Transfer Team Efforts See Great Success

This year, the OAR Transfer Team, consisting of Lori Christianson, Alyssa Watts Ransom, Arriana Dawidziak, Ezra Mauk, Joshua Rybaski, Katie Seibel, and Vianey Hernández, pivoted quickly and effectively to meet the new needs of transfer students. The team implemented one-on-one virtual appointments, open to transfer students anywhere in the admission process. Through these appointments, the team met with 756 students between September 1 and July 7 and scheduled 1035 appointments. These sessions cater to the unique backgrounds and experiences of transfer students and reflect their need for individualized support. These virtual meetings have allowed greater flexibility for prospective students and the OAR Transfer Team and will continue to be available in this format. The Transfer Team and Events Team joined the Office of Student Financial Aid, Transfer Transition Program, and Credit Evaluation Services (CES) to offer Virtual Transfer Your UW Days, designed specifically for admitted students. The events are held ahead of the start of each semester in December and May and provide next steps for our incoming transfer students. Members of the Transfer Team also participated in Instagram Live Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions that offered transfer students, and those potentially considering transferring, the opportunity to ask live questions of our counselors and gave our team the opportunity to reach our audiences where they are. For our social media platforms, the team created Transfer Minutes videos to provide brief answers to some of our frequently asked questions. This year was the first virtual Transfer Advisor Conference for two-year college advisors from around the nation. OAR was joined by advisors from UW–Madison’s undergraduate schools and colleges at this two-day event to provide the latest transfer information to assist with advising needs. The Team’s continued work with special populations has also seen great success. This includes work with the Madison College Scholars of Promise program, in which students who are part of that program at Madison College and transfer successfully to UW–Madison receive two years of paid tuition. This year we saw twice the number of Scholars of Promise students admitted to UW–Madison. The Road to Wisconsin program for select students from Illinois who were not admitted as freshmen has also seen growth in its second year. Road to Wisconsin students begin their college career at a two-year institution and then are eligible for transfer admission upon meeting the requirements of the program. The team continues to provide support to the Online Undergraduate Degree program through escalated application evaluation and, along with our Technology team, acts as a resource to support the continued growth and development of the program. Another big success for the team was being able to release transfer admissions decisions early. A special thanks to the CES team for getting credit evaluations out sooner as well. Additionally, we saw an increase in deposits for fall 2021 for our transfer student population and know this could not have happened without the dedication of our Transfer Team and all of those who serve transfer students.