Nearly every student at Sinclair Community College that aspires for a degree higher than an associate’s will have to transfer at some point. Students Kamari Stevens and Frank Coleman both transferred within the last year, and both said Sinclair prepared them well for the transition.
Leaving the Gem City
Stevens said the transferring process is easier when you have a plan of what you want to accomplish, that way you don’t take classes that you don’t necessarily need.
“As far as transferring in general, it wasn’t that difficult, but it’s all what you make it to be,” Stevens said. “You got to be hands on with your education because at the end of the day you’re paying for it whether you’re getting financial aid or not because we pay taxes every year.”
Stevens, who’s majoring in journalism, said he spent approximately $100 to transfer his transcripts and apply to the University of Cincinnati and The Ohio State University. Stevens was accepted into OSU and plans on starting classes there in the fall, but in the mean time he’s already moved to Columbus, found an apartment, transferred his job and is taking classes at Columbus State Community College.
Stevens said that class sizes at Sinclair and CSCC are approximately the same. He said he feels more prepared maturity wise in making the transition to Columbus after attending Sinclair than he would have out of high school.
“The first week was kind of rough,” he said. “If you’re used to being in a place where you are around people that are your friends and family, it’s difficult not being around them.”
Staying at home
Coleman said he attended Sinclair off and on for eight years after starting his college education at the University of Dayton. Coleman was one of more than 300 Sinclair students that transferred to Wright State University last year. Coleman said he chose WSU because he could get a quality education at a reasonable price. He also didn’t want to move away from Dayton.
“There’s a lot more campus life (at WSU),” Coleman said. “There’s something like 100 student organizations and there’s always something going on. If you’re looking for the traditional college experience, a person can definitely find that at WSU.”
Coleman said approximately 90 credits that he earned at Sinclair transferred to WSU, but was disappointed that his desired major, journalism, was not offered. Instead he is majoring in communication with a journalism emphasis. Coleman said because he took all of his general education classes at Sinclair he hasn’t had to take any classes at WSU with extremely large class sizes, but did admit the courses are more challenging than the classes he’s taken at Sinclair.
“You got to be ready to take it to the next level at WSU,” Coleman said. “You’re going to have to study a little bit more and you’re going to have less free time. It’s definitely a step up.”
Coleman said that because WSU is also having a surge in enrollment, it’s important to sign up for the classes you need early. He said the high enrollment also causes another difficulty.
“If you’ve had problems with parking at Sinclair, then you’ll probably have issues at WSU,” Coleman said. “Parking (at WSU) isn’t a joke.”