Whether hailing from the Virginia’s Community Colleges’ Guaranteed Admission program, a two-year institution on the Pacific or anywhere in between, each of the University’s transfer students have a unique story as to how they found their way to Grounds. In the fall of 2025, 807 new transfer students arrived on Grounds to begin their journey at the University.
For many transfer students, their trajectory at the University is far from linear. Many students noted difficulties pertaining to building new social networks, navigating communication from the University and figuring out academic requirements.
For third-year College student Rushil Umaretiya, building new social networks was especially difficult due to his arrival onto Grounds as a second-year. Having originally attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Umaretiya came to the University in the fall of 2024 to reap the benefits of in-state tuition and proximity to his hometown in Northern Virginia.
In order to facilitate the creation of a social network, Umaretiya decided to dive headfirst into extracurricular activities. In addition to involvement with the Jefferson Society, Umaretiya decided to become a volunteer firefighter after reading an article detailing student involvement with fire stations in Charlottesville. Umaretiya explained how these involvements helped him quickly find a sense of community — something he had initially feared would not happen. For Umaretiya, these extracurriculars provided him with the community networks many students find in Greek life and comparable social organizations.
“I wouldn't be anywhere without [extracurriculars],” Umaretiya said. “If people ask me about my college experience, I'm usually talking about those first.”
While extracurriculars can provide transfer students with opportunities to build social networks, many still find that it is difficult to integrate themselves into the greater University community. Liz Hernandez Ramirez, second-year College student who took the “Year at Wise” route to Grounds this past fall, said that the label “transfer student” made her feel separate from the rest of the student body.
“I was separate. I was not U.Va. I was not a U.Va. student. I was a transfer U.Va. student,” Hernandez Ramirez said. “That label was just there and it felt really harsh.”
For Hernandez Ramirez, this feeling of being separate made her feel as though she was “less than” her peers — like someone who did not belong on Grounds. She explained that many Contracted Independent Organizations lack transfer representatives, making it more difficult for transfer students, such as herself, to feel included in the organization. She also noted how entering the University as a second-year student made it challenging to join friend groups, as many were already established, which contributed to her feelings of separation from other students.
Additionally, Hernandez Ramirez explained that her feelings of separation from other students were exacerbated by the fact that her time at the University is more limited than her peers who attended from the start. She noted that her late entry gave her less time to explore different majors and areas of interest, adding to her anxiety surrounding both her social and academic life.
“I could not release that identity of being a transfer student, and that made it really difficult for me to connect with people,” Hernandez Ramirez said. “So it's like, ‘I have no time and no one understands me,’ and therefore I was almost self-isolating as a result of not being able to explore different majors [and] feeling like I wasn't welcome at organizations.”
Echoing this sentiment, Cora Averweg, a third-year Commerce student who transferred into McIntire School of Commerce after two years of community college, said she feels as if being a transfer student causes her classmates — specifically those in different financial situations — to perceive her as inferior.
“In [McIntire] it's a little bit of a prestige thing or money thing,” Averweg said. “When I tell people I went to community college to save money, they're like, ‘Why do you have to save money?’”
For Hernandez Ramirez, these feelings of otherness extended beyond academic pathways and into her sense of personal identity. She explained that she had originally anticipated her cultural background as a Latinx student being an added layer of difficulty in integrating into the University's social scene. However, according to Hernandez Ramirez, it is in her identity as a transfer student that she feels she has faced the most judgment.
“I felt very ashamed of being a transfer student,” Hernandez Ramirez said. “I feel like my Latinx, low-income, first-generation background is accepted. My biggest issue [is] being a transfer student.”
Amplifying pre-existing obstacles, leadership changes during the 2025–26 school year created feelings of uncertainty across Grounds, which also impacted transfer students. Umaretiya explained how arriving at a school in the midst of administrative upheaval made it especially difficult to settle in.
“It's just knowing that I'm brand new here, and the University [is] going through a lot of really significant changes,” Umaretiya said. “And I'm already trying to navigate a new environment, and so it's suddenly stressful.”
Similarly, for Averweg, the discussions surrounding changes in leadership made it difficult for her to focus on enjoying her already limited time at the University.
“It's kind of taking away from the experience of being [at the University]. There's so much going on, and it’s like you can't focus on just being a University student,” Averweg said. “You kind of get wrapped up in the bureaucracy.”
Additionally, the several threats of violence over the 2025-26 school year invoked feelings of stress for Umaretiya, who experienced two shootings during his first semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He noted how this additional stress can compound the anxiety that accompanies transitioning into a new environment.
“I was like, okay, [the violence is] done now. And then I came here, and it just kept happening,” Umaretiya said.
To help alleviate the difficulty of adjusting, in 2024, the University created the Transfer Transition team, led by Betty Chelli, the inaugural associate director for the second-year experience. The team is intended to provide resources that help ease the transition for transfer students, offering support networks from career and enrollment counselors to college life coaches.
Still, despite the implementation of these resources, many students still believe there is more that can be done to aid transfer students in their adjustment to University life. For instance, Umaretiya said he believes better communication from academic advising detailing what students can expect during their time at the University would help assuage uncertainties.
“I think [the University has] to empower students more,” Umaretiya said. “I think somebody should sit down with you and be like, ‘Yeah, this is what you did at your last school, and [this is] how they do things here.’”
Despite their struggles, Hernandez Ramirez, Averweg and Umaretiya ultimately do not regret their decision to transfer. Averweg said that even though her time on Grounds is more limited than others, she knows that her journey to the University happened the way it was meant to.
“I wonder how much I could have done if I had been here for all four years or since first-year,” Averweg said. “But I think everything happens for a reason. I'm on my own timeline.”
Echoing this sentiment, Hernandez Ramirez acknowledged that even if her journey to the University was difficult, she would not be where she is — or who she is — today without it.
“Even though [transferring] was extremely difficult, I have gotten to the point where if all that didn't happen, I wouldn't be where I am now,” Hernandez Ramirez said. “I wouldn't know the people that I know, I wouldn't have the resources that I do. And so I'm incredibly grateful for the chaos, because it taught me to be my own stability.”
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