It's Ok To Transfer... I Promise

Dear college auditionees, 

When I arrived on campus at Rider University for orientation, I could tell almost instantly that I was not where I was going to be for the next 4 years.

It wasn’t the faculty; they all seemed lovely.

It wasn’t my classmates; they were, and still remain to this day, some of the most incredible people I’ve ever met.

It wasn’t even the school itself.

Something was just off, and even though I suppressed these thoughts and tried to give my new school an open mind throughout orientation and into the first month of school itself, I think deep down I always knew that for whatever reason, the energy between myself and Rider University simply wasn’t clicking. I began putting together a plan to apply to a few choice schools as a transfer, a plan I shared with no one at my school, save for my acting professor, who became a mentor and unofficial advisor to me.

I kept my intentions hidden because I was so terrified of the repercussions.

Would my professors put less effort into helping me grow if they knew I was planning to leave? Would my classmates think I was being self-centered? What if I got in nowhere and had to face the embarrassment of everyone knowing I tried to leave and wasn’t good enough?

These were all thoughts that ran through my head constantly, making me triple check that I’d closed my Acceptd portal before bringing my computer to class, or to leave the building whenever I got a call from my mom, just in case someone overheard the word “Prescreen” or “Reaudition” while passing by my dorm room. 

After using songs recorded in secret during voice lessons in my prescreens, travelling to New York City during my winter break for Unifieds, and briefly forgetting how to breathe when I realized one of my auditions was being held on the same floor as Rider’s, I finished my secret audition season, and eventually received the invitation to study at Penn State.

Now came the scary part: coming clean.

Unsurprisingly, the responses were a mixed bag, and while some people embraced my decision and shared their love and congratulations, others were less enthused, including one unnamed professor who hung up on me abruptly during our FaceTime meeting while I was sharing my thanks for everything he had done for me. I won’t pretend it didn’t hurt to pull the curtain back and see who cared about me as a person and not just in relation to my work, but it was also incredibly heartwarming to find that so many people really did care for me, regardless of where I was going to school. 

Despite being in the process of transferring, I was very active in Facebook groups whenever someone wanted to know more about Rider. Because of this, when I announced my transfer a lot of people reached out. Many were confused and wanted to know if something was “wrong” with Rider. Others reached out with their congrats, but a large section of my inbox was surprisingly filled with people I’d gone through my first audition cycle with, who’d just wrapped up their Freshman years. I received countless messages from people in this situation, telling me they were unhappy at their current institution, but they felt obligated to be there because their school is considered to be good, or that they felt a debt to the people who took a chance on them. Many of these people told me that seeing someone in a similar situation make the choice to transfer had emboldened them to do the same, and take their college path into their own hands by having a second go at the audition process.

The point I’m trying to make is that transferring is a scary decision to make, but it can and should be done if you are not happy where you are.

You need to build a team around yourself who can help you get through this process from both a logistical and emotional standpoint. My team consisted of my hometown voice teacher, my college acting professor, and my mom, but you can build one with virtually anyone, as long as they have your best intentions at heart and will support your journey.

eing at college studying the thing you love more than anything should be nothing short of pure euphoria, and if you’re not waking up knowing that what’s in store for the day is going to bring you happiness, then you should not feel that you owe a for-profit organization (college) your loyalty. Your journey should be yours, and if that means taking the leap to another school, then there is no reason you shouldn’t at least give yourself the opportunity to take that leap. 

I believe in you.

You are entitled to happiness.

And if that happiness isn’t happening where you are-

It’s okay to transfer, I promise.

---

Kyle Rhys Dalsimer is a BFA Musical Theatre Major at Penn State University. Kyle grew up in Northern Virginia, and spent most of his childhood planning to play college football and get a business degree. After a bad concussion in high school, however, Kyle rediscovered his love for performing on the stage, and hasn't looked back since. Outside of his work in theatre, Kyle works as a Progressive Strategist and Advisor to down-ballot, grassroots political campaigns who aim to topple corrupt lawmakers and replace them with real, working class people. @KyleRhys_

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