Welcoming transfer students

Portland State’s Honors College is dedicated to serving high-achieving students from diverse backgrounds, but not all those students come to PSU as freshmen. Jasmine Gloden is one of the growing number of transfer students in the Honors College. She joined Honors after attending Clackamas Community College for two years.

“At first it was a bit intimidating; it seemed like everyone was smarter or more prepared than I was,” said Gloden (pictured), a quantitative economics major. But then a discussion about impostor syndrome in one of her classes put her at ease. People with impostor syndrome lack confidence in their abilities and experience chronic feelings of inadequacy despite success.

“It was very eye opening,” Gloden said. “Almost everyone else was feeling the same thing, which reassured me that I did deserve to be there.”

Gloden learned about impostor syndrome in a new, accelerated course that gets junior transfer students up to speed on the academic writing and research tools that are foundational to the Honors curriculum. Added last year, Honors 399 is much more than a research and writing class. The course also builds community for transfer students, who now make up about 30 percent of the Honors student body.

PSU’s focus on providing a path for transfer students is unusual among honors colleges, many of which do not even admit them. “We noticed our transfer numbers were increasing and the faculty wanted to have a better way to support these students,” program director Brenda Glascott said. “We wanted to live up to our mission of being an honors college focused on access, and building a specific entryway for transfer students seemed important to this mission.”

With a retention rate of 91 percent for transfer students, the Honors College’s push to focus on community and inclusion for these students appears to be working. For her part, Gloden recommends that other transfer students consider joining. “You’ll get to challenge yourself and expand your horizons,” she said.

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