Julian-Israel Canizares, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, always dreamt of attending a military academy — that is, until he actually went to one.
Canizares spent his freshman year of college at the United States Coast Guard Academy. In addition to schoolwork, Canizares said first-year students were required to participate in military training, athletics and engagement with upper classmen that included memorizing arbitrary pieces of information to be repeated on demand. Canizares was also involved in extra curricular activities like the glee club.
By the middle of the year, Canizares found all his endeavors were catching up with him.
“I was having a lot of difficulty juggling academics and military duties,” Canizares said. “I’m much more of a one-track, focus on one thing and really get-it-done [person] than multi-tasking [oriented].”
As Canizares’ grades and athletic performance continued to suffer, an adviser told him that he was in danger of losing his scholarship and his place at the academy.
“It came down to ‘you’ve got to make a decision as to whether or not you’re going to stay at the academy,’” Canizares said.
That is when Canizares made the decision to transfer to a new school.
In last week’s profile of an upset student who is planning to leave AU, sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences Jack Eichner found the university had not met his needs as a student.
Eichner and Canizares are part of a large group of students who rethink their college choice. In 2005, 7.1 percent of freshmen at 4-year colleges planned to transfer to another school, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Like Eichner and Canizares, these students wanted to find an institution that would be a better fit.
Canizares found that fit at AU.
“[AU] suits my interests actually a lot better than the academy,” Canizares said. “I have a lot more freedom to do what I want to do and ... to just pursue social things that I wasn’t able to do at the academy.”
When Canizares was looking for schools to which he could transfer, a strong political science department was one of his main criteria. He hopes now to go into the State Department or join the intelligence community. He joked that one day he might go on to become the president of the United States.
Actually, President Barack Obama did transfer during his college career. The president started at Occidental College and transferred to Columbia University in search of something “more urban and ... more diverse,” according to US News and World Report.
Steve Pemberton, the co-founder and former co-president of national college admission consulting firm Road to College, said that while transferring universities is not uncommon, there are certain challenges that transfer students face.
“It is not uncommon for students to feel isolated and disconnected from the student body at their new school,” Pemberton said.
Sean Dixon, a senior in CAS, said this was particularly an area of concern for AU’s transfer students commuting to campus.
“American is a school of cliques if you haven’t been there since freshmen year,” Dixon said. “It’s extraordinarily difficult to penetrate the social strata.”
To help with the adjustment AU has recently restructured its Transfer Transitions Orientation Program, according to Assistant Director of New Student Programs Natalie Gempesaw-Pangan.
An interactive panel discussion with students who have already experienced the transfer process at AU was also added to the program. Those on the panel continue to reach out to the newer students throughout the year in order to help them establish bonds on campus, according to Gempesaw-Pangan.
“[The director of New Student Programs, Tiffany Sanchez] and I are huge believers and we do agree that when students feel connected they’re more likely to integrate themselves,” Gempesaw-Pangan said. “So it’s as simple as if you have a buddy to go to that student organization meeting, you’re more likely to go as opposed to if you’re going by yourself.”
This January, Gempesaw-Pangan and Sanchez will hold transfer focus groups to assess needs on campus.
During his first year at AU, Canizares lived on Tenley Campus where he made friends he could “hold on to as being new” to AU like him.
“We ended up ... becoming this really, really close community,” Canizares said.
Although he still misses some aspects of the academy, Canizares said he is happy with his decision to come to AU.
“I actually can’t really imagine going to any other school,” Canizares said. “I’ve made some really great friends, taken some really, really interesting classes, learned a lot of things, done a lot of new things ... I’ve met a lot of really great professors who’ve really helped me to figure out what I want to do eventually.”
Canizares said the school has given him the option to pursue interests in art, music and theater.
“It’s been a great experience overall,” Canizares said.
You can reach this staff writer at sparnass@theeagleonline.com.
