The Rocket

Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Steve Reed [Click to enlarge]

When many students are getting ready to graduate from high school, a number of colleges are often looked at and compared.

Once one is finally chosen, it's a weight lifted off of students' shoulders, as they can sit back confident that they have picked the perfect school.

But for some students, such as Sean Flanigan, a junior elementary education major, this so-called perfect fit isn't as perfect as once thought.

Flanigan, 22, attended Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, for his freshman year of college.

He said he originally picked the school because it was a private Catholic college only about 45 minutes away from his home in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.

But he said he didn't realize when he first applied that they didn't have his major of choice: elementary education.

After this realization, he began to look at other schools during the spring semester of his freshman year.

"I looked at schools like Clarion, IUP, Edinboro, Cal and SRU," Flanigan said. "I met with transfer coordinators, went through which credits would transfer and looked at overviews of the programs (they offered). It was kind of like re-applying all over again."

For Meghan McHenry, a senior elementary and special education major, her reasons for transferring were a bit different.

McHenry, 21, began her freshman year at Muskingum College in Ohio.

Midway through that year, she realized she wanted to come closer to home.

A softball player, McHenry said she began talking with Vashion Johnson, the head softball coach for SRU, and when she found out she could still play softball, was sold on her decision to attend SRU.

"The hardest parts were making sure my credits would transfer, making lots of phone calls and filling out the application," McHenry said.

Although SRU was one of Flanigan's top three choices for colleges coming out of high school, he said when he met with Robert Lagnese, the director of orientation and the associate director of admissions, he knew where he wanted to go.

Continued...

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