By Jiaunna Arnell, NU Scholar (July 2018 Cohort)
Bachelor of Arts, Early Childhood Education
I was lucky that my transfer experience from Miramar College (a community college) to National University was fairly smooth. As a student who has successfully completed this transition, I wanted to share a little bit about what I think helped me.
Someone once told me that “C’s get degrees.” However, my mother, along with folks from institutions that I was engaged with in my youth, made it clear that I needed to always do my very best. I been never been the type of student who can comfortably rest on just getting by, and I think that this commitment to going the extra mile has helped me to succeed. While I was a community college student, I also took advantage of EOPS and CalWORKs, two state-funded programs that helped me to create personalized education plans based on my goals, progress, and major.
My counselor at Miramar College was a huge source of support. From the moment I set foot in her office, she made me feel appreciated and valuable to the Miramar College student family. She also reminded me about events like transfer fairs, where various institutions come out to present for their respective universities. Especially if you have an idea of the university that you plan to attend, keeping in the know regarding changes or opportunities at your university of choice is very important, and deciding which one you want to attend long before you plan to transfer is really helpful.
Researching the university of your choice, taking tours, and visiting the campus are all good ways to decide whether or not it is right for you. Once you have chosen a university, this makes the rest of the process fairly simple, because you know exactly what you need to get into that particular university.
My mother is an alumnus of National University, and has a bachelor’s degree in a similar field, so I knew that National University was going to be my four-year university from the start.
Once all of these elements—determination, support, and a target university—are in place, the real work comes in maintaining your grades, building good relationships with faculty (who can help you by writing letters of reference and by offering support), looking into grants and scholarships to lighten the financial load, and, above all, making the commitment to focus on school first: School has to be your top priority in every way possible. I love Miramar College and I am so glad that I was a student there, and I am also so excited to be at National University. For people who have to balance being parents and students with working full time, National University is a god-send for expanding our academic horizons in relation to our lifestyles, responsibilities, and career goals. I love being a part of the National University family, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this experience brings to my academic and professional growth.
The CSEA Student Voice 