1 / 21

Serving Your Transfers Outside of a Specialized Orientation

Serving Your Transfers Outside of a Specialized Orientation Ashlea Coulter, Melissa McGuire, Coordinator Assistance Vice President of Student Affairs Orientation and Transition Programs University of North Texas. UNT AT A GLANCE

ike
Download Presentation

Serving Your Transfers Outside of a Specialized Orientation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Serving Your Transfers Outside of a Specialized Orientation Ashlea Coulter, Melissa McGuire, Coordinator Assistance Vice President of Student Affairs Orientation and Transition Programs University of North Texas

  2. UNT AT A GLANCE • Leading public research institution in the Dallas/Fort Worth area • Emerging National Research University in TX • Four Bold Goals • Goal 1: Provide the best undergraduate education experience in Texas. • Strong support systems to ensure that more students stay in school, engage in service and campus life, and graduate on time

  3. UNT Transfer Students 3rd largest transfer population in Texas Who we’re losing: • Black Males (61.5%) and Black Females (67.97%) • Those who transfer with 31-45 hours (71.1%) • Those who come from a 4-year institution (74.15%) • Those who wait until summer to apply

  4. RETENTION GOALS

  5. USING PROGRAMMING TO IMPACT RETENTION Studies on transfer students found that variables associated with social and academic integration played a role in the persistence of transfer students at four-year colleges and universities (Pascarella, Smart, and Ethington 1986) To encourage a higher completion rates among transfer students, UNT has implemented concentrated programming specifically for transfer students since Fall 2009 with our Transfer Center

  6. THE TRANSFER STUDENT EXPERIENCE Negative feelings associated with not being a “native student” Welcomed the label of transfer student when an incentive was involved Main struggles include building social connections, navigating campus, and understanding financial aid

  7. MEETING THEM WHERE THEY ARE Transfer Orientation Commuter Parking Lots Academic Buildings University Union

  8. IMPROVING THE TRANSFER EXPERIENCE Transfer Talkbacks • Round table • Online • Incentive • Questions catered toward 2 and 4 year students

  9. TIE INTO STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS Existing Events on Campus Tau Sigma National Honor Society Student Government Association Commuter Student Boards

  10. EMBRACING THEIR NEW IDENTITY The Eagle Has Landed • Transfer T-shirt Trade Homecoming Participation “Teams” for school traditions • Dance Marathon • Alternative Spring Break • Relay for Life Tailgate and Cheer Sections at Sporting Events

  11. TRANSFER REAL COMMUNITY Upperclassmen Residence Hall RA who was a transfer student 3.05 GPA for Transfer REAL Community participants • 2.82 average GPA for larger REAL Community population

  12. RECRUITING Collaborate with Admissions recruiters Imperative for students to get an honest perspective from a current student Increase participation and visibility on campuses where your large transfer numbers come from Preview Days

  13. SOCIAL EVENTS Kickoff Socials Recreation Nights Winter Welcome Appreciation Days

  14. ACADEMIC RESOURCES Transfer Tips Get The Scoop On…. Finals/Midterms Study Sessions Career focused events

  15. MENTORING Transfer Ambassadors Paired with a upperclassmen student “Wingman”

  16. OUR EVENT ATTENDEES Gender: Twice as many females than males Classification: Largest group is Juniors followed by Sophomores Age Range: 20-23 is median age of attendees • Satisfaction surveys: No student in Fall 2012 has marked below a neutral

  17. UPCOMING INITIATIVES Transfer-Specific • Requiring an extended orientation program for all new transfers (First Flight) • Mandatory advising for all new transfers in first year All Students • Supplemental Instructor and Peer Mentor in all course sections with a DFWI rate above 35%

  18. DISCUSSION What are successful programs/practices on your campus to engage transfers in the college experience? Do you consider the difference in needs of 2-year versus 4-year institution transfers when designing programs?

  19. THANK YOU! Ashlea Coulter Coordinator, Transfer Center Ashlea.Coulter@unt.edu Melissa McGuire, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Melissa.Mcguire@unt.edu Orientation and Transition Programs, University of North Texas

More Related