Transfer students bring diverse experiences to UW-Madison

Being a transfer student is not always an easy thing. It can be difficult to leave a familiar community and move to another and get acclimated with a new set of people, places, and procedures.

At UW–Madison, the campus community does its best to try and make sure that transfer students’ transitions are smooth.

UW-Madison’s Transfer Transition Program (TTP) is dedicated to providing transfer students with not only resources like advisors, but also events to promote community and workspace for students to utilize.

TTP advisor Shelby Knuth plays a key role in helping students transition to campus. She works with students once they enroll and begin their Badger journey.

“I was a transfer student myself to UW–Madison in the fall of 2011. I was actually part of the inaugural cohort of Transfer Student Coordinators so TTP is very special to me,” she said.

During National Transfer Student Week, Oct. 19-23, UW–Madison celebrates the contributions of its many transfer students.

As an advisor, Knuth said it is very important to support students at whatever stage they are at. One of her main goals is to make sure students graduate once they get to Madison, as in some places they have low graduation rates.

“We usually don’t tend to see those same disparities here at Madison because our graduation rate of transfer students is similar to that of freshmen,” Knuth said. “It is still very important that we are helping them stay on track and be able to graduate with a degree.”

Tiffany Yang, a fifth-year senior studying Political Science with certificates in Gender and Women Studies and Public Policy, transferred in the fall of 2018 from UW-Oshkosh, Fox Cities Campus.

Yang knew she was going to need to eventually transfer since she was attending a two-year college.

“I got my associates and said, ‘I have to go somewhere else now.”

She did not have her mind completely made up on UW–Madison at first but after some time she decided it was her best option.

“I was between UW-Green Bay and Madison. My mom was actually the main one pushing for me to go to Madison. She brought up the fact that I would probably have more opportunities here,” she said.

Yang says that the transfer process was not too difficult and what helped her the most was TTP. One of her biggest support systems was her advisor, Shelby Knuth.

“Shelby is the best. She is really honest, she’ll keep it real with you and she’ll just tell you how it is. She is such an advocate for transfer students. Whenever I have a question I just go into Shelby’s office and she’s always willing to help me,” she said.

In the end, Yang said she made the right decision transferring to Madison.

“I’m glad I did choose Madison because I’ve gotten a few internships that I don’t think I would’ve had the opportunity to have if I had gone somewhere else,” she said.

Danny Alexopoulos started his college career at Olivet Nazarene University, where he played football, and then transferred to UW-Milwaukee. He transferred from there to UW–Madison.

“Madison had always been my dream school but I knew it wouldn’t be financially feasible. That’s why I took the scholarship to play football in the first place,” he said.

Alexopoulos transferred to Madison his sophomore year which he couldn’t have been happier for.

“At first I was all high hopes, and everything was great and it was beautiful weather at the end of summer and all that,” he said. “So, the first couple of weeks of school were great and I didn’t really have much school work, but then as we got about a month into school, the rigors of UW set in, which are a lot different from most other schools in the country, much less the schools that I went to.”

Eventually, Alexopoulos was able to adjust to the more challenging academics, he said. In adjusting, he also realized he made the right decision in coming to Madison.

“This was my dream school from the start. I do think it was the right choice for me and I’m really happy here even though there were some struggles along the way,” he said.