THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609190052
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIA FILZ, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 55 lines
EACH FALL, thousands of eager freshmen enter college, but many end up graduating from a different school.
Transferring ``is a decision that has a strong impact . . . emotionally, as well as on their progress toward getting their degree,'' said Patricia P. Cavender, assistant vice president for enrollment services at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.
For Christina Bazar, a 1995 graduate of Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, the decision to leave school came after a single semester. Christina left Hood College, a single-sex school in Frederick, Md., and returned to Virginia Beach.
``It was a pretty nice school,'' Christina said. ``Everybody was really nice.'' But she decided to leave when she heard that some majors of study were being cut.
Martha E. Rogers, vice president for enrollment management at Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach, lists a student's change in major as one of the top four reasons for transfers. Others include family and financial problems, and a desire to be closer to home.
``When students leave our school, we ask them to give us a reason for their decision,'' Rogers said. Virginia Wesleyan offers counseling services to help students reconsider their decision or to help make the transition smoother.
Many students also return to school after studying at another institution, or taking time off to work.
``The difference in terms of the transfer students at ODU is that many leave to work, and then they come back,'' Cavender said.
Cavender also added that many students transfer to Old Dominion during the summer between their freshman and sophomore years.
``Every summer, about the end of summer, I get a lot of parents in here asking if their son or daughter can still enroll,'' Cavender said.
``In the case of Old Dominion, it may be that they've decided to move back home,'' said Cavender. ``Maybe they changed their major or maybe they've investigated and realized they started off at the wrong school.''
Both Old Dominion and Virginia Wesleyan have programs which allow students who have accumulated 12 credit hours at a college to transfer to these credits without showing the admissions office their high school transcripts.
Said Rogers of the Virginia Wesleyan program, ``If the hours show that they have not done well, we may ask to see their high school transcript and SAT scores. A student may have studied 12 hours at another school, but they may not have been 12 successful hours.''
Many students lack ``successful'' hours in college because of time management deficiency, a reason that prompts many students to leave school.
``Time management is the No. 1 problem students have in college,'' said Rogers. ``All of us would like to have fresh starts and sometimes it's easier to move.'' MEMO: Julia Filz is a 1996 graduate of Cox High School who is attending
James Madison University. by CNB