"Like, That Was My Dream, You Know?" Narrativizing the Transfer Student Experience

• In Event: College Transfer Aspirations and Trajectories

Abstract

While transfer-intending community college students are key to the higher education landscape (Jenkins & Fink, 2016), little longitudinal research has analyzed how students understand their transfer goals and experiences. Each student’s transfer experience is unique and their orientation toward transfer can change over time. This counter-narrative examines the journey of a college student in Texas from his time in a community college to a four-year institution (Martínez, 2015). Using four interviews, each conducted approximately a year apart, this study seeks to answer the following research question: how does one student narrate his educational experiences and engage in transformational resistance prior to transferring to a four-year institution and his experience after enrolling at a four-year institution (Solorzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001)?

Author

• Saralyn McKinnon-Crowley, Georgia Institute of Technology