Finding Community as a Transfer
As the first month of the semester is winding up, reflecting back on your transfer experience thus far is a valuable course of action to take. Figuring out what went right or wrong during the first month will allow you to continue (or start, if you haven’t) finding your people and your place within the Tufts community.
When October rolled around sophomore year, I felt as though I had not made the friends or community that I so desired. Maybe transferring wasn’t the right move. Was the time period of friend-making coming to an end? Was I going to be without a community the rest of my time at Tufts? These thoughts raced through my head with every moment passing.
Things weren’t working—so I decided to make a drastic change. I walked on to the Varsity Track Team, despite not having run track in a few years. Joining a team was my social springboard. Doing grueling track workouts provided me with a deep sense of connection to the girls on my team. Post-practice Dewick meals allowed me to build my community as I formed close friendships with teammates and teammates’ friends. While a varsity sport is not the answer for everybody, committing to a club/group on campus enables you to find people who have interests that align with your own. Go all in!
Finding a sense of community as a transfer is undeniably a tricky task. After my first month at Tufts, I felt as though everybody in my grade had a solidified friend group and there was no room for me. Though, when I changed my mentality and took action to meet more people, my whole experience changed. I realized that transcending the barriers of grade and friend groups put me in an awesome position of having people in different places. Some of my best friends are from my team, my suitemate from my first year, now-juniors that are in my pledge class for Alpha Phi and now-sophomores that I lead during FIT pre-orientation. Letting go of the idea of one tight-knit friend group and accepting all the disparate people that have entered my sphere is one of the most impactful things I have done at Tufts. My community is broad and, quite honestly, random. But I love the people that I am surrounded by.
In summary: be bold, take action when things aren’t going like you expected or wanted and accept all those who accept you!