Transfer student Erin Kemp on campus size, counting credits, and collaborative learning

Studious female student in red and blue t-shirt sits at table with laptop and notebook.

To celebrate National Transfer Student Week, we asked sophomore Human Resource Management major Erin Kemp about her decision to transfer to the O’Neill School at IU Bloomington.

Why did you choose to transfer to IU Bloomington?

I wanted a university with more of a campus culture and more career-building opportunities.

What brought you to the O’Neill School?

I’m passionate about human resource management, so that’s what brought me to O’Neill specifically. But I don’t know that I could have transferred to IU if it wasn’t for O’Neill, because of their transfer-specific advising.

I realized that I could talk to an advisor even before becoming an O’Neill student. Through that meeting, I realized that my credits were super easy to transfer. I knew I was going to graduate on time, and that helped me feel confident in my decision.

It wasn’t necessarily that I chose O’Neill—but O’Neill ended up making me choose IU.

Has anything surprised you about your transfer experience?

Something that surprised me was how many credits IU was willing to make work!

Another thing that shocked me was how small campus really is once you know where you’re going. IU is twice as big as the school I was going to previously. My main concern was, “I’m going to walk forever! I’m going to get lost on my first day!” But now that I’m actually in classes, I don’t have more than a 10-minute walk.

What’s the learning environment like at O’Neill?

My favorite part of O’Neill is easily my professors and peers. My professors want me to succeed, and a lot of my classmates are willing to collaborate. I’m a collaborative worker myself, so I like to talk through problems. That’s easy to find here. You can just look left and right, and the odds are really high that your classmates want to work with you, too.

What’s your favorite class so far?

Career Development (V 252) with Brett Reardon. Every assignment is spot-on, and every lecture is very engaging. I know it’s going to set me up well for the future.

What makes you excited about your major?

I picked human resource management because I really want to work with people and for people. I feel like that’s a main mission of HR as a whole—just constantly improving the workplace and advocating for people. I think it’s going to be a really good fit for me.