Top Ten List!
Center For Positive Thinking

Blog Homepage - Positive Power
Blog Category: Positive Students
Blog Entry: #102

Should I Transfer Colleges?
Don't Do ANYTHING BEFORE READING THIS!
by Joe DePalma

**********************************************
When you lose at the game of Monopoly do you blame the little car or the thimble?
Or maybe you didn't do so well because of how you played the game?
**********************************************

Transferring from one school to another is an intimidating decision in any situation, but it is one that can be very good in the long run if you are doing it for the right reasons. You see, many students think that if they go to a different school, their problems and difficulties will go away as well. But that is not how it works. Although a new environment may seem like a rebirth, your problems will not simply vanish with the change of scenery. If you fail to get to the root of a problem and disarm it, your physical location is irrelevant because your problems will keep following you and chomping at your heels.

After a few unsuccessful semesters, even the most diligent student may start to blame the school for his or her quickly fading potential. This is the point at which the majority of students contemplate transferring. Instead of searching within themselves for a possible reason as to why they are not doing well, most students strictly concentrate on their poor results rather than their inability to prepare and fully adjust to the college system.

The college system is not designed to cater to nor pay any special attention to any one student. In one form or another, that is the major reason why most students blame their school and not themselves for their poor academic status. The system is an easy target for students to blame for transferring because it is much more common for individuals to look outside of themselves and place blame rather than search inwardly, take responsibility, and adapt. I know that it is disheartening to think it could be your own frame of mind causing your poor results in college, but if it were the school's fault for its students not doing well, then wouldn't everyone transfer to a different school?

Students must never let their college control their emotions like a puppet on a string. During any student's college career, he or she will encounter hundreds of negative situations that will invoke all kinds of negative emotions. Now I ask, why do those emotions necessarily have to be negative? Why can't a student encounter a negative situation, take ownership of it, and create a positive response to it instead of just quickly reacting negatively?

When you learn to take ownership of every campus situation you encounter, you will transform yourself from someone who is basically controlled by their school to someone who continually creates their own success and happiness everywhere they go. When this simple idea of “taking ownership” of every situation is fully utilized, it forces your school to react to you rather than the other way around.

I know this idea of living in an environment that fully reacts to you may seem a little crazy, but please understand that this new mindset of creating rather than reacting is not about hard work and hundreds of hours of therapy or personal coaching; it is more like zeroing in on a particular radio station in an old Ford truck. You do not even need much outside help; all you need is a little personal fine tuning.

* Should I Transfer Colleges? - ACTION STEPS *

** The 5 Keys For Taking Ownership of Your College Experience:

1) Be aware of your attitude as often as possible (Create, don't React).

2) Don't let your environment dictate your behavior (Create, don't React).

3) Take responsibility for every good, bad, angry or sad emotion
(Create, don't React).

4) Repeat to yourself in times of discomfort, “This too shall pass”
(Create, don't React).

5) Realize that you have the power to start CREATING pure happiness and success for yourself right now, and you also have the choice to simply REACT to the world and take your chances that most of those reactions will be positive. Be aware that it is your choice.

Now that you realize your happiness and success in college is up to you to create, that still may mean you need to transfer schools. But once your decision to transfer schools is made, you must make sure the school you choose increases your chances of succeeding academically first and socially second.

If you are transferring from a community college to a four-year school, that is a clear step up, and in the majority of cases is a good idea. If you are transferring from a four-year school to a different four-year school, make sure that you visit the campus and study the school's curriculum, reputation, and tuition costs to be 100 percent sure it is an improvement. If you are thinking of transferring from a four-year college to a two-year community school, make sure you are not selling yourself short. Remember, if you are good enough to get into a four-year college, you are good enough to graduate from it. Nevertheless, if you have to take a step back before you can take two steps forward, be sure that all the credits you earn at the community college can be transferred back to a four-year school when the time comes.

Finally, remember that on top of everything else, transferring should always be for an educational reason. Hopes of a better social life along with being further or closer to home are great secondary reasons to choose a school, but education should always be the focus of any college transfer.

*** Extra: Write down your thoughts on the slogan; “Create, Don't React.” First, write what the definition of the word “create” means to you, and then write what the definition of the word “react” means to you. Lastly, spend a few minutes and figure out if your ideas of transferring stem from a reaction or a creation.

CREATE: ____________________________________________________

REACT: ____________________________________________________

Now, where does your idea of transferring come from?
(A general reminder: creation is good, and reaction is bad.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To learn more about author Joe DePalma Click Here

© Copyright, Joseph DePalma and Ready Set Rise, LLC. This material is protected under printed and electronic © Copyright. Any reissuing of this material must be approved by Joseph DePalma and Ready Set Rise, LLC.
To Contact Us Click here.

Go To Positive Power Blog Homepage
Go To Positive Students Blog Category - Main Page