The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the feelings and
experiences of state college transfer STEM students regarding transfer from the state
college to the university. The 25 participants in this study were asked to describe their
feelings about the transfer process. Data were gathered from the interviews and from a
review of short journals and documents. It was hoped that the experiences of successful
transfer students would help illustrate the feelings present when these STEM transfer
students enter the university as juniors and compete with native juniors or juniors who
began their collegiate experiences as freshmen at the university.
Each participant had varied experiences and feelings from the experience. There
was no one process that each student traveled through. Findings included: financial
influences on decision-making, inconsistencies in advising causing anxieties, hands on
learning impacts persistence, negative connotations for transfer students, class size impacts difficulty, the importance of university transfer orientation, and areas in need of
improvement. During participant interviews, the issue of finance and budgeting was the
most prevalent topic. Participants found that their state college advisors did not always
understand their intended career paths causing confusion and anxiety. They valued hands
on experiences provided by state college professors who encouraged them to continue
their education. The increased class size at the university was disconcerting to many
study participants. At the state college professors had open-door policies for students
with questions or in need of extra assistance with course materials. Participants felt that
the classification of transfer student had some negative connotations at the university.
Students were reluctant to be singled out as state college transfer students. In addition,
transfer orientation was viewed by older participants as demeaning.
Participants were asked about changes they would make in the transfer process.
The link programs seemed to be under promoted. A database for immigration
information was suggested. Participants also suggested changes to transfer student
orientation. This study was limited to 25 successful transfer students. The results should
not be generalized to a larger population, but instead provide ideas for future policy
discussions and research. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_40952 |
| Contributors | Rich, Nancy (author), Mountford, Meredith (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 194 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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