Factors Affecting Persistence of Undergraduate Students in a Fisheries and Wildlife Program: Transfer Students

Abstract

Transfer students are of recognized importance to postsecondary education and every year feed thousands of students into natural resources programs across America. This influx of students can have a sustaining effect on many academic programs, including fisheries and wildlife programs, which are suffering from a nation‐wide decrease in interest and declining enrollment. In this pilot study, we conducted face‐to‐face interviews with students who transferred into a fisheries and wildlife program at a large Midwestern university. We asked 13 questions related to their experiences to better understand student reasons for transferring into, and staying in, a fisheries and wildlife program. Programmatic experience was cited most often by transfer students as their reason for persisting in the program. Students acknowledged the importance of a sense of belonging to a community of scholars as critical to their choice of program; this notion was influenced by parameters such as class size, student–faculty relationships, and peer interactions. Other important characteristics of program selection for transfer students included an ability to be engaged in hands‐on activities (e.g., field courses and undergraduate research experiences) and the desire to engage in a career rather than just a job (i.e., students felt passionate about the work they were doing). Using information generated from this study, other natural resources programs may be better poised to attract and retain transfer students to their programs.