The Driehaus College of Business receives more transfer students than any other college or school at DePaul University. Many of these students come from two-year community colleges to earn bachelor’s degrees at DePaul’s highly regarded School of Accountancy & MIS.
To help them make this transition, the school is expanding resources for transfer students. One way the school is doing this is by getting to know its community college students better and understanding how their needs may differ from those of students entering college from high school.
REACHING OUT TO COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Accounting Instructor Susan Lueders (EdD ’15) is leading the school’s community college outreach initiative. Lueders and a team of accounting faculty members visit educators at Chicago area community colleges to discuss how DePaul can better reach transfer students. The objective is to build relationships with the schools and share curricular and co-curricular knowledge so that transfer students will be prepared to start at DePaul on the right footing.
“Our transfer numbers are significant,” says Lueders. “Reaching out to transfer students fulfills the school’s Vincentian mission as the population often includes underrepresented minorities and first-generation college students. What makes this group even more special is that it is a population of untapped talent that has worked just as hard as our other students and who often have to maintain jobs and families while going to school.”
Lueders, a first-generation college student and public school alumna, focuses her research on students who are the first in their families to enter college. Research indicates that transfer students catch up both academically and socially with students who entered a four-year university right away, according to Lueders. Lueders notes that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to reaching out to each community college and that the committee will use different approaches. She and the committee also hope to help get large firms more involved in reaching this highly talented pool of future accountants.
“We have the resources here to educate students and place them in their careers,” says Lueders. “We would love for community colleges to know that. Community college students can compete head-to-head with everyone else.”
WORKSHOPS PREPARE TRANSFER STUDENTS FOR CAREERS
When transfer students are admitted into DePaul’s accountancy programs, they may be at a disadvantage for internships compared to students who entered as freshmen and have already been networking with recruiting firms for one to two years. This challenge is addressed by the Ready, Set, Transfer! program coordinated by accounting Instructor Margaret Tower.
“With many transfer students starting their junior years in late summer and the big firms meeting students in the fall, we have a narrow window to prepare transfer students for internship interviews and networking events,” says Tower. “In the spirit of helping with the transition to a large university, we are acclimating students to be successful while they are here.”
The Ready, Set, Transfer! workshop takes place two weeks before the start of the fall quarter. It provides transfer students with tools to prepare for their internships and job searches at the start of their fall quarter. Topics include DePaul Career Center resources, campus recruiting timelines, resume writing, interviewing skills and professional networking. The program also sponsors panel discussions where students learn about different accountancy career paths from working professionals who represent a cross section of public accounting, industry and nonprofit firms. Many of the speakers are DePaul alumni who themselves were first-generation and transfer students.
“So many of our transfer students have amazing transferable skills developed through life and work experiences,” says Tower. “They may have postponed their education or taken a different route through school, but they are passionate and have worked hard to get here. We are their final undergraduate destination, and we provide great opportunities both academically and professionally that will enable them to lead successful careers.”
Both the community college initiative and Ready, Set, Transfer! have expanded over the past five years. Tower and Lueders continue to add valuable components to DePaul’s existing relationships with community colleges, including more scholarships and recognition for high-achieving transfer students.
“Students returning to school may feel out of place or that they missed too much time,” says Tower. “DePaul may not be the first step in their college education, but we are trying to be the last step.”