About a dozen colleges and universities showed up to educate students about their schools and the transfer process during Los Medanos College’s annual spring Transfer Day Rally Thursday, April 16.
LMC hosts two transfer days, one during the spring semester and one in the fall semester. Spring transfer day rallies are relatively new and have only been held for the past three years at LMC.
According to the information desk in the student services building, an average of 300 students roam the Outdoor Quad during each transfer day.
Canopies were set up with college representatives at tables answering student’s questions about each college, as well as providing students with information on the transfer process. During tabling, food and activities were available for students to enjoy.
While there were major universities in attendance, there were a number of schools smaller in both population and class size, such as Mills College, Sierra Nevada College and University of the Pacific.
Mills College, described by school representative Rebecca Williams, has “small intimate classrooms.” Williams said the college has about 15 students per classroom on average, which gives easy access to college professors.
LMC and Mills College have a close relationship, said Williams, so LMC reached out to them to bring them to Transfer Day. Mills College is a “tight knit community,” highly focused on the quality of education their students receive.
California State University, East Bay representative Annie Nogales Chandler, who has participated in many of these Transfer Days, said the fall rallies tend to be more active with greater participation.
Chandler added that she visits the Pittsburg campus at least once a week and the Brentwood campus about twice a month to help students with the transfer process, financial aid and other general information. East Bay has a main campus in Hayward and a satellite campus in Concord, where Chandler’s office is located.
Giovanni Lopez, a student adviser and tour guide from University of California, Davis came to the rally for the first time. Lopez, a recent Davis graduate, was here to help LMC students with the transfer process. Davis said internships are a great foundation for students looking to transfer.
If you’re not looking to travel far, UOP is across the river in Stockton and representative Channon Rosencrans said the college has plenty of scholarship opportunities and offers a wide variety of majors. The average class size is 20 students, said Rosencrans, and the total student population is only 5,000.
UOP has two other campuses, one for dental located in San Francisco and one for law located in Sacramento. There are about 7,000 students in those two locations.
Sybil Williams, an LMC alumna, was tabling as a representative for San Francisco State University educating students on their new dietetic program, and said the program was introduced to educate students on nutrition and health.
“We’re looking to increase enrollment of different demographics,” said Williams, adding that, “more people need to take health and nutrition seriously.”
A majority of the schools at Transfer Day were academic based, except the Academy of Art University, the largest art school in the US according to Amanda Johnson, the university’s representative.
“What gives our school the edge is we focus on the business side of art,” said Johnson.
The Academy of Art University puts a lot of time into networking to make the transition from school to working easy she said, adding that, “if you are one semester into school and then suddenly decide you want to go to art school” consider the Academy of Art University because there are no minimum transferable units required.
After the tabling was over a karaoke contest began with special guest appearances from R&B Brown, Marie-Lemagne, Mazeon & Blaze and P.U.R.P.U.S.
For more information about any of these schools or the transfer process, stop by the Transfer Center at the upper level of the Student Services Building, Room SS4-435, or go to losmedanos.edu/transferday.