Navigating the Transfer Process at Hiram College

Summary

This conversation explores the transfer process to Hiram College, focusing on the application process, affordability, the student-athlete experience, academic support, and the sense of belonging for transfer students. Sally and Holly Hoffman share insights on how Hiram College simplifies the transfer experience, offers financial aid, and fosters a supportive community for incoming students.

Takeaways

• The transfer application process at Hiram College is designed to be simple and transparent.
• Students can expect merit-based scholarships ranging from $9,000 to $15,000 upon admission.
• Hiram College has a strong focus on affordability, especially for Pell-eligible students.
• The student-athlete experience at Hiram is enhanced by a supportive community and resources.
• Academic advisors play a crucial role in helping students plan their degree completion effectively.
• The Thrive Learning Center provides essential support for students with learning differences.
• Hiram College fosters a sense of belonging through intentional onboarding and community-building activities.
• Transfer students are encouraged to connect with coaches and faculty early in the process.
• The unique academic structure at Hiram allows for flexibility in course loads and scheduling.
• Building relationships with peers and faculty is key to a successful transition for transfer students

Transcript

Speaker 3 (00:05.868)
Welcome to Transfer Take 5. Today we're exploring five aspects of transfer to Hiram College. I'm Melissa Swafford, Director of the Transfer Centers at Tri-C. And today I'm joined by Sally and Hallie Hoffman from Hiram College. Why don't we get started today? Why don't you ladies introduce yourselves?

Yeah, well, thanks for having us here. First of all, I'm Sally and I am our Assistant Director of Admission at Hiram and I work primarily with our transfer and online population.

And I'm Holly, of course, and I am also an assistant director of admission. However, I work with Medina, Portage, and Summit counties, and then I also oversee our admission counselors at Hiram as well.

And fun fact, Holly is a Tri-C grad and a Hiram college grad. But even more importantly, when Holly was at Tri-C, she was a volleyball player, so a student athlete. And I just happened to have been the athletic director when Holly was a volleyball player. So we've known each other. We go way

And I'm sure we'll get more into my journey, but yeah, Tri-C to Hiram to now coaching there. So both men's and women's besides just admission, but yeah, a little bit of everything.

Speaker 3 (01:21.454)
If you haven't figured it out, Sally and Holly, they are sisters. we are. We are doubly lucky today with having both of them. So our first take on transfer to Hiram, I just want to start there. know, Sally, you had shared that one of the things that students can expect from the application process is that it's going to be simple and transparent. Why don't you talk about how you guys achieve that?

Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of times for students, the transfer tends to be a little bit of a disruption with the academic process. And really what we're looking to do is make that as seamless as possible for them. our application, and this is the same for our students coming straight out of high school, but the transfer process, the application itself is really simplistic in nature.

All we need from students are their application, which on our website takes like five to 10 minutes to do. And then we just need transcripts. So if you are coming from Tri-C, if that's the only institution you've attended, we just need those Tri-C transcripts. If you've maybe gone somewhere prior to Tricy, then come to us. Gone to Tri-C and then looking at Hiram, we need both of those different schools. And if you've only gone maybe a semester out of high school, you can give us those high school transcripts as well so that we're able to make that admission decision. But again, really a seamless process. We're rolling admissions, so we're looking to get the decision out as soon as possible for you. And of course, any questions throughout the process, I'm available. I wanna help as much as I can. And I also wanna build those connections with other resources at our college such as or academic advising, faculty, staff, coaches on campus to make that process as seamless as possible.

Speaker 3 (03:22.37)
I know when we're meeting with students, one question they have is, I get an unofficial evaluation? It's really important to them to understand how their classes are going to transfer. Can you share what that process looks like at Hiram? Yeah.

Absolutely. Students can send me over their unofficial transcripts, can email them directly to me. I get them over to our registrar's office so that they can take a look, see what you have, and then I will get those back over to you as a student to be able to see how those credits transfer. Now I know with us,

If you get that credit evaluation, there's any questions, you can reach out to me. I'm happy to kind of step by step walk through that for you. But taking a look at how it comes in with core requirements, major requirements, electives, anything like that, just to make sure we're transparent and give you that information upfront. 

Great.

And I think one of the other things that students really value both during their time at Tri-C but as they prepared is connection with an academic advisor. When can a perspective transfer student expect to be connected to an academic advisor at higher

Yeah, absolutely. I personally try and get them connected as soon as possible. So right on the transfer page of our website, students can sign up for, I call them a transfer discussion, but a Zoom call with me and typically I'll try and invite in an academic advisor for that. So even if a student is just considering transferring, we can get on a Zoom call with that academic advisor.

Speaker 1 (05:05.6)
If we were fortunate enough to have the transcripts ahead of time and get that credit evaluation, we can walk through that as a team and see what that means for you going forward as a student.

That's great, because I think students, the most part, they're looking at how is everything going to transfer and apply? And then kind of their second kind of aspect, which is our take two here, is affordability. So now I know how my credits transfer. I understand what to expect. But now the question becomes, how do I afford it? So can you tell me about how Hiram is kind of focused on affordability for transfer students?

Absolutely. I mean, just from the start, think they're stereotypically with us being a private school, a lot of students think we're unaffordable, which isn't the case. But I do have to say, looking at this past class that we brought in, we had 44 % Pell eligible students. So we do bring in a large population that are within that lower income bracket.

And addressing that, students right off the bat are gonna have a merit-based scholarship. So based on those transcripts that students send in, we do a cumulative recalculation of that GPA, and that'll give us a number. And students can expect anywhere between nine and 15,000 right off the bat as a merit-based scholarship. In addition to that, we have various other scholarships. So I know...

If a student is involved in an honors program at Tri-C, we also have an honors program at Hiram. They can kind of transfer into that honors program as well. We have scholarship available with that. And then we also give out a PTK scholarship. So students who are involved in that at Tri-C, we have that opportunity to earn a thousand dollar PTK scholarship as well. And with that, we've consistently for the past few years been

Speaker 1 (07:12.686)
on the transfer on a roll with PTK. So that additional support for transfer students.

Yeah, that PTK scholarship is the best return on investment for membership. I always tell students, I understand the $100 to join sometimes seems like a lot, but almost always it returns 1,000 times in terms of, and Holly, you.

I absolutely did the PTK, the Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship. Yes, it was like give $100 and you get $1,000 scholarship. I'm like, well, OK, that are we sure like that seems a little too easy. But yeah, it was great.

Well, and it's great to see us recognizing or see Hiram recognizing what goes into being a member of PTK. that is just awesome. And I do think that students, they see private, they see kind of the tuition rate, but they don't understand all that goes into it. And also all the scholarships or other opportunities there are for funding.

Absolutely. I'll say I'm the oldest in our. And when I was going through the college search process, I was looking kind of at that sticker price. so I ended up at a big state school versus had I actually looked for a better fit, I may have gone a similar Tri-C to Hiram route. So, yeah, it's really important to see that bottom line when it comes to finances.

Speaker 2 (08:17.71)
Can you tell?

Speaker 3 (08:41.75)
Yeah, and before we dive into our next kind of aspect, know, Sally, you had talked a lot about why you chose Tri-C and then Hiram related to affordability. Why don't you share that?

Yeah, so when I was a senior in high school, I played volleyball, basketball, and softball. So for me, I didn't really do a college search. We were very successful, so each season ran into another. I didn't want to miss school. So for me, I had looked at some schools, but it was affordability, and I wanted to play volleyball. Those were the two things that I needed in a school. I was a very good student, so I knew I would get an education. I just didn't know what I wanted that to be in.

But yeah, we were looking at it, Hiram was actually a school that I looked at when I was a senior very briefly, but it got down to it. My mom found Tri-C. We talked to Coach Mary at the time, absolutely awesome. And so we talked about that and everything just fell into place. So in terms of affordability, like for Tri-C being a Division II school for athletics, I was able to get a full ride basically and five hundred dollars for books each semester. And I mean, regardless of whatever else I looked at, I couldn't beat that. So for me, taking that step to Tri-C and then eventually opened up the doors to hire him a little bit more. But having that opportunity was was great. So, yeah, finance finances were huge and I still was able to play volleyball. So that was the big piece of the puzzle for me.

Well, since we're on that subject, let's move on to our next kind of aspect of being a student athlete. so one of my first questions about the planning process, but how when you were at Tri-C, so I know you got injured, right? I remember that vividly. how did you so you're at Tracy playing volleyball and where did that decision lie to move on to?

Speaker 3 (10:43.448)
play at Hiram or even consider that you wanted to continue on.

Yeah, I don't think it was ever a doubt in my mind that I wanted to play volleyball and that I needed to get a degree. So for me, I never thought like, I want to go into trade school. I want to go into like the armed forces. Like for me, it was always college. And that's how I was going to find a job after, you know, make a living after. So for me, that felt like the path. And I didn't think that that would be a great path without sports.

So it was really a no-brainer for me to continue volleyball. In terms of the actual process, I took my classes at Tri-C and I had a lot of help with the professors. Towards the end, like the second to last semester, Chris Vassiana, Jen Luca, Mallory Kobach, they were absolutely awesome. And we actually had a kind of pipeline, a little partnership with Hiram.

And little did I know that Mallory Kobach and Mike Rebold are married and Mike Rebold is the director of exercise science at Hiram. So little did I know that they were married. So that made a transition very easy, but Coach Alaini Scott found my name, I think, in the interest. So she had reached out to me and said, hey, do you want to continue?

Honestly, all the pieces just kind of fell into place for me. So it made the transition really super smooth. And yeah, I didn't doubt for a second that I wanted to continue playing. It was just like, okay, I have to rehab so I can get better, so I can get cleared. And I got cleared July 25th and our season started in August. So not a big turnaround time to get into it, but it was, yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:22.911)
And what was it like being a student athlete at Hiram?

it was awesome. I will say, especially transferring as a student athlete, that makes that so much nicer and so much easier because you already have a built-in group of friends, especially as a fall student athlete. So transferring was very nice, specifically in a student athlete perspective. I was still rehabbing. We had brought in nine other people with me. There were only five returners. So the process was very nice.

It was a little weird because it's like I am older than everybody but two people who also transferred, but they transferred from Lakeland. But they had also transferred to Hiram. So that was interesting because it was like I was new to the environment, but I was also not new to volleyball and college athletics. So it was an interesting dynamic, but like with my personality, I just, I don't stop talking.

very much so like a leader. Like I came in and I was voted a captain or I guess named a captain by the coaches. So that I just, you know, it was very, very smooth process.

I know we've been to a men's volleyball game at Hiram, and my son plays. And one of the things that I noted is we were there for men's game, but all of the women's team was there. And then there were other student athletes that came in. So what is the support for athletics?

Speaker 2 (13:52.972)
it's incredible. I would say so at Hiram specifically about half the population are student athletes. And what's really nice with the men's volleyball and the women's volleyball is that they're at opposite seasons. So it's not like, one is going to be home, one's going to be away and you can't support each other. So actually, I qualified with work study.

And so I was able to work the men's games, which I was gonna go anyways, so I might as well get paid. So I was a ball roller with that. But yeah, the environment, again, predominantly student athletes. So if they're available to go, they go, and the support is awesome.

And now you're currently an assistant coach for both the men's and women's team. From a coach's perspective, what would you suggest to current Tri-C student athlete who's looking to transfer as a student athlete?

Yes, definitely reach out. Email, all of our coaches information. So I volunteer assistant coach for the women and then part-time for the men. Really, there's just a difference in how you get paid. But really just reach out. Email, film is something that coaches really, really look at as early as you think. And I'm not the only Tri-C transfer that we've had at Hiram Volleyball. We also have one right now, Olivia Meany, who was at Tri-C for two years.

and then is wrapping up her senior year this year. So it's definitely doable, but absolutely reach out because a lot of coaches, I mean, I coaches now will jump into the transfer portal because I think it's a little bit bigger now. But a lot of times, know, especially with your, like with the volleyball seasons, they're all in the fall. So it's very hard to get out and catch games and absolutely try, but reach out so your name's on the list and then coaches will.

Speaker 2 (15:37.526)
be as honest as they possibly can and say, you'd be an excellent fit. Like, hey, maybe this is a better option for you. So reach out with film, email, there's inquiry forms online. Just get your name out there for those coaches to help kind of start that conversation.

something.

I'll say with me in particular, if you catch me out at a fair or anything, just let me know that you're interested in the sport and I can help facilitate that communication.

And I think too, even if students don't know specifically where they want to go, it doesn't hurt to get a feeler out at all different kinds of schools just to see. It doesn't hurt to test that out.

Awesome. So changing gears a little bit, we're going to talk more about the academic experience, Holly. And one question I get from students a lot is, well, how long is it going to take me once I transfer? And I know you have shared about your experience and how you want to do it into. So I want to share a little bit about that and how that worked for you.

Speaker 2 (16:41.044)
Yeah, so I think growing up it was like four years for college. Like I don't really think that I thought, you could go more, you could go less, all that stuff. So my my thought going into everything was four years, which means I also get four years of volleyball. And so when I was looking at in high school, I was affordability volleyball.

Then when it came to it a little bit more, was affordability, volleyball, and also getting out in two years. So again, Mike Rebold, who I mentioned prior, was my advisor at Hiram. And I told him, listen, my goal is to get out of here in two years. Can we do this? Is this possible? He was like, yeah, absolutely. I sat down with him before scheduling classes every single semester.

and we just had a game plan. He was like, okay, you'll take this one, this one. What about this? Like, do you wanna take this class or this class? So there was still a little bit of flexibility, but I got into that because a little bit at Tri-C, I was taking only 12 credit hours because, you know, she was the first born, so I was the second. And so not a lot of prior knowledge into, I mean, if I knew then what I knew now, things would probably be a little bit different.

But I was like, okay, you told me to take 12 credit hours, I'm gonna take 12 credit hours. Little did I know, you kind of wanna take like 14 to 16 in order to get to your 120 to graduate. Because if you take 12, it just doesn't add up. So for me, looking at or taking those 12 credits, needed to, I need a lot of help on the back end, especially when it came to Hiram. Because everything transferred, it's just whether or not it transferred as a credit or if it canceled out a class that I needed to take.

And so like I said, I sat down with Mike Rebold and we went over everything. I had done an internship while I was at Tri-C, kind of like a practicum experience. And then when I was at Hiram, I ended up doing research. And so he helped me throughout that whole thing. Like I cannot say enough good things. Like he is one of the main reasons why I got out in the two years that I wanted to. Like his adaptability and flexibility. And because we're a small school, we have that ability to do that.

Speaker 2 (18:48.27)
And so that was really nice. Like I I loaded up a decent amount in credit hours my last semester but I I Had a goal and we were able to accomplish it. So it was great

And I think you shared one of the ways you were able to do this was this unique structure of the academic terms at Hyrum. so one you share, because this is different. This is different than what our students are used to. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah, so I am gonna be honest, I didn't really know too much about the 12 week, three week until I was in it. And so at TRIC, you know, the 12 credits that I was taking fit between the 15 to 16 week semester that you're allotted. And it was really nice because sometimes I would have Fridays off and then there was like one semester where I had a Monday off and a Friday off, so it was great. But anyways, transferring to Hiram.

I was still taking, so the 12 week, three week, kind of how that works is for 12 weeks you only take about three to four classes. So in all reality that is about 12 credit hours. And then you have a week break, which our students right now are wrapping up their 12th week and taking finals. So then they're going to be a week, actually they have a little bit more than a week for Thanksgiving break, which is nice. You get an actual break, a mental, physical, emotional break from classes. And then you have your three weeks.

That is the full semester. so for that three week class, that's where you add that three or four credit hour class where you can get that 14 to 16 credit hours for your semester. So coming to Hiram, I was still on that 12 week taking about 12 credit hours. and I couldn't tell a difference that the 12 week at Hiram was like sped up. Like it was, it's 15 weeks condensed into 12. I couldn't tell.

Speaker 2 (20:36.608)
a honestly, as a student. I was just like, all right, I got this, I got volleyball, all right, we're good. You know, a couple breakdowns from procrastination, but that's on me. That's totally on me. But got through those classes, it was great. Like I said, you have that genuine break in between those. you know, this one going to a public school having...

to at least at the bare minimum retain information. I was like, hey, what's on my plate next? What are we doing? What game's going on? you know, she, like I said, at the bare minimum has to retain that information to come back and take finals. So it was really, really nice to have that. And then when I came back for that three week, that's where we had that flexibility. So I think for me, a mental break of a course was really nice. So in those three weeks, took, one time I took like a survey of American music class.

I did a presentation on Lumi Armstrong and it was awesome, but I was very science heavy in the 12 weeks. So that was like a nice breather that I needed. I also took a film and psych class. So we were able to watch a psychological thriller movie and kind of dive into all of that. I found a love for psychology and-

Is it a new time podcast? No.

Okay, there are some movies that we watch and I'm like, I am never watching this again. I cannot put my body through that. But then I took a sports psychology class and I found a love for that. And I think that's really what helps, you my degrees in exercise science, which, you know, that's super helpful if you go into physical therapy, athletic training, strength and conditioning coach, even just a coach in general. But that sports psychology, like I was always fascinated with that, like mental side of the game. So again, taking a class like that,

Speaker 2 (22:18.422)
where that's the only class that I'm taking in that three weeks. So I really just get to dive into it. It was so awesome and so much fun. And then my senior year, that's when I did research in that. But you know, we worked together. I worked with Mike Rebold, made one, like a kinesiology, like an independent study. So I didn't have to actually attend that class. I could do that online. But that was some flexibility. I don't know how much they, how much people typically offer that, but the fact that we worked so well together.

and he was able to help make that flexible for me. It was great.

Well, know, Sally, maybe you can talk about this. One of the things that is also unique or provides a little bit more of that uniqueness is the Thrive Center, which we've previously known was at Notre Dame College. I know that Hiram has taken that on.

Yeah, we were lucky enough to adopt the Thrive Learning Center when Notre Dame closed down. have Dr. Brown Triolo over at Hiram now leading this program. And it is just a phenomenal resource for students. students coming in with various learning differences can select to join this. is

a comprehensive fee-based program for students to support them in every which way. So they provide professional tutors, not just peer tutors that all colleges offer. Those opportunities, social-emotional assistance, kinda little getaways. know Dr. Brown talks about them going on a white water rafting trip with students.

Speaker 1 (24:05.41)
but really providing them with the support that they need to really excel at the college level. And I think it was just a phenomenal addition to Hiram and just really speaks to that commitment to diversity inclusion with Hiram that I think is an accessibility that has existed since our founding.

Yeah, it was great to see that that kind of approach didn't go away when Notre Dame closed and that we can provide that at Hiram and we can suggest students.

Because I think a lot of times too, like in high school, you, you know, you have your parents are helping you out and helping advocate for you. And what Denise, Dr. Brown has really, I mean, what's really stuck with me is that, you know, that social emotional learning concept and, really trying to help students advocate for themselves because in college, that's what you have to do. You don't have people that are like, they need this, they need that, you know, in high school, that's kind of what you get.

But at a college level, you have like the basics, you know, that peer tutoring, but in order to get more time on tests, that time management, all those professional tutors and assistants and all of that stuff that students need later on in life, like it's really a development thing and a growing program as well too.

So as we finish up here briefly, our last thing is just to talk about how a transfer student finds a sense of belonging and what the campus kind of culture is at Hiram College. Because I know every campus is different. So how, when a transfer student gets there, how do they find their place?

Speaker 2 (25:46.242)
Well, was going to say for me specifically how it works and I noticed things have changed a little bit, but they've changed for the better and we've added more. So for me coming in, like I said, it was nice being a part of a team that made the sense of belonging awesome. And also the relationships. I mean, our community is so tight knit, well, well, a rounded community. People are really there to support you.

And so I felt that right away. And for me, I had spoken to Nicole Gattrell at Tri-C or at Hiram and she had encouraged me to, hey, maybe let's take a one credit hour class. It was called Making Connections and it was specifically for transfer students. So for my process, that's kind of how it went. And I've graduated a few years ago, but it's been a little bit. So we've had some adjustments to that.

Sally, guess, talk a little bit more about what we have now. But the sense of belonging and community, it just was such a good fit.

Yeah, I mean, since I've come in as kind of the transfer person at Hiram, I've tried to be very intentional to make sure that that population is included in the onboarding set up for those students is very intentional to give them that sense of belonging. So I know we do various orientation activities. Our first days.

like the first hundred days of class, and really trying to make sure that we have those opportunities for transfer students to come together, to meet each other, that have that common identity of being a transfer student, but also ways that we can help integrate those students within the general new first time incoming population on campus, as well as the peers that are closer to their age.

Speaker 1 (27:45.23)
that started as freshmen at Hiram.

And like credit to Sally as well. Like she takes care of our transfer people. I think from summer to fall, we had two students come in and it was like helping them move in like to that extent. So it's like talking with people on campus, even during breaks when we probably shouldn't be working. Like that's the one time that we get to like close our laptops, stop answering emails. But she just.

helps goes above and beyond. like genuinely coming to Hiram as a transfer, like you're in very good hands. Like you couldn't ask for better. I mean, she doesn't look like she could probably lift a lot, but that's when she, you know, brings in the other people that can.

We were hauling box.

There you go. Well, and for those who want to come see Sally at any of our transfer fairs or events and visit campus as well. thank you both for sharing your knowledge, your experience and spending some time for our transfer take five. It's been great. Thank you. Thank you.