Not all University students start their academic year in the fall and end it in the spring.
Jim Buch, associate vice president of enrollment services, said 990 students have discontinued their education at the University between fall and winter term — excluding fall graduates. At the same time, 486 new students
have enrolled.
Freshman Emma Hertzel left the University after fall term. After leaving her native Arizona in pursuit of a journalism degree, Hertzel said she realized her need for the friends she left back home.
“It was really hard,” Hertzel said. “For a while, I just missed my friends so much it was distracting me. Then I’d talk to them and think ‘What’s the point of being here if all I do is talk to my friends in Arizona?’ Ultimately it was about me being completely happy.”
Hertzel is now pursuing a psychology degree at Arizona State University. She said that in her case, the decision to leave had nothing to do with the University itself.
“I really did love Oregon, and I don’t regret going to school there,” Hertzel said. “I really enjoyed myself except for not having the people I wanted around. There’s a part of me that wishes I was still there — but I’m happier here.”
Students of all ages and academic years decide to leave the University for a variety of reasons, Buch said. But he added that a study commissioned by Enrollment Services showed some trends amid students’ unique reasons for coming and going.
According to the 1999 survey, many students who eventually left complained about a lack of finances. Those problems ranged from inability to pay tuition, to frustration with the University’s financial aid process, to a perceived lack of scholarship opportunities.
Social problems such as Hertzel’s also contributed to student attrition, the survey said. Some popular comments students made on the survey referred to social conditions, such as “fitting in,” roommate problems, the effect the rain has on morale and too much partying.
According to Buch’s most recent statistics, 93.4 percent of the students initially enrolled at the University in fall, 2001 stayed for winter term. First-time freshmen have had the highest fall-to-winter drop-out total, with 124 students.
Graduate students have the highest percentage of attrition, however, with 9.2 percent dropping out between fall and winter terms.
Of undergraduate students, 58 percent of the drop-outs in 1999 were upperclassmen.
“Dropping out doesn’t necessarily mean they have stopped going to college altogether,” Buch said. “We just don’t know where they are; they’re Ducks who strayed from the flock.”
But as Ducks leave the flock, others waddle in to try their luck. Nearly 500 new faces can be seen around the University this term. Transfer students including junior international studies major Brady Barksdale comprise a significant portion of these new additions.
Barksdale initially expected to transfer from Willamette University in fall 2002, but he decided to act sooner when an acceptance letter came in the mail for winter 2002.
“It was a pretty spur of the moment decision,” Barksdale said. “I had to decide if I wanted to stick it out at Willamette or try something new.”
Barksdale said he decided to come to the University because, as a larger school, it had more to offer than Willamette. At his former college, Barksdale was an economics major. Now, he said the University allows him to focus on what he really wants to study.
“I was always interested in international studies,” Barksdale said. “Willamette just didn’t offer anything like that.”
But Barksdale added that when it comes to the social climate at the University, winter term didn’t seem like the best time to transfer.
“Everyone’s a little more downbeat; it’s not like people are playing Frisbee out on the quad,” Barksdale said.
Since that time, Barksdale said he has met many new friends,
including fellow new student
Greg Wallace.
Wallace is starting his college experience at the University this term as a first-time freshman. After writing a letter of intent for Arizona State University to play baseball, Wallace tore his hamstring, ending his hopes to play at the college level.
Wallace said the letter of intent kept him from attending another college fall term. For the next few months, he worked two jobs at home and waited to enroll at the University.
“I was home for the whole fall term, and I didn’t like that at all,” Wallace said. “I’d talk to my friends on the phone, and they were all down here (at the University) having a good time. If I would have had a choice, I would have definitely started fall term. I missed out on a lot.”
Wallace said his experiences during fall term helped him realize the value of a college education. He said he doesn’t want to end up working at a golf course for $9 an hour for the rest of his life.
The most recent statistics report that Wallace is among 42 freshmen starting their college careers in
winter 2002.
Now, he is poised to earn a degree in business administration, with an emphasis in sports marketing. The new academic discipline is a shock, he said, but there are plenty of people around to lend
a hand.
“The best part of coming (to the University) is joining (Carson) hall and meeting a whole bunch of people who have gone through the college life,” Wallace said. “They know what’s going on; they know what to do. These people are like guardians.”
Both Wallace and Barksdale agreed that a student population of 18,000 and complicated University policies often make the transition processes difficult.
“There are (registration) things that I hoped to get done in the first week,” Barksdale said. “But because of the bureaucratic red tape, it takes a long time to get things like an academic adviser.”
However, new students said as the year progresses, they will adjust to University life.
“It’s a new adventure every day,” Barksdale said.