Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

2 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

2 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

3 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

3 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

3 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

3 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

3 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

3 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

3 days ago
Doing This One Thing Helps Community College Students Transfer to a 4-Year University
The-Conversation
By The Conversation
Published 5 years ago on
November 26, 2020

Share

Elizabeth has always wanted to be a doctor. While a high school senior, she was hoping to achieve her dream through attending the state’s main university campus, but she was put on a waiting list.

A friend talked her into taking a path less traveled, by starting out at a local two-year college and then transferring to the state university.

Xueli Wang

The Conversation 

She spoke with her academic adviser at her community college about the ins and outs of transferring and explored options through her dream university’s transfer connections program. What really made a key difference, though, was a meeting with an adviser from her dream university during her first year at her two-year college.

The adviser was from the psychology department, the major into which she was hoping to transfer.

“She told me about what I’m doing so far and what I have to do yet before transfer,” said Elizabeth, who was already struggling to manage diabetes and a hectic schedule. Elizabeth left that meeting and worked hard to improve her GPA based on the adviser’s recommendation.

Dominic, an aspiring engineer, did something similar. While enrolled at a two-year school, he met with some of the professors at the four-year school that he hoped to attend. He met with them during periods when they didn’t have classes. A cousin who attended the university introduced him to the professors.

“They really helped get me familiarized with what life is like over there and what classes will be like,” Dominic said.

Two years after they started at their two-year colleges, both Elizabeth and Dominic – whose names have been changed to protect their identity – successfully transferred into their desired majors at a four-year university. Their experiences are not just anecdotes. They exemplify the larger findings from my study on community college students who hope to transfer to a four-year university.

Reaching Out Early Matters

I worked with my research team to follow about 1,670 first-year students who started at two-year colleges in fall 2014 in a Midwestern state. Seventy-three percent of those students wanted to transfer to a four-year university. We kept in touch with these students through 2019 as they shared with us their experiences and stories of being drawn closer to or pushed away from their dreams of transferring to a four-year university.

Part of what we found is that when students connected during their first term with advisers or professors at the school where they wanted to transfer, they were more likely to transfer eventually.

In fact, the probability of transferring for students in my study who do this is 38%, compared with 23% for students who don’t connect with anyone at the school where they want to transfer.

This finding is important because, nationally, while nearly 80% of community college students set out to transfer to four-year schools, only 25% actually do.

And for years, community colleges carried most of the burden, or blame, when it comes to advising prospective transfer students, and four-year institutions have been left out of this discussion, as if supporting pre-transfer students was solely a community college issue.

It is not, because whether a student ultimately transfers or not is shaped by both community colleges and four-year institutions. This finding drives home the importance of community colleges and four-year colleges working together to improve transfer access. I make this point in a book I wrote, “On My Own:
The Challenge and Promise of Building Equitable STEM Transfer Pathways
,” which is based on my study.

What It Means for Colleges

Some may think these findings show the importance of students taking the initiative to reach out to the college they want to attend. But I would argue that my findings show the importance of four-year colleges being more intentional about helping community college students transfer. Specifically, I think that officials at four-year colleges should treat community college students as prospective four-year college students. I also believe that they should reward advisers and faculty who take a more active role in the transfer process. In addition to in-person opportunities, community college students should also be enabled to connect with advisers and faculty online to make it easier for all parties involved.

 

[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]

It needs to be the new normal to make sure transfer students are seen as individuals with talent and a contribution to make through the transfer pathway. They are more than numbers. Elizabeth’s and Dominic’s stories illustrate the difference that genuine personal relationships with advisers and faculty at four-year colleges can make to chart a successful transfer.The Conversation

Xueli Wang, Professor of Higher Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

DON'T MISS

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

UP NEXT

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

UP NEXT

Trump’s Administration Finds Harvard Violated Students’ Civil Rights, WSJ Reports

UP NEXT

University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration

UP NEXT

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

UP NEXT

US House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

UP NEXT

Why Is Usually Sleepy Fresno County Schools Superintendent Race Suddenly Hot?

UP NEXT

US Justice Department to Probe Hiring Practices at University of California

UP NEXT

What Does the Fresno County Schools Superintendent Do? Read This Q&A to Find Out

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Orders CA to Strip Trans Athlete of Medals

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

2 days ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

2 days ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

2 days ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

2 days ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

2 days ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

2 days ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

2 days ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

2 days ago

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

2 days ago

Boxer Chavez Jr Expected to Be Deported to Mexico to Serve Sentence, Mexican President Says

2 days ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

Can you hear it — that loud roar coming from the East? It’s the sound of 1.4 billion Chinese laughing at us. Thomas L. Friedman The New Yo...

23 hours ago

Solar Farm in Riesel, Texas
23 hours ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

Caitlin Clark Signs T-Shirt
23 hours ago

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

The Madre Fire burning near New Cuyama has scorched 70,801 acres as of Friday, July 4, 2025, afternoon, making it California’s largest wildfire of the year, with only 10% containment and multiple evacuation zones in place. (CalFire)
2 days ago

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

2 days ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

A pumpjack operates at the Vermilion Energy site in Trigueres, France, June 14, 2024. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 days ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

Billy Wayne Sinisgalli, a 54-year-old transient known locally as Wayne, was found dead along a rural Fresno road Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a suspicious death. (Fresno County SO)
2 days ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend