Monday, October 30, 2006

Transferring is like dying and going to heaven.

Those left behind assume that the one who has passed on is in a better place, but they never know for sure. While attending De Anza, I had several dozen friends who transferred to Universities of California, California State Universities, and private schools. But they never gave me the scoop on the transfer student experience.

Therefore, when I was accepted to the University of California Berkeley, I imagined a beautiful picture of what it would be like. I imagined a land with abundant resources, funded generously by the state and alumni donors, a land where all the students were brilliant and dedicated to their studies. I imagined a place where the student body was vibrant, engaged, and involved.

In some ways, I was right. I benefi ted from a free bus pass. My classmates rushed to form study groups in which everyone contributed. Nearly every class was prefaced by a loyal student volunteer announcing an opportunity for a scholarship, internship, or community service.

Yet in other ways, I was unpleasantly surprised. I was used to friendly De Anza professors who knew my name and asked me how I was doing when we crossed paths on campus.

At Berkeley, my doctorate-degree holding professors barely recognized me from all the other students in their lecture halls. At De Anza, I enjoyed the cozy, supportive environment of the Student and Community Services building where practically every service I could ever need was housed under one roof.

I enjoyed the counselors who would painstakingly guide me through my course requirements. I enjoyed walking into the Health Services offi ce, where I would be greeted by Mary Jo Lomax, who would hand me a band-aid or aspirin with a warm smile.

At Berkeley, almost all the student services are in separate buildings blocks apart. The counselors hand me sheets of paper and quickly usher me out of their offi ces, and the health services building is a daunting three stories tall.

I don’t know if those in heaven ever miss earth, but I almost instantly began to miss, of all things, De Anza College once I transferred.

Berkeley, like almost every other four-year university, has football teams to be proud of, the most educated professors, much more money and a generally more spirited student body.

Universities have more involvement opportunities and more of a social life. (I don’t know if De Anza ever had frat parties, but I sure never heard about them.) However, they lack much of the personalness and indeed, “community,” of a community college.

Appreciate what you have here at De Anza.