Senior Year Reflections

I spent the other night out late “studying” with a friend who is a fellow transfer student and a fellow senior. I say studying in quotes because in reality we spent the majority of our time discussing important topics like when to grab a skillet cookie or the best profile picture. Eventually the topic turned to plans after graduation, and how much we are going to miss William & Mary. Both being transfer students, we had a very similar perspective on our time here.

We both transferred in with one focus in mind, academics. This is not to say academics are not important, but it was our sole focus. As we conversed we discovered that we both felt as though we missed out on a lot our first year. While some of our friends were going out to campus events and expanding their friendship circles we spent time in Swem studying for countless hours. After adjusting for a year to the academics we both find ourselves now trying to do everything possible in our last year, and last semester for that matter.

In my last semester at William & Mary I talk to new and potential transfer students and they all seem to have the same focus. Academics. I understand their focus as William & Mary has a reputation for stressing academics. This does make me sad though, many transfers only have two years (sometimes three) to make the same amount of memories as someone who has been here for four years. I regret wasting a whole year not making memories because I thought the only important thing was studying. College is about learning, growing as a person, and making memories. I hope future transfers learn from my mistake, and use William & Mary as an opportunity to learn but also gain experiences.

-Rebecca Hill ‘17