By Lisa Kaczke

Since transferring to Northeastern three years ago, my time has been anything but easy. Northeastern has never tried to make transfer students feel welcome. I am continuously at a disadvantage because I was a transfer student, even though when I graduate in September, I will have spent the same amount of time in a classroom as a student who started here as a freshman.

When I transferred, NU stuck the female transfer students together in a dorm at Simmons and we had to take a shuttle to and from campus. We used to joke that we were the “unwanted children.” We were forgotten by NU and hated by Simmons students. To this day, most of my friends are the girls I lived with then, just because we were so isolated from everyone who lived on NU’s campus. Many of those girls transferred away from Northeastern after that year.

Since then, NU has discontinued the use of Simmons’ dorms to house its students, and they did offer us guaranteed housing for the rest of our time at NU. That is one step in the right direction toward helping transfer students acclimate to NU easily, but it is the only positive thing Northeastern has done for this transfer student.

Orientation was a joke. It was one day, and all we did was take the math placement test and meet with our advisors to put together a class schedule for the fall. After a few hours, they sent us on our way.

I don’t know if Northeastern believes students studying the humanities cannot do math, but everything in the placement test were things I learned way back in eighth grade. Even though I fought to have the calculus class I took at my previous university accepted, it was not. Instead, I was placed in Math 1101, where I received an “A” for only showing up to three classes all quarter.

In addition to the calculus class, they did not accept 15 of the 21 classes I had taken prior to coming to Northeastern. Keep in mind, I was transferring from a university that is considered the same academic level as NU. I knew transferring here I would have issues with classes, but I never imagined it would be a constant struggle to have credits accepted. Even as recently as last semester, I was still trying to have them accept the credits, which they finally did. I have had to go to class constantly since transferring to NU, and I overload every other semester just so I can graduate in a somewhat reasonable amount of time. In my three years here, the only time I have not been in classes was the Summer I semester last year.

When I wanted to study abroad, I was told they highly discourage transfer students from doing so. My only choice was to take a leave of absence from the university and find my own study abroad program. When I wanted to be in the Honors Program, I was told it is mainly for students coming into the university as freshmen. Co-op wasn’t even an option for me because there was no way I could fit it into my schedule without adding a fourth year to my time here and a sixth year to my college career.

I knew I was taking a risk by transferring, and I knew I was going to have some problems, but I didn’t realize it was going to be an uphill battle the entire way. I have made the most of my time at Northeastern despite the problems, and that is what has kept me here. The university itself pushes transfer students away. This university needs to realize just because transfer students do not start their college career here, does not mean they should be disregarded.

— Lisa Kaczke is a senior journalism and English major and a member of The News staff.