By CHRIS AGBOLA
Columnist
The pride of any institution is its vibrant alumni association. The alumni are not only the holders of a degree offered by that school. They are ambassadors who represent the brand and impart its ideals to their sphere of contact. Quite a number of students I started my freshman year with or came to meet as continuing students transfer from Northwestern to other colleges. While some move to colleges with more population, some transfer to community colleges.
So what do call a transition from a four year university to a two-year? Urmm…ridiculous? Nope. It’s simply their choice. I didn’t collate any statistical evidence for the percentage and why they do. Remember, it’s an opinion. I’m writing on what I have observed over a period of time. So what could be the reasons why someone who want transfer to a different school from a neutral point of view?
The first thing should be the quality of education. I could consider you uninformed should you say the education this college provides is sub-quality. I have lots of reasons to buttress my claim. Reaccreditation in simple terms is “you’ve kept the standards, keep it up.” This college went through that recently so standards should not be a bone of contention. Also, the alumni of the school are in various fields of endeavor, from Duane Pierson, who is the senior microbiologist at NASA, to Robert Reeg, President of MasterCard Technologies. Just name it, NWOSU has got it covered. The nursing program of the school is among the top 20 in the country. Should a student transfer, I don’t think the quality of the education could be a factor. However, the variety of majors could be.
Another factor could be when a school’s culture doesn’t fit with that of a student. By that I mean the traditions and interests of the school, its activities and accessibility of information. I think this school does a pretty good job with the planned events for every semester. The extent of how satisfactory the programs are to the student body, I cannot ascertain. Publicity for upcoming programs is quite solid here. Posters and notices are usually displayed and are conspicuous. The weekly emails of the activities distinctively outline everything to the nitty-gritty. Could there be a possibility that a student won’t notice any of these? Most definitely! If a junior or sophomore still transfers after being in Northwestern for three and two years respectively, that should say it all. I’m not picking on juniors or sophomores; they’re my examples because they could appreciate things more than the freshmen, considering their duration of stay here.
What I didn’t say is that one could still leave the school because he or she just doesn’t like the school. And all that is not going to change their minds due to their own reasons. I appreciate and respect all that. I’d suggest administration look into this, maybe via a survey to find out what could make the students transfer. Having a high admission percentage is great. Maintaining them to be a graduating class is supreme.