What I Learned My First Year as a Transfer Student at RIT

I transferred to RIT in the Fall of 2024. I came in with a wishful and wide-eyed view of the untapped potential RIT had to offer. Before this, I was essentially “college-hopping” with every move that I’d made around the country. It was time to settle down and get serious about my education, but I didn’t know if I was ‘in over my head.’ Through the support of the RIT community, I made it through my first year with the highest GPA I have ever gotten to this day. This is what I learned that got me here:

Lesson #1: Go To Everything 

I procrastinate. This was the year I was finally willing to admit that and get on top of it. The best thing I did for myself was not to spend every second studying! Does that sound backwards to you? It probably does because it is. One of the lessons you will learn from going to a school like RIT, especially in a STEM major, is that sometimes you have to reverse engineer the problem. 

My problem: not having the motivation to start my tasks. I stopped making my schedule around all the homework I had to do; that just left me sad and overwhelmed. Instead I would look on CampusGroups, check club Discord Servers, talk to friends, and read the posters in the SAU to find the things that I would like to do in that week. Then, I would plug them into my calendar with my class schedule. 

I would limit myself to my top 3 events. I would use these things as motivation and an artificially produced pressure to complete stuff well before the deadline. I would then commit to the assignments I would have to complete to make it on time to my events. I think I only missed 3 of my hundreds of assignments across both semesters this way. I would finish the week tired, but fulfilled. I could rest easy knowing I did my best. 

So go to that club meeting, attend that dance competition, scream your heart out at that hockey game and/or get sucked into that Drag Club show.  If you play your cards right, it will help you get your work done, and you may even make some friends! If we bump into each other at one of these aforementioned events, don’t be a stranger!
 

Lesson #2: Faculty are Basically the Campus Search Engine (Network Wisely)

I don’t know about you but I don’t know everything. I came to RIT to learn all that. Something that I caught on to very early is that there are some well-integrated and intelligent faculty members at this university. I am lucky to be at a small college within RIT, the School of Individualized Study. The advisors and professors within the college are all in the same set of offices, so I will just pop in when I have free time (but you can also just make a habit of going to the office hours of people you find interesting; you don’t have to be in their class yet.) When I do, I lead the usual small talk: ask about their families, their pets, their thoughts on current affairs of the university, and their research if that applies. Often, they ask me what or how I’m doing. I, of course, give them a brief synopsis, but more importantly, I will ask them these two critical questions: “Given what I’ve just told you, do you know anyone I should be talking to?” & “Have you met anyone interesting on campus?”

This. Opens. Doors. This has gotten me interviews, jobs, great conversation, and lifelong connections. Oh, and don’t forget to add them on LinkedIn too.

Lesson #3: Help Comes from Unusual Places

My first year, I lived in Global Village with 4 roommates; we had one empty room. The semester was in full swing, and we got a notice in our emails; it was Housing telling us that we were getting a new roommate to fill the extra room. While I was not thrilled that there was going to be a shift in the synergy of my apartment, I committed myself to being welcoming. I never knew how well that was going to pay off! For their privacy, I will be referring to this roommate as ‘H.’

H and I became friendly over the first semester. Their room was the first room on the way down the hall (mine was at the end), so I would stop by and check in routinely. It became part of my day. Some days I’d let them ramble to me about their high-level Machine Learning Class that I was so under-qualified for as a listener, but was so happy to help them process their thoughts. 

When they weren’t home, I would sometimes leave snacks and energy drinks at their door from my latest Global Market run. Second semester rolls around, and I stop by their door, and they ask me how I’m doing. At that moment, I decided to be vulnerable and admit defeat. I was in a class that among the students was known as a “weed out” class, and I felt ‘out of my depth.’ I turned to H and briefly lamented about my struggles in securing tutoring for the class. They cut me off, “Don’t you realize that coding language is my jam. I get PAID to write that stuff! We are going to get through this.” 

From then on, all I had to do was shoot them a text, grab a whiteboard marker, and meet them in the study room down the hall. Through the throes of learning a new language, my new friend stuck by me. I ended up getting a solid ‘B’ in that class.

Moral of the story: be kind to everyone, especially be kind enough to yourself to ask for help. Even if that person cannot directly help you, this is RIT. Everyone here has a niche and connections that will get you to where you need to go. All the people I’ve met have been so happy to help.

Lesson #4: Be like ET and Phone Home!

One of the movies of my childhood was “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.” In the movie, a small grey alien crash-lands on Earth. The people who find him name him E.T. He befriends his rescuers but still feels like something is missing. There is an iconic line where they discover that E.T. has picked up enough English to ask to call his home world, initiating his rescue. 

I never knew how much I would relate to the movie until the first semester rolled around. I came to RIT from across the country, and even though I had done this move once before, it did not make me feel any less alien (and the jet lag didn’t help either).

Even with the wonderful community that has formed around me at RIT, nothing replaces the wisdom of my parents and old friends. I know you may get swept up in all the chaos of college, but try to call home at least once a week. Not only will your family be happy to hear from you, but they can also give advice that’s tailored to you as a unique individual. For me, that was incentivizing me to go to office hours by promising my mom’s best home-cooked meals over break when I did well on my finals. I believe that campus food at RIT is above average, AND nothing will beat my mom’s potato casserole, so office hours I went. I always put my professors’ office hours in my calendar now.