As we enter into the second year of a worldwide pandemic and the world slowly opens back up, many students are struggling to transfer to a four-year university.

With limited in-person resources, the transition to an online campus has made the transfer process extremely difficult.

During the pandemic, the challenges of poor mental health caused by limited face-to-face interaction and the usual stress of the transfer process have taken their toll on me. It takes at least two weeks to schedule something as simple as a counselor’s appointment on Skyline’s online campus. Skyline needs to do a better job providing support for the online transfer process.

While going through the final checklist of classes that were needed, two counselors failed to tell me that one of my classes was not applicable for covering two sections of the G.E requirement. If I had not gone to a third counselor, I likely would have failed to meet the standard to obtain my AD-T. The ensuing frustration and stress have left me spiraling, feeling that Skyline’s counseling has failed me.

With the online counseling system, I felt that interactions between counselors and students have become counterproductive as Zoom meetings are rushed and email responses are often delayed. Nothing is more jarring than sending a plea for help with a time-sensitive document only to be met with an automated response.

It takes at least two weeks to schedule something as simple as a counselor’s appointment on Skyline’s online campus. There’s no guarantee when you’ll get a response, let alone getting one in the first place.

I have heard from multiple Skyline students that it is commonplace to have transfer inquiries be met with no response. With the increase of online counseling traffic combined with limited appointments available, I had to resort to reaching out to professors and deans to get the process moving along.

The online transfer process has been a taxing emotional experience that needs to be improved on.