By Megan Prevost, Biotechnology Major

If you’re like me you might be thinking about transferring after two years or so here at SMCC. Not only is the thought of transferring a daunting task but then there’s what follows: choosing and applying to a school (or ten). Yeah, remember when you applied to schools your senior year of college? Now you get to go through that whole process again! Searching the internet and sifting through vast amounts of colleges and universities, using their websites to make or break your decision to even apply there.

College fairs, while extremely helpful, can be a little overwhelming. College’s pulling you in every which way, grasping for your attention so they can tell you every little detail about their school in attempt to sell you on their finest points.

The booths set up in standard rows. If you’ve ever been to a fair you could probably imagine it, think science fairs or craft fairs, or even a job fair. Tables lined up end to end with a smiling college representative standing behind it. Information about the college or university spread across the top.

If you walk around the room looking lost a representative will stop you, try to figure out your interests and whether or not you’d be a good match for the school or not. They then reel you in closer with their high scholarship numbers and retention rates.

To not only get intel for myself, but also to see how a transfer student chooses their next college, I talked to a second-year student here at SMCC, Autumn Cornellier.

When asked what she looks for in a transfer school, Autumn explained that things like size (a larger school), a high success rate and location of the college are all important to her. She talked to me about how she would miss things about SMCC, especially the fact that the campus is right on the water.

So, if you plan on transferring schools, make sure you do your research. Determine what you want in your school and what your school is looking for in an applicant such as yourself. Go to a transfer fair and talk to as many representatives as you can; it’s possible they’ll remember your name when they see your application cross their desk.

And don’t forget that the SMCC transfer fair is an annual thing. If you missed it this year, make sure you check it out next year if you plan on transferring. It’s a big help, and trust me when you’re applying to schools – you’ll want all the help you can get.