Winona State University is the “home away from home” for approximately 8,000 undergraduate students. Every semester, approximately 550 students transfer into Winona State from another university to join into the Warrior community.

Sarah Curtin, associate director of admissions at Winona State explained the transfer process.

“The student applies to Winona State and within 10-15 working days, they are notified of their admission as well as receiving a Degree Audit Report of their credits,” Curtin said. “This way the student knows how their credits are transferring and what is still needed for [their] major and general education before they are enrolled.”

Curtin goes on to explain that transferring to Winona State is a relatively easy and uncomplicated process.

“Transferring to Winona State is relatively simple. The student transferring needs to fill out an online application that include a $20 application fee and all official transcripts from all schools attended. We ask for 24 transferable credits and a 2.4 cumulative GPA for admission to the university,” Curtin said.

With over 80 majors and about 60 minors, the cost, size of the campus, location and high professor to student ratio students are drawn to Winona State’s diverse avenues of learning and are some of the main reasons students transfer into Winona State, according to Curtin.

“Transfer students typically know what they want to major in when they come to Winona State, therefore, they take major courses quicker and can get involved in clubs and organizations that relate to their major to meet other Winona State students quicker,” Curtin said.

Students who decide to transfer to Winona State are made aware of resources available to them when they need help, whether that be advising, or just helping to navigate a new campus.

“The students that transfer are always given all the resources we have on campus to help with their transition and any help they may need either personally or academically,” Curtin said.

Dylan Johnson, a sophomore and physical education teaching candidate major, transferred from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He chose to transfer to Winona State for the education program and location.

“I heard Winona [State} has a good education program and it is located in my home state of Minnesota, which was a draw. One of my favorite hobbies is running so being able to run here at Winona State was another big draw,” Johnson said. “It is in a great location and there are lots of great outdoor places in Winona, so I chose to come here.”

Johnson transferred to Winona State at the start of his second semester of sophomore year after realizing UW-La Crosse was not the right fit.

“During the fall of 2018 I was thinking about returning to La Crosse for my junior year and it didn’t excite me very much. So I thought about transferring. Imagining myself at Winona [State] gave me a much better feeling and that helped me choose to transfer. I thought about waiting until the fall to transfer, but I didn’t want to deal with credits not transferring,” Johnson said.

Transfer students are given the choice to live on campus with other transfer students and attend a transfer orientation to help new students get to know other Winona State students.

“We encourage transfer students, traditional students, any and all students at Winona State to get involved,” Curtin said.  “Join a club, residence life activities, events on campus or off campus. Students that are ready to start their major classes will meet other students along the way with the same interests.”

Johnson added that since transferring to Winona State, classes and outside of school activities have been going well.

“So far, I like Winona a lot. There are a lot of great things to do in the nearby area. One of my favorites so far is hiking Sugar Loaf. And classes, of course, have been good so far,” Johnson said.