By James, a senior in the College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Major: sociology
Transferring to Virginia Tech has to be one of the best things that I've done in my life thus far. As a high school junior in 2002, I already had my sights locked on Virginia Tech, but a lack of doing homework on a consistent basis landed me with a denial letter and several dashed hopes during the last few months of my adolescent educational career. Deep down, however, I knew that I would be seeing Blacksburg again and that the title “Hokie” simply had to belong to me some day. Therefore, I made my decision to do everything possible to achieve that dream and enrolled in a community college. A few years of hard work later, everything paid off.
My best experiences with the transfer process had to be with the individual care and attention that I received throughout the administrative journey. In the spring of 2007, I received a personal telephone call from an admissions officer welcoming me to Virginia Tech. After I had finished bouncing off of my walls and ceiling with excitement, I sat down and began to realize the work ahead; transferring credits, moving, learning a new curriculum, the list goes on. I received a different kind of phone call shortly thereafter, however. This one had less than stellar news: I was being deployed to Iraq two weeks into my would be first semester at school. The understanding from both the admissions office and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences was phenomenal. With a few simple phone calls and emails, my transfer package was put on hold and I was issued a very heartfelt “Godspeed” by a staff member that I had never even met. I set my sights once again on Virginia Tech, but this time I had a year and a war to get through first.
As the fall of 2008 quickly approached, I was still deployed and out of communication with the “real world” for days and weeks at a time. This didn't hurt my confidence that, when I finally arrived home, things wouldn't all be in place and set for my first semester. Sure enough, when I arrived home 32 hours before my first class started, I, without any significant effort on my own part, had a housing assignment prepared, a complete class schedule with all syllabi waiting in my in-box, and several emails from professors and the Transfer Student Orientation team welcoming me home. Bear in mind that I had yet to meet any of the faculty or staff at Virginia Tech. Never had I felt so well treated or at home (when I hadn't even been there long enough to call it “home”).
I believe that my take-away from all of this is: Virginia Tech showed me that it really was worth it to pursue my goal of becoming a Hokie. The people that populate this great university's offices and classrooms really do care and are not afraid to go out of their way to show it. I received the personal attention that I would attest only to the smallest of schools (normally) and I will forever be grateful that I had all of these wonderful people that wanted nothing more but than to help me become the Hokie that I am today.
More Info:
Overview of the Transfer Application Process (Deadline: February 15)
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