The college experience is wrapped up in four years for the majority of University students. But for students who transfer from other institutions to the University, a shorter time span at the University can lead to struggles both in and out of the classroom.
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The transfer process is not only stressful academically, but can leave students feeling socially isolated in a new environment after having missed the formative early years of college. That’s where LSA senior Tyler Mesman, chair of the Transfer Student Resource Commission of the Central Student Government, has worked to make a change on campus.
The commission, one of over 20 in CSG, works to ease the transition process for transfer students by providing them with resources and guidance about how to navigate through their time at the University. Mesman, who transferred to the University from Grand Rapids Community College in 2011, said these students — about 3,000 out of the University’s total student population — possess a specific set of concerns that are often overlooked, such as difficulty finding housing, challenges in scheduling classes and being forced to adapt to new academic styles.
Mesman added that students transfer for a variety of reasons — grades, finances and location among others— and hail from a wide range of backgrounds. In addition to community college transfers, students have also transferred after attending other four-year colleges, studying at international institutions or serving in the military.
“The transfer student population is very diverse and so the mission is to really advocate for all those groups and make the process better.”
As chair of the TSRC, Mesman oversaw various programs this year to help transfer students, culminating in the first annual transfer student symposium, which helped new students reach out to the administration and give them a platform to express their needs.
“A lot of administrators, when they’re looking at policies, don’t get a lot of face-to-face, so it was really important to start that conversation and raise awareness about this population of transfer students,” Mesman said.
Mesman said he hopes to eventually have a career in national politics. He has experience in both CSG and LSA student government, has spent two years on the University’s Model United Nations team and is a residential adviser at Oxford house.
Identifying as openly gay and a first-generation college student, Mesman said the University has exposed him to a wide range of different identities, which he embraces in his work with CSG and Res-staff.
“From having interacted with all sorts of different people, I would say my role deals a lot more with intersectionality than it does with one identity,” he said. “I really enjoy the ability to weave in and out of all those communities and learn how I can best help them and help build a coalition — working together — to make things better.”
Pavitra Abraham, who served alongside Mesman as an LSA representative to CSG this year, said his “work ethic, charisma and genuine passion for the people around him shine through in everything he does.”
Getting to know different groups on campus does have its drawbacks, however. Mesman said his friends have coined the phrase “Tyler-time” as a reference to the number of people who stop him while walking around campus to chat.
Although he knew very little about student government before coming to the University, Mesman said his experience was rewarding in many ways. He encourages students at the University to seek out similar communities as a way to get involved on campus.
“My greatest advice would be to try something that you couldn’t do before, just go completely out of your comfort zone,” he said. “If it’s something that you even have the faintest desire to do, just try it and see how it goes.”