Applying to colleges out of high school, I thought I wasn’t picky. I thought that all I needed was good academics, a place to get my degree, a place to take from and not give to.

After spending a year at an excellent school where I made lots of friends and did well academically, I felt like something was missing. I wanted a sense of community and belonging. I wanted a home, not just a school. I applied to transfer during my first year and wrote in my essay that I was looking for a soulmate. A school that could challenge me and help my soul to grow. Cheesy as it may sound, Northwestern did just that. 

I arrived on campus for Wildcat Welcome without knowing a soul. I was afraid that being a transfer meant I would only meet transfer students, that I’d be doing freshman year all over again, or worse, that I’d be forgotten entirely. When I got to the arch to meet my Peer Adviser group, I met some of the best people I’ve ever known. Transfer students are put in groups with a PA who has already transferred and gone through their transition, and a group of incoming students who all transferred into Northwestern as well. The connections I made with people who really understood that experience were incredible, and I know they will be in my life forever. 

While I did find close connections in the transfer community, I found many others outside of it as well. One of the reasons I chose Northwestern was because of the student body’s heavy involvement in student organizations. To this day, I’ve never met a Wildcat who wasn’t involved in 2 or 3 or 4 student orgs. At one point, I was involved in 7! Though that was a little extreme and I eventually dropped many, I dove in headfirst and got so involved with all of the things I had always wanted to do. I joined an a cappella group, a student publication, identity-based organizations, and social organizations. And I’d never felt so fulfilled.

The positivity that transfer students have is infectious. They know what it’s like to be truly unhappy at a school—so much so that they decided to uproot themselves and start all over. And they know what it’s like to finally find what you’re looking for.

Transferring has also offered me a bold sense of confidence that I wasn’t expecting. The process wasn’t easy and the transition took time. To recognize that you’re unhappy is one thing, but to take it into your own hands, to control your narrative and decide to make a change, is powerful. To say that you don’t deserve to be unhappy and find a place that will give you what you’re looking for takes guts. 

Applying to colleges out of high school, I thought I wasn’t picky. And I thought I didn’t have the right to be picky. After all, I was just a kid who wanted a school to want them back. But looking back I had every right to be picky. I deserved a place where I would be challenged and where my soul would grow, where I would be inspired in my classes and invigorated with school pride. At Northwestern I found the community I wanted, a place to pursue all of the things I’m passionate about, and the opportunity to give back, lead and change the space I am in.