By Abigail McCoy / Full360 Reporter

Kaitlyn Jones, a senior Biology/Botany major, started her college experience at University of Tennessee; a large public university in Knoxville, Tennessee with a student population of over 20,000 students. After a year and a half, she felt she needed a change.

So she transferred. On the hunt for a smaller campus and more experiential learning, Jones found Delaware Valley University, with a little help from her mom. She knows that her college experience isn’t unique, so she recently started up the Transfer Student Association to connect with other students who have had similar experiences. 

“So the transfer student association is a club run by transfer students for transfer students, just trying to improve the transfer student experience,” Jones said. “We come from different places but we all ended up at DelVal”. 

The transfer student association is still a new organization, it officially became a club last semester, but it provides transfer students the opportunity to meet other transfer students and create better connections. Transfer students can come from really small schools or really big schools. 

According to Jones, “The majority of people who are in my club did come from larger schools. Obviously there are a lot of schools, like community colleges around DelVal that have an equivalency program… so a few people do that, but for the most part we’re kind of from larger schools”.

With the majority of transfer students coming from larger schools, what’s drawing people into DelVal? Coming from a school with over 20,000 students to a school with around 2,000 students can be a drastic difference. For the most recent semester (spring 2024), there were around 44 new transfer students, however more transfer during the fall semester, according to the office of admission. So what is bringing all of the transfer students here? Jones explained a bit as to what drew her to DelVal and why she decided to transfer.

“I really wanted a smaller school, more access to professors, stuff like that. I really wanted that experiential learning”, said Jones. “So my mom was like “let’s just go tour DelVal” and I was like “no, I don’t want to do it” and she was like “lets tour DelVal come on”… and I walk through it and I was like ‘this place is really cool.’” 

Even though the majority of the transfer student association come from larger schools, transfer students also come from smaller schools, such as community colleges. Emmy Traband, a senior environmental science major with a specialization in habitat management, transferred from Montgomery County Community College, which has a student population of around 9,000 students. 

“While I was there, they had a list of schools that they had transfer agreements with, and DelVal was one of them,” Traband said. “And I’m an environmental science major and out of all of the schools on that list that made the most sense so, here I am!”

Traband is also the treasurer of the transfer student association. With the transfer student association, it gives the chance for students who have had similar experiences to connect with one another. During each interview, Jones and Traband expressed how Delaware Valley University provided new experiences that they hadn’t heard of or thought about before transferring. 

“I’d never heard of soil science before I got here and now it’s like I’m going to get a certification for it after I graduate,” said Traband. “So like, that’s pretty unique. Like if I was at West Chester or something I don’t think I would’ve found a subculture of soil science.”

Coming from a transfer student’s perspective, when asked about life at Delaware Valley University, Jones said, “I think it’s awesome. I really was not enjoying college at my old school, it was just kind of like every day I was getting up and I was like “oh god, I have to do this again”, I didn’t have a huge group of friends that I was excited to see or do things with. So it was really nice to come here and people actually go to campus events, like all the time and they have such a good time. I’ve never had such a good time at bingo but I love bingo.”

Being a transfer student can be a vastly different college experience, but each student has found their own place at Delaware Valley. Each student has found what makes DelVal, DelVal to them. 

Jones stated that “what makes DelVal, DelVal is the curiosity of the people that go here. There wouldn’t be all of these student research projects and new clubs and stuff if people were very complacent and just wanted to sit in their dorms all day”. 

Not everything at Delaware Valley University is perfect, Traband stated “if I could’ve had a little more hand holding, I would’ve appreciated it because I kind of felt that I was on my own”. 

Each person, transfer student or non transfer student, has their own experience. If anyone feels as though they aren’t included, DelVal has something to offer. There is always an opportunity to connect and branch out with those that have had similar experiences to their own.