Building a community of transfer students

When Jeremy Masterson stepped onto the Binghamton University campus for the first time as a prospective transfer student, he knew he had found his next home. After spending his first year of college close to home at Suffolk Community College, Masterson had decided he wanted to broaden his horizons, but he wanted to stay within the SUNY system.

“The sense of community that I instantly felt — even in our small campus tour group — was what made me realize that Binghamton was where I wanted to be,” he said.

Masterson began attending Binghamton the following fall, but had reservations about developing a social network and finding his place as a transfer. “I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to meet as many people or get as involved on campus as I wanted to as a new transfer student,” he said.

That anxiety almost kept him from attending the TRANSFERmation Summit, an event specifically for transfer students held annually by the office of Student Transition and Success (STS), but Masterson made up his mind to explore the opportunity.

“After really thinking about it, I decided to sign up,” he said. “It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Since then, Masterson has devoted himself to the transfer student community at Binghamton, working within STS as a transfer student mentor, joining the Tau Sigma Honors Society and becoming president of Tau Sigma. Currently, Masterson is working to charter a new student organization — the Binghamton Association for Transfer Students (BATS).

“I work with any transfer student that needs assistance with getting adjusted in a one-on-one setting,” Masterson said. “It can be easier for students to talk to peers and sometimes it’s more comfortable than going to faculty or staff.”

Masterson has made it his mission to make transfer students feel at home at Binghamton, and he has worked hard to ensure that the transfer student community is seen and heard.

“Every semester there is a community of students who just transferred and feel the same way I did — that they don’t know anyone and feel sort of isolated,” Masterson said. “I realized that I can make a difference here and project that idea that there are supports specifically for them and there is a community of other people just like them in the same situation.”

Masterson was rewarded for his service to the transfer community with a scholarship awarded by the Tau Sigma Honors Society. Though the prestigious award was meaningful, Masterson claims he is most proud of his work with the Binghamton Association for Transfer Students as he pushes for a charter. “I’m most proud of seeing our organization grow and having more people at our events,” he said. “One of my proudest moments was seeing BATS stickers that we had custom-made. It really felt like we were really close to becoming chartered as an official organization that can help students all over campus. I’m proud to see how far we’ve come.”

In his final year at Binghamton, Masterson will graduate in the spring with a degree in philosophy, politics and law and is currently applying at law schools around the country.