Many students who attend Winthrop University choose to begin their studies at another college or university and transfer to Winthrop to earn an undergraduate degree. However, in the past, Winthrop has been known for being somewhat difficult to transfer to. Some transfers have brought up how it could be a problem getting credits to transfer from other schools since Winthrop has very specific requirements for students.
After a student has filled out their application to transfer to Winthrop, they are sent a pamphlet with a checklist of everything they will have to do in order to officially become a part of the Winthrop community. The pamphlet goes over things such as setting up a Winthrop email, registering for orientation, sending in transcripts, submitting an enrollment deposit, confirming transfer credits, etc. There is a lot involved in the process of transferring, and it can be somewhat of an overwhelming task, especially for people transferring from community or technical colleges where they may not have had to deal with the same type of policies as a university.
“The actual transfer application and process was fairly easy, just like I think it would be applying as a freshman. There wasn’t really anything that stumped me too much as far as the application goes and I think it took me less than an hour to fill
it out,” said Taylor Sallenger, a junior transfer student from Charleston Southern University. “I will say because of COVID and having our transfer orientation and first flight online, I don’t feel like I got the opportunities I would have if it was a normal semester, like meeting new people and learning about campus events, but overall it was an easy process.”
The part of transferring that can be particularly bothersome for transfers is knowing which credits can be transferred to the new school. To help with this process, Winthrop will be implementing a new transfer portal that will help students to have easier access to information that will let them know which credits will or will not transfer from their previous school.
The portal will be helpful for students who are transferring from local colleges and technical colleges and want to know if their credits will be transferable.
“Students are choosing to only venture an hour to two hours away from home, searching for a university. We are hoping that maybe we will get a few students back who are closer in proximity geographically, and we talked about the fact that not just those students but students who are transferring out of those universities, or with credits that they earned as high school credits—we had a conversation about articulation agreements, whether it’s talking about a degree that’s already offered at a technical college, part of what this transfer portal will do, and for us to be more transfer-friendly, is for us to accept students who have these associates degrees and to really partner with other institutions of learning,” said Julie Fowler, Winthrop Board of Trustees member.
Though there is not much information about the transfer portal just yet, it looks like it will be a helpful tool for anyone who may be looking to transfer to Winthrop in the near future.
Photo by Jamia Johnson
