ability to build your own really plan of what you want college to look like.

Dr. Heather Adams

It's digital, it's online. You enter all your stuff in or your transcripts automatically.

Naomi Long

It's already in there. So it's entirely like the student can control it. You can edit it to see whatever that you want to see and how certain classes could fit into your overall plan of how you want to graduate on time. I use Degree Map like every day. I love that thing. It is amazing. It is definitely helpful in visualizing how you achieve your degree at GW, which is helpful for me being that was one of the things that I struggled with coming into GW. GW also has a fantastic career services program where you can get help with your resume, get help with your cover letter, and doing applications. So we have a lot of fantastic resources at GW. And that is the reason that I transferred here. So I would say that the number one thing that I think that we lack is an advisor for transfer students, right? We have advisors for classes. We have advisors for degree programs. We have advisors based on school. We do not have an advisor who know what it's like to be a transfer student. And that changes everything. They don't have to be a transfer student themselves. But a lot of times we struggle with transfer students come in, they talk to their advisor, their advisor is like, I don't know how to handle this, or I don't know where to go to, and that's fine, that can be true. But it can often be very overwhelming, both for the admissions team and the advising team, and for the transfer student themselves to be like, now nobody's giving me answers, because nobody knows. And so that is something that we're working with the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences with right now about designating at least transfer training for our advising team. Because we have like 400 transfers coming in. That's an important thing to know because they all have questions. And so it's important to have someone who knows the answers to those.

Dr. Heather Adams

Other thoughts on tools?

Darianny Bautista

I think I second everything that Naomi said. This is why she's the president of the transfer association. I think Degree Map is absolutely phenomenal. And to the point of having a transfer specific advisor, I was very fortunate that in the College of Columbia Arts and Sciences, the one advisor that knows everything about transfer students, his name is Bobby Lavia, love that man. He was my advisor from day one at GW. I just got really lucky to where I selected, out of the four options that I had of an advisor, I selected the person that was the right one for me. And I was actually able to get my double degree in philosophy because of that, because of degree map, because Bobby was there supporting me. I actually went back to my community college and actually ended up taking another class and transferring that back into GW because GW allows for students after matriculation to transfer up to 12 more credits. And Bobby walked me through that entire process. And so having a transfer specific advisor or just an advisor that knew about transfer students and what their needs were and how to navigate those processes really made all of the difference.

Dra. Loida Gonzalez

Great. I want to do a quick round here. Do it. Razzle dazzle, really fast. So help us complete this sentence. Transfer students should be able to count on…

Naomi Long

Anybody? It doesn't matter actually, in my opinion, where the office is that the transfer student can count on, just that there's somebody. Right? One person, for me it was Chris, one person changes everything for a transfer student. It can make or break them when it comes to stopping out or transferring out.

Daria Grishina

I would say I would highlight kind of three things. First, I'd say kind of to be able to count on yourself and just kind of like it can be kind of uncertain sometimes, but just knowing. how much hard work you put into this application and everything that it took for you to get here. So you just have to kind of trust in yourself, also believe in yourself, know that you do belong where you are right now. So having that self-confidence. Two, I would highlight the institution and having specific people to reach out to as we talked about. So like a transfer dean or just professors that are maybe familiar with the transfer process or that can answer your questions. And then three, I would say kind of the school and the community for being able to host like school events and like school spirit, for example, and just school wide events, which would not only help the transfers, but also just the school as a whole. So there were a lot of kind of events that Georgetown hosted, like there's like a back to school barbecue or like homecoming where it's like the entire community with like students from all different grades. and alum and whoever else, so kind of school-wide events, because it is nice to have transfer-specific experiences as well and special mentorship groups, but then you also do want to integrate into the wider school community and so having school-wide events is also really important.

Darianny Bautista

Like I said previously, I think financing for transfer students is extremely important. But in addition to that, I think transfer students navigate the professional landscape completely different. And I think mentorship changes your life. I actually have mentored now 26 students at GW. All from different backgrounds, first gen. transfer students. One of my students actually just graduated from GW 2 years early. I was his orientation leader. It was insane. I was like, I don't even know how he did that, but he made it happen. And we were just talking on the phone last week. But mentorship really changes the game. One of the last things that I was working on during my time at GW was actually starting a peer mentorship program in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences because often the person who knows the career landscape better isn't the advisor in the career services office, it's the senior that has navigated it. And also transfer students, we have to be a lot more audacious when it comes to getting an internship, when it comes to getting a professional opportunity because we just got there. We just got to this university a year, two years, three years after everybody else has already been there building their network. I am one of the very few college grads of this year. I graduated with four job offers and I have my dream job right now, but it wasn't because I was super supported professionally at GW. It was because I was extremely audacious And I had to be because I had no other choice. And if transfer students could be given the mentorship and professional resources to actually be able to transition into better internships, into internship opportunities, period. Like, we're already in a time where it's hard to get a job, imagine what it's like when you don't have the resources to even start.

Dr. Heather Adams

All right, y'all. Well, this was an audacious panel. And so let's like give it up for the panel. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I can't wait to see what you all get up to next because you're just, you're killing it. So anything, any final word, wrap up words.

Dra. Loida Gonzalez

No, thank you for your voices. I think that the true success of transfer is to listening to the students that we serve and you all advocating helps us, helps guide us, it's our compass. And so I want to just also let you know we're here. This is a new conference. We're here because of you. And we aspire to do better, all of us do, aspire to do better for future generations of transfer students. So we're working really, really hard and we're really, really dedicated because we believe in all the things that you said. So thank you for that.