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Which ID?

Margaret Watters

Currently, Miami University senior Stephanie Humphrey has three out of her five student IDs in her wallet at all times. Senior Katelyn Lehman still carries her University of Arizona ID, even though she was only there for a semester. Sophomore Anne McErlean has a new Miami ID as of this fall, but still has a Southern Methodist University ID lying around.

This is only one characteristic following the recent increase in students who have made their college choice a little less permanent, bouncing around the country to receive their undergraduate education in a less traditional way.

Recently, a trend called "swirling" has popped up in admission offices around the country. It describes the movement of students in and out (and in some cases, in again) of universities and the growing popularity of transferring during undergraduate years. According to Tim Kuykendoll, a technology and data specialist in the registrar's office, more than 43 percent of undergraduate degrees Miami has awarded in the past five years have had some form of transfer credit attached to them.

Students like Humphrey can help explain Miami's high percentage of transfer credit. Humphrey, despite her misleading credit from five Ohio universities, has spent all semesters (except one abroad) at Miami. She completed post secondary work at two universities, Ohio State and University of Findlay, while still enrolled in high school. Since her admittance to Miami, Humphrey studied abroad through Bowling Green and took a summer biology class at Columbus State. And that's just domestic. Including the international universities where Humphrey has studied, her college count goes up to seven (one in Madrid, Spain and another in Dijon, France).

Admission counselor Cindy Weeks credits factors like the Common Application and online applications with this new mindset in students.

"Finding the right fit is becoming harder and harder for students because students are applying to multiple schools-the Common App makes it all so easy," Weeks said.

Sophomore Anne McErlean said her and her twin sister Katharine each applied to 20 schools when they looked at colleges. The inseparable pair swore to attend the same university and settled on Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

"I really liked the campus (SMU)," Anne McErlean said. "I disliked that it was so far from Cleveland ... Texas is a totally different culture. It's so cool but it is so different."

The sisters initially applied to Miami, but wanted to go out of state-and then decided they needed to come back closer to home. Both twins transferred to Miami together this fall. Kathy Pruckno, the Office of Admission's transfer admission coordinator, has seen this before.

"We see a lot of students who go away (from Ohio) and then come back." Pruckno said. "You want to go away and then you realize that a better fit for you might be to be closer to your immediate family."

Lehman transferred out of Miami and into the University of Arizona to get closer to her home state of California. Lehman disliked Arizona and pinpoints factors like the superficiality of the student body and changes with her major for why she left for Oxford again. After coming back to Miami, Lehman also chose to study in Madrid for a year.

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"Going to Arizona made me realize that architecture wasn't what I wanted to do," Lehman said. "At the moment, I would have considered (the transfer experience) a negative. I was only there for a semester, but I don't speak to anybody I met there ... But here, I like the people and the classes more."

Despite her year abroad and transfer to Arizona, Lehman still feels connected to Oxford and to Miami. She explains that her transfer back to Miami was one of convenience just as much as it was her loyalty to the old brick buildings. She knew people here, the campus and understood how her credits would count.

Transfer credit can come in many different forms-from enrolling at a different university all together to studying abroad to the transient students taking summer classes at a local university or community college. It all counts as transfer credit and to the irritation of many students, it all has to be approved through the registrar.

"It definitely was so hard getting credits for the classes I took last year," Anne McErlean said. "It's hard because Miami has so many requirements that you're not sure what things are and where they fit. Advising could have been more helpful. We came in and he kind of just told us what to take."

Anne McErlean met with her adviser once before she started classes and once in the fall semester. She had the opportunity to meet with him before spring but explained that she didn't see the point, that it wouldn't help anything.

Advising for transfer students isn't done at orientation, as it is handled for first-year students, but is handled separately, depending on the division.

Pruckno understands how it is frustrating for transfer students to get in touch with an adviser in a large department like the College of Arts and Science and said that in smaller divisions, students get more one-on-one attention.

"We get a lot of frustrated students with College of Arts and Science and the specific dates for advising," she said. "It's one on 12 maybe, but I don't know those numbers for sure."

According to Pruckno, the College of Arts and Science sets up multiple mass advising sessions during months prior to each semester start. During these sessions, a set number of students are admitted and set up with an adviser. Getting to these sessions isn't always easy though. Pruckno said that unlike high school students entering the university, transfer students are already juggling a full college schedule.

Pruckno advises that transfer students should do their research early. This would include checking their credit on www.transfer.org, getting an unofficial evaluation of their credit (kind of a "what if" DARS), and if they have trouble, checking with the registrar.

"We put at the bottom of their admission letters that we encourage them to do this and this is who they should talk to," Pruckno said.

Pruckno thinks that the university is acknowledging the issue with advising.

"We pride ourselves on our advising at Miami," Pruckno said. "We want to give them advising from day one. It's a tough place for everyone concerned but we're working on it."

Pruckno finds that transfer students are typically very motivated students and add a lot to Miami's campus. She also explained that the number of transfer students coming into Miami is almost always a direct result of world events. Trends in Miami's transfer numbers continue to be interesting as they swelled in 2000 with 779 fall transfers, then shrunk to 494 in fall 2004 and now appear to be back on the climb. Last fall, Miami accepted 639 new transfers on campus.

"I think 9/11 had an impact on people at the time and people wanted to stay closer to home," Pruckno said. "The economy is also another driving factor. The economy has a lot to do with it."

Pruckno, who has been with the university six years, thinks the projected national recession will influence Miami's transfer admission numbers. The downturn in the economy and Miami's rise in tuition is causing more students to start their undergraduate degrees at community colleges. According to admission counselor Weeks, enrollment at two-year universities is increasing faster than at four-year institutions. This can get students started on their college requirements at a lower cost, which can explain the increasing number of Miami transfers.

"Right now there is a gap in the number of students that attend a two-year schools and want to go to a four-year school and those that are actually making that transition," Weeks said, via e-mail. "There are lots of barriers that account for the gap, one being financial resources."

One thing that gets easier the second time around is the applicatio n. Transfer application standards are based more on credentials than essays. Pruckno said the freshmen application is seven pages thicker than the transfer's and she requires things such as a 2.75 GPA, the student's high school transcripts, all college transcripts (including any post secondary work), and if the student has less than 20 credit hours, Miami asks for their SAT or ACT scores. The transfer office operates on rolling admission, meaning that once a student's application is complete, the university sends the admittance decision.

Anne McErlean has been pleased with her transfer experience, and while she admits there were hurdles, finding her place at Miami was never one of them.

"It's not that hard, people here are so friendly and if you're out there meeting people, you won't have any problems making friends," She said. "My favorite thing about Miami is that there are so many students everywhere, it's just like students everywhere, and it's so student centered. I really like how close to campus everyone is and really just the college town atmosphere."

Now that Anne McErlean is all settled she and her sister plan to enjoy the atmosphere here for a while, although both sisters plan to study abroad in Spain this summer, moving themselves one step closer to catching up on credit.

Humphrey plants to take off again, but first she has one more hurdle to overcome as she applies for a Fulbright Scholarship for teaching English abroad.

"I had a meeting with the director of international education and a past Fulbright winner," Humphrey said. "They said I needed to address or talk about the five university credit in my application because it looked sketchy I guess, why I had credit from five places."

This May, Humphrey won't graduate with the minimum 128 hours, but instead with 167.3 credit hours.

After transferring to Arizona, back again and spending a year abroad, Lehman is looking forward to super senior status or in more official terms, a fifth year at Miami-keeping her Miami ID active for a little bit longer.


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