Growing up, I always had the dream of playing Division I field hockey, so once I entered my freshman year of high school it was about time to really start looking where I wanted to spend my four years in college. I had spent a lot of time on AUs campus playing field hockey and fell in love with it. I thought it was perfect; they had an amazing coaching staff, team, strong academics, and awesome location being in the heart of Washington, DC (right down the street from Georgetown –  one of my favorite places to go). March of my junior year in HS I found out that I had the opportunity to continue my studies there and join their field hockey team, and I couldn’t pass it up.

• American turned out to be the wrong school for you. When did you begin to suspect this and how did that feel?

• You transferred to the University of Mary Washington. Can you talk about the transition? How did that go with your major and classes?

Transferring in the middle of the year is very tough. I transferred to a place where I knew one person, and she commuted to school so she was never around. You feel that everyone has already made their friends for the year that first semester, while you weren’t there. At first it was difficult not knowing many people and not having a roommate that I could connect with, but after a bit of time friends came around. I met people through my classes, in my hall, and bonded with my new teammates. I had not picked a major while I was at AU so I had just taken general education courses. This made the transition less difficult because I was able to transfer majority of the credits from AU to UMW, allowing me to graduate in four years.

• Going off to college is one of the biggest transitions and life events anyone will have coming out of high school. College is a rigorous experience. If new college students are feeling overwhelmed or uneasy, what do you feel are some of the differences between the normal amount of stress expected and common to most college students versus a real problem with the college itself, where a mid-study move is necessary?

Knowing whether it’s a normal amount of stress or if you have an actual problem with the school is absolutely the toughest part of making your decision to transfer because every college freshman is new to the game. Everybody is experiencing something completely new, and everyone handles change differently so it’s hard to tell someone, “hey suck it up, everyone has these issues in college” or “transferring might be the best option for you”. That’s why I always refer to my decision as a “gut decision” because I really had nothing to compare it to. Was the grass going to be greener at Mary Washington? How was I supposed to know? All I knew was that I personally felt that I wasn’t as happy as I wanted to be and I was willing to take the chance to change it. It was the first real decision I made for myself, no outside influences from other people. So from my experience, you should look at what isn’t making you happy and what doesmake you happy. If it seems to be external issues, maybe start looking at new schools that you think you would enjoy more. If you find the issues to be more internal, try and work on yourself or talk to someone for help. Someone else’s experiences could potentially help you with your troubles.