By Nikki Babri
While humanities enrollments nationally have declined over many years, steadily growing humanities enrollments at UC Irvine tell a different story – one in which transfer students are key protagonists. These high-achieving students, arriving primarily from California’s community colleges, have found their academic home and pathway to success in the School of Humanities.
Transfer students represent a significant portion of UCI’s humanities enrollment, making up 50 percent of the incoming class of humanities students in the 2024-25 school year. Over the past decade, transfers have made up 56 percent of new student humanities enrollments overall.
“Transfer students represent an essential part of our academic community,” says Associate Dean for Curriculum and Student Services and Professor of History Yong Chen. “They bring unique perspectives, life experiences and intellectual maturity that enrich classroom discussions and strengthen our programs.”
Navigating new terrain
While transfer students arrive with strong academic foundations, they face the distinct challenge of completing their degrees within a compressed two-year timeline. This accelerated path creates unique hurdles as transfers balance academics with work commitments and forming connections with peers and faculty.
“Having accrued both life and educational experiences, transfer students are some of our most proactive,” shares Chelsea Schields, associate professor and undergraduate program director of history. “They bring to the classroom valuable experience having already taken college-level classes. They know when to reach out for help and they are resilient in the face of inevitable setbacks and challenges – all of which are invaluable skills in navigating higher education.”
During summer orientation, transfer students participate in a concentrated advising presentation, one-on-one counseling and a four-hour-long registration session. This process is designed to efficiently prepare them for the quarter system, which differs significantly from the semester structure most have encountered at community colleges. The Office of Undergraduate Studies works with the Orientation Office to provide additional online programming and a transfer-only welcome event during welcome week.
Larissa Parra, a senior English major who transferred from Irvine Valley College, emphasizes the crucial role of academic counseling in her success. “With transcripts from over four different institutions, it became difficult to keep track of the credits and classes I needed to graduate,” she says. For incoming transfers, she strongly recommends early meetings with advisors to create comprehensive academic plans. Through the Campuswide Honors Collegium, she developed a quarterly roadmap for her remaining two years at UCI. “Having this all mapped out helped me feel less anxious about the transition from one school to the next. It lifted the mental load,” Parra explains.
Creating transfer-inclusive communities
Across the School of Humanities, departments have developed unique, targeted approaches that accommodate transfer students’ compressed timelines while maintaining academic rigor, enabling these students to successfully integrate into departmental communities.
The Department of Art History has doubled its majors through distinct support strategies. The department conducts one-on-one faculty mentoring meetings with new transfer students to discuss requirements and course options. This individualized approach extends to the Art History Social Hour – a dedicated class for first-year majors from all entry points (transfers, first-years, changed majors, etc.).
Beyond these initiatives, art history’s robust internship program, field trips for experiential learning and funding for independent research in archives and museums help transfers rapidly build professional connections and research experience. Transfers looking to continue their studies can also apply to the 4+1 M.A. program in which undergraduate students can complete an M.A. in art history in one additional year.
The English Department has created a number of ways to support the success of transfer students, including the English Majors Association, which began as a faculty-led initiative and evolved into a student-run club where students build community and share advice about navigating the major. Supporting this peer network, the department hosts quarterly, informal faculty engagement events: Faculty Poetry Nights where students and professors read poetry around student-selected themes, and “This Academic Life” sessions where faculty share formative influences that shaped their research and teaching. For transfers seeking faculty mentorship or additional resources, a new online advising portal is available to them.
Additionally, the English Internship Program provides majors with paid opportunities to apply their skills in non-academic settings. The department also hosts annual career panels featuring faculty, librarians and alumni who discuss the variety of career paths available to English majors. Turning to the curriculum, the department requires transfers to take a course preparing them for upper-division writing and offers a specialized lower-division seminar. Both courses provide students with small classroom environments while developing essential skills in writing and literary analysis.
The History Department cultivates relationships with potential transfer students before they even apply to UCI. Each fall, the department collaborates with local community colleges to host prospective transfer students on campus to experience UCI history courses, learn about resources and interact with faculty.
Faculty panels emphasize the individualized attention history majors receive at UCI, countering misconceptions about large research universities. The department highlights a supportive writing course that addresses common anxieties about academic preparation. With transfers constituting 42 percent of history’s majors in 2024, the department ensures they can immediately participate in the History Internship Program, advanced research seminars and their new certificate program.
The Department of Comparative Literature has similarly reimagined traditional boundaries between institutions through its new cross-enrollment opportunity. The program allows community college students to take UCI courses at reduced fees before formally transferring. Prospective transfers are able to explore comparative literature while potentially earning credits that will count toward their UCI degree upon matriculation. The program creates a valuable bridge between institutions that helps students transition more smoothly into the university environment.
The Department of Film and Media Studies has prioritized transfer students’ academic and social success. FMS created a comprehensive undergraduate student guide that helps transfers navigate major requirements. Furthermore, staff and faculty actively participate in summer orientation sessions for transfers and host a specialized transfer orientation before fall classes begin.
The department organizes fall social mixers – often gaming-themed – designed to help transfer students connect with peers. They ensure student club representatives attend orientation events to introduce transfers to campus organizations, equipping transfer students to enter on equal footing with those who began as freshmen.
Recognizing the unique time constraints transfer students face, the Department of East Asian Studies created the East Asian Cultures major, which requires only two years of language study instead of the three required by Korean, Japanese and Chinese. This modification allows transfers to complete the language requirement within their shorter timeline, making specialized language study accessible to students who might otherwise be excluded.
Transfers in the classroom
Transfer students actively enhance humanities classrooms. Faculty consistently highlight the maturity, focus and thoughtful perspectives these students bring to discussions and research projects.
“Many of the strongest students I’ve worked with are transfers,” explains Associate Professor of English Rebecca Davis, who also serves as the director of undergraduate study for English and director of the English Internship Program. “They are used to being responsible, and they have a sense of their own worth and skills. Transfers understand the value of their education, and view the time they have as students as a privilege.”
Davis notes that many of the students who participate in programs like Humanities Honors, UTeach and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) are transfers. “They don’t have to miss out on these experiences simply because they arrive as juniors,” she adds.
Setting transfers up for success
As non-traditional students, many transfers focus primarily on graduating quickly, which can limit participation in research, study abroad and other campus activities. In response, the School of Humanities ensures transfers – who make up 34 percent of total students enrolled in the 2024-25 school year – receive equal access to advising services and workshops. UCI’s Transfer Center also provides specialized resources tailored to their needs.
Bellise Sacchetto ‘24 (B.A., English, minor in biological sciences), a Saddleback College transfer who received the 2024 Chancellor’s Award and participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, emphasizes the value of proactive communication in navigating the transfer experience. “Just ask,” she advises incoming students, encouraging them to pursue research opportunities and connect with professors. She found consistent support from her academic counselor, who helped her balance her English coursework with pre-med requirements. “I felt I had someone in my corner,” she notes.
Larissa Parra, set to graduate this spring, fully embraced UCI’s academic opportunities through participation in the Campuswide Honors Collegium, Humanities Honors Program, Tau Sigma Honor Society and English Internship Program. Despite scholarship offers from UC Berkeley and UCLA, she chose UCI as her academic home due to its critical theory program. “The professors at my community college whose work aligned most closely with mine were all UCI grads!” she explains. “There’s something so special about the UCI humanities pedagogy and the emphasis on theoretical frameworks.”
The School of Humanities is committed to educational access and excellence for all students. Transfer students who major in the humanities don’t just complete their degrees – they thrive as essential contributors to our bustling academic community.
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