Transfer Students Adjust to Life at Salve

By: Jessica Pezzone
Posted In: News

As the spring semester unfolds, students can’t help but see some new faces cropping up at Salve Regina. Many people often wonder what it would be like to transfer to a new school; you start fresh, have to make a whole new group of friends, and adjust to a new landscape while trying to excel in a college atmosphere. However hard the transition, students say that it is definitely worth it to be somewhere you love for your four college years.

I spoke with two transfer students to ask them how their first few weeks at Salve were going and how the transition had been for them. These two students, Mallory Dolan and Alex Clark, seem to be adjusting quite well to the move and loving their stay at Salve thus far.

Mallory Dolan is a freshman transfer student from Canton,Mass. She had previously attended the University of Delaware, and when she decided within the first few days that it wasn’t going to work, took the semester off and worked as a preschool teacher.

When asked how she was enjoying Salve thus far, Dolan responded enthusiastically, “It’s great. I love my small classes, the people are friendly, and my professors are extremely helpful. I really like the dorming situation better because people are more available to me.”

Dolan said the process of transferring was exceptionally easy before, noting that after her taking a semester off to work she was ready to get back into school and learning again. She says that it is very easy to make friends here because both dorms and classes are more intimate. When asked what the best thing about Salve was, she responded “Being closer to home and living in this beautiful town.”

I also interviewed another freshman transfer student who had quite a different experience than Mallory. Alex Clark is from Ridgefield, Connecticut, and also had transferred from University of Delaware.

Clark had stuck out the entire semester, and decided to switch to Salve because of enormous classes (some 400+) and an awful dorming situation. Instead of being put in a freshman dorm, however, Clark is now living in Watts-Sherman, housing usually entitled only to upperclassmen.

Clark first became interested in Salve Regina when he stayed with a friend here and noticed the unique experience of small classes and great people within a beautiful setting.

“I love the people and all the classes that I’m in. Newport is a beautiful town and it’s a lot closer to home – I love it so much better than Delaware.”

Clark cites meeting people as the hardest part of being the new kid, stating that,

“It’s hard to start all over again – everyone has already established their group of friends and knows the landscape – sometimes I feel as if I’m just tagging along.”

Notwithstanding this problem, however, Clark says that he loves the school and he is excited about being able to pursue his studies here.

“What I like most about Salve is the campus size – there seems to always be something going on, but there isn’t so much that the situation is overwhelming. I also like the breakdown of the classes so far – Salve is unique in that instead of just having a final and a midterm to determine your grade, you have a lot of quizzes and the teachers seem to really care about you.”