Written by Annie Wang.

What has your experience as a transfer student been like?

My first semester as a junior transfer was really difficult. I honestly wanted to drop out because I really felt like I couldn’t do it. I was stressed out from my schedule (I didn’t plan it very well), and I also had a lot of other personal things going on in my life. It was hard to make friends. I felt like a freshman again, and it was a horrible feeling. I was so mad and frustrated. I told my mom that I was dropping out, and she drove up to tell me that I was crazy for wanting to drop. But it started getting better. My roommates and I were all in the same boat. We supported each other through our Berkeley transitions and now they’re my best friends. I will definitely miss living with best friends when I graduate. I love having them around and it will be really different not having them as a part of my day to day life.

What are you passionate about and why?

I am passionate about improving immigration laws and improving the immigrant experience in my local communities. I live in Santa Paula, near Ventura. In Santa Paula it’s a largely hispanic population and there will only be 10 people graduating from college in my grade. They didn’t meet the right people to motivate them, but I’m lucky that have my parents because they really valued education and motivated me to go to school. A lot of opportunities that could be taken advantage of and I want to help motivate my community to take advantage of that. In the future, I hope to start a non profit, lobby for better immigration laws, and help more Latino students/families receive better education.

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