Finishing Up the Semester by Transferring Step-by-Step Guide on How to Transfer
Rocky Sanchez, Reporter & Designer To transfer or not to transfer, that is the question. Making the decision to attend a twoyear institution in a transfer program means students intend to continue their education with a bachelor’s degree in mind. “Most of the time, students come to enroll and are not necessarily aware of the importance of knowing where they want to transfer. All four-year institutions that they plan to transfer to, they each have their own requirements for their four-year degree,” said Miranda Engelken, Business Instructor, who advises accounting transfer students. Transfer advisors want to give students the best advice possible when deciding where their next step will be. It is essential to talk with them about where they want to go and if that school matches their interest. “Each four-year college has their own degree requirements on their web
▲ Photo by HutchCC Marketing ▲ Business Instructor Miranda Engelken is a business transfer advisor. Her office is located in Lockman Hall 100.
4
page, and usually you can go to their web page and just type in transfer, and it will break down by community college you are transferring from as far as what you should take here that would transfer to their program there,” Engelken said. “We also have a lot of institutions that are starting to do dual advising. Wichita State University does a great job, K-State started their own resource site for transfer students, and Fort Hays has good transfer dialog.” The first step a student must take is contacting the transfer college to set up an appointment and work with a transfer advisor. Students who want to complete an Associate of Science or Associate of Art degree will benefit in the long run to have it completed before going to a four-year college. A degree in hand shows their progress and intention to complete the next step. Leading the advising team at Hutchinson Community College is Christopher Lau, Coordinator Advising, Career Development, and Counseling Services. “One of the top reasons [to attend HutchCC] is because of the affordability of community college and we see this even more pronounced with the pandemic because you’ll have students that otherwise would’ve gone to a university, but with those universities converting classes to online, the students think ‘I can take nearly the same course and pay less money to take it at the community college,’ Lau said. “That’s one of the top reasons students choose us as a stepping stone.” Another reason is the strength of being able to transfer to another
university, the State of Kansas has the Board of Regents that aligns general education courses so they are transferable between institutions. “Third reason would be how much smaller we are,” said Lau. “Let’s say you want that university experience, and you have to take general biology. Imagine what it would feel like to be non-pandemic in a lecture hall with 800 students and not feeling like you have a connection with the instructor or really anyone else in the class cause it’s just so big. Whereas you can take that same course here and know the instructor’s name, and they know your name.” A list of transfer areas can be found on the HutchCC website for students interested in what the college offers. “For example, if students want to get into [Kansas University] pharmaceutical program, HutchCC is the place to start,” Lau said. “We have almost a 100 percent acceptance rate of students taking pharmacy here and then transferring to KU.” When it comes to taking steps to transfer, it is essential to talk about this with an advisor. “Talk to your HutchCC advisor because we have dual advising relationships with many of the universities in Kansas. So for example, let’s say a student came to me and told me I want to go to Wichita State,’ Lau said.‘I would have the student go to Wichita State’s website, fill out a form, and they would request an advisor at Wichita State even now while you’re at HutchCC. If the student does not know which university they plan to transfer to, there is no pressure to select one. “Let the university court you.
Dragon’s Tale • Student Transfer
004-005 transfer rocky.indd 4
10/1/20 1:02 PM
