ESS 811: Engineering Transfer Center & Transfer Ambassadors

Vic May:
My name is Vic May, and I’m a rising senior in mechanical engineering. I wish I had understood earlier in my career at Cal that there is no correct path towards being an engineer. I spread myself too thin my freshman year trying to juggle rigorous academics, technical clubs, and my work-study job. Most of the other students I met had no ties to the College of Engineering, and I often felt alienated as the only visibly queer student in my classes. My family did not have the insights about college I felt I needed. They had never lived in dorms, searched for work-study jobs, or made a four-year plan.

Luckily, after focusing on what I am passionate about, rather than what the perfect engineer would do, I was able to take advantage of the wealth of opportunities here at Berkeley. I joined the Berkeley Mentorship Cohort, BMC, as a mentor, after seeing how a mentor could have made a world of difference to my freshman self. Being involved in BMC changed my trajectory through its diverse engineering communities and chances for professional and academic development. Thanks to the guidance I found through BMC, I am now involved in on-campus research. I’m in the middle of my second engineering internship, and I’m waiting to hear back from my dream company for a co-op. I encourage every incoming Berkeley engineer to apply as a mentee to BMC their first year. I wish I would’ve.

Laura Vogt:
Thank you, Vic, for giving us insight into your time at Berkeley and how you’re now working to share your knowledge of Berkeley Engineering with incoming students by being a mentor. It is such an amazing way to support the new students and to meet new peers. And hello to everyone else that is listening to this week’s The (Not So) Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer, I’m your host, Laura Vogt, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications in the College of Engineering. We’ve talked a few times this summer about student success. And one of the important components of that is a sense of belonging. And to promote that feeling with our engineering transfer students, we have the engineering transfer center and Transfer Ambassadors.

Here to tell us more about both of these programs are Heidi Maqueos, the Program Manager for Transfer Success Initiatives in Engineering Students Services, and a recent transfer graduate, Damanpreet Bhattal. Hi, thank you both for being here today and welcome to the podcast. Let’s learn a little bit more about each of you. So Heidi, can you start and tell us about yourself and your role in Berkeley Engineering and at UC Berkeley?

Heidi Maqueos:
Yes. Hi, everyone. My name is Heidi Maqueos. I am a UC Berkeley alumni and I’m really excited to be here with y’all and just share a little bit more about my role, but also the engineering transfer center in the transfer programs that we have that are ready to support you in your journey here, as you begin your time in education in the College of Engineering. And so, my role as Program Manager for Transfer Success initiatives is to support your retention. And so, what that means is ensuring that, one, you’re admitted into the college, but to make sure that you have a fruitful experience while you’re here and that you feel supported and ready for graduation. But also, post-graduation, right? Because a lot of what happens in undergrad is preparation for what are your goals and aspirations post receiving your degree. And so, with the transfer center, with Transfer Ambassador and other programs that we have, the hope is that you will find community and feel like you are in the right pathway for what you are planning to do post your time at Berkeley Engineering.

Laura Vogt:
I really like that your entire job is devoted just to our transfer students, because they have such a different experience than those first-year students when they come in.

Heidi Maqueos:
Yes, exactly. I think one of the things that we hear a lot about our transfer community is they only have a max of five semesters to really do everything, to fulfill the rest of the coursework, the upper divisions, research, internships, and prepare for graduate school, whether they’re going the PhD route or professional degree program, whether it’s here at Cal or at another institution. And so, we want to make sure that students feel connected to different campus departments and partners that can help them in their journey, but also, they feel supported by someone here in a college, that is here solely dedicated to supporting their journey. And so, I’m really happy that this is an initiative and an important part of the college is to establish a role, a professional role, and also, establish all of these programs that support their success.

Laura Vogt:
And I know you’re new in Engineering Student Services, so welcome. We’re excited to have you here and welcome to the podcast today. Thank you. And Damanpreet, can you tell us about yourself?

Damanpreet Bhattal:
Hi, everyone. My name is Damanpreet Bhattal, and I transferred to UC Berkeley in fall ’22 as a bioengineering major. But I later got into psychology as my double major in spring 2023. I was able to graduate with both my Bachelor’s of Science and Art within the four semesters, so within two years. And I’m really grateful for that all the guidance that I received from my advisors and everyone. And my role with the Engineering Student Services, starting during my first semester when I joined the Berkeley Mentorship Cohort Program as a mentee, and later, I decided to become a mentor. And later, I was able to join as a Transfer Ambassador.

Laura Vogt:
That’s awesome. And we’re not rid of you yet, right? You’re coming back to get more knowledge?

Damanpreet Bhattal:
Yes, I’m coming back as a graduate student. I’ll be doing my Master of Engineering, the MEng program, and bioengineering. I’m really excited for that as well.

Laura Vogt:
Well, congratulations. Congratulations on graduating and getting into the master’s program. That’s awesome, and I’m so excited for you. And thank you both for being here today. So let’s start off with, we talked a little bit about the overall idea of how we’re supporting transfer students. So what is an engineering transfer center? And how does it specifically support the transfer students?

Heidi Maqueos:
Yes, that’s a great question, Laura. So as we know, the Center for Academic Excellence in Engineering exists, the CAEE, and so, the engineering transfer center actually came out of feedback from the transfer community. The transfer students shared that they wanted a space for themselves. As we know that the journey for freshmen students or frosh students as we call them and the journey for transfer students is very different. Oftentimes, there they’re at different places in their life or the mindset that they’re coming into. And so, there was a need for the transfer community to build their community independently and have a center or a space of their own. And so, this is where that idea for an engineering transfer center came from. I believe it started as a pop-up. And so, as of last semester, last year, we are moving towards creating more of a definitive center for the transfer community.

And so, it’s going to be a collaborative effort, one ran by our Transfer Ambassadors. They support in staffing the transfer center, which is an open space in 240 Sutardja Dai Hall, where students can come, transfer students can come and do work. It’s a space where they can study and together work on team projects or just hang out and eat. We provide students with snacks. And we also host different events for transfer students to build community and connect with other engineering students in the college. And so, this is also separate and independent from the transfer center that exists on the UC Berkeley campus. And while the transfer center on the UC Berkeley campus exists, it is also very much important for our engineering transfer students to feel like they also have a community within the college. For some context, the transfer center on the UC Berkeley campus is actually way across campus on the other side.

And so, we wanted to also make sure that transfer students had a space immediately on the north side of campus, where they are situated and where most of them take their courses. And so, what I mean also by, “The transfer center is a collaborative effort,” is we’re moving towards hopefully establishing a more permanent center for students, once the new building begins. And so, I’m hoping that, come fall and spring, that our students will continue to visit us, so I, in my role, and the Transfer Ambassadors, we can work together to listen to what are the needs of the transfer population, student population, and how can we continue to serve them? It only works as a partnership. It’s not what I believe or what the Transfer Ambassadors believe is needed, but what is the feedback that we’re receiving in order so that we can continue to develop and create programming that is needed for this community.

Laura Vogt:
So you mentioned the Transfer Ambassadors a couple times and Damanpreet had said that she was one. So who are the Transfer Ambassadors? And what is their role?

Heidi Maqueos:
Yes. So the Transfer Ambassadors are current transfer engineering students, and they support with connecting with the transfer community and putting on events through the transfer engineering center and staffing the center as well. And so, what that means is that they staff the operations of the center, opening the center, making sure that we have all the snacks and that the space is clean, but that also they are there to answer any questions for any students that maybe they’re first semester, transfer ambassadors usually are in their second semester, second year. And so, they’re able to offer advice to students like, “What courses should I enroll in? What internship have you done? Any tips and tricks?” And so, they really the communicators or the liaisons between myself and the transfer community. And so, we really rely on them as the experts in helping us understand how to continue building on our programming.

Damanpreet Bhattal:
So as a Transfer Ambassador, I think my main focus was on helping students, so being a bioengineer and the other Transfer Ambassador as well, we have different majors, so anyone can come talk to us. If it’s a bioengineering major, they can come talk to me, I can advise them on classes, help them with their resume, with their LinkedIn profile, and answer any other questions and provide them with resources that are available on campus, like talking about DSP. Many students believe that you have to have a visual disability, which is not true. So we have been helping students in that area as well, like connecting them with the DSPS department at Berkeley. So this is what I have done so far, being a Transfer Ambassador, talking to students, helping them out, just being there as a friend, or if they want to hang out. Because it can be overwhelming for a transfer student, especially during their first semester. So being there for them is also a helpful way of giving back to the community, because I know someone was there for me when I was there.

Laura Vogt:
I know that we’re taping this over the summer, so you probably don’t totally know your hours yet, but what are the hours usually like during the semester?

Heidi Maqueos:
Yeah, so last spring was the first time where we expanded our hours, and we were operating from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM or 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on certain days of the week. And so, moving forward in this new academic year, we also want to operate Monday through Friday from 10:00 to 6:00 PM, and we will still be housed in 240 Sutardja Dai Hall.

Laura Vogt:
And I know we can check the schedule, it’s going to be on our website at engineering.berkeley.edu/transfercenter. And I also have the link to that on the podcast page, so that folks can find it pretty easily. And we advertise it quite often in the ESS newsletter, which everybody gets on the Monday of every week. We’re trying to make sure that you have the info, so you know when to go and you can find folks. So to help with the idea of transitioning from a community college, I know I keep going back to the difference between the transfer and being a first year student, I think the frosh get told, “Take a little bit lighter schedule, give yourself some time to get in and get to know things.” And transfers, you don’t have as much leeway to do that. You’re kind of jumping in and having to get a bunch of stuff done, get part of groups, and try to make your connections. What do you think are the big differences between being at community college and Berkeley Engineering?

Damanpreet Bhattal:
I think the biggest difference between the community college and Berkeley Engineering is the class size and the academic rigor. So at community college, you have a smaller class size, which allow you to have more personalized attention from the instructor. And the curriculum is more focused on the foundational knowledge, which prepared me well for my advanced classes at UC Berkeley. But at Berkeley, since the academic rigor is much more higher, it comes with more challenging and specialized courses in the specific field I chose. So the pace is faster, the expectations are greater, which requires deeper understanding on those complex concepts. The other difference that is between community college and a four year university is the resources. So Berkeley, as soon as I came in, there’s a career fair in August. It’s like everything gets too overwhelming as well, because you have so many resources, so many opportunities that you can get to, and then, you have to pick and choose between those.

That’s why there’s numerous academic support services which can help you decide, because you want to participate in research. Some of us wants to do projects, internships with leading tech companies. So that kind of was a major change for me. And then, through that, I was able to network with alumni and other industry people, and I was able to get my first research opportunity, which was in Ohio, where I did cancer research. I was there for the summer program, which was not available to me during my community college years. That’s the main difference that I have seen.

Laura Vogt:
I feel like, with your experience, especially since you were a double major, that you might be able to share some time management ideas with folks.

Damanpreet Bhattal:
Yes. For me, every semester, I was taking 20 units, because I wanted to graduate within the two years. I did not want to take my extra fifth semester, which is available for the transfer students, but I was just on the go like, “Okay, I have to take these many technicals for bioengineering, these many for psychology.” So I had to manage my time well. I was not in any clubs or anything, because I was more focused on that part. So managing my time was like, okay, I had my scheduled plan in a way like, okay, if I have a one hour break, I’m either going to go to the library and study, so do those things and work as well. So it was a bit difficult. In the last semester, everything was catching up to me like, “What’s going on?” Since I was too overwhelmed with everything. But yeah, it was really a challenging experience, but also a very blessed experience, I would say.

Laura Vogt:
You also offer other workshops and events through the transfer center, right? So how can students find out about those and keep up to date?

Heidi Maqueos:
Yes, correct. So what we try to do to promote any events that are going to happen in the transfer center is we’ll either share them through the ESS newsletter or either post them to the Instagram, that we also have up and running. And so, that’s another way to stay connected to see what is going on, what is happening. And also just connecting with our Transfer Ambassadors is another way or coming in to visit me is another way to also hear about what the resources that we have.

Laura Vogt:
And has there been a moment when either of you knew that the programs were successful in supporting students in the way that you wanted them to?

Heidi Maqueos:
I think, for me, what I can reflect on, I just began my role at the end of January of this year, and so, one of the things that we did, we’re able to establish this spring was the first Transfer Spring Banquet for students. And this banquet, really the idea came out of the Transfer Ambassadors and sharing with me that they wanted to have a time and a space to be celebrated. I think, oftentimes, as transfer students, who do a fifth semester, their celebrations don’t often come as often. So we wanted to put on an event or a banquet as an end of the year culminating experience for students who are graduating in the college and also invite their peers to celebrate them and for getting to this point in their academic journey. And so, we were able to host a banquet where students came, celebrated, just mingled with each other.

We had never had an event like this for transfer students before, and so, it was really, really successful. Students really enjoyed themselves. They were really happy and excited, and we are now planning to host this moving forward each semester at the end of each semester. So we will also be having one at the end of the fall semester to celebrate our students, the transfer community who is graduating and sending them off. Oftentimes, our fifth year students don’t get that big celebration, the graduation in the spring. And so, we also want to make sure that they feel seen and honored by their community here at Cal.

Laura Vogt:
Thank you. Damanpreet, is there anything you wanted to add?

Damanpreet Bhattal:
I think I would add that the reason we knew that the programs are successful is also the feedback we got from the students. And this semester, as Heidi said, when Heidi joined, we extended our hours, and we were seeing more involvement from the transfer students. And they were like, okay, they’re there to study. And even for the banquet, the turnout was great for us. So through that, we learned that, okay, they really need their own space. Something that they can rely on that is the hours are convenient for them and also that are regular hours, not switching on and off during the week.

Laura Vogt:
Great. I’ve been glad you had people in there.

Heidi Maqueos:
Yeah, I think what Damanpreet is alluding to is the consistency, right? I think that, oftentimes, when something’s new and we’re trying to establish new programming is, how do we incorporate consistency and reliability? And I think that’s often what our student population needs. And so, that is really the mindset that we’re moving through is, how do we become a reliable source for this community and offer consistent programming, but consistent support? I am thankful for the Transfer Ambassadors. And the feedback they provided, really, I’m like, “Okay, what do we want to see? And how can we make this possible? Can we make this possible?” And so, I’m really happy that we were able to move through that and do that very quickly in the spring semester. And also, for the transfer community support, during our postcard signing. So one of the things that we also do to involve the transfer community in inviting the new class, so maybe some of the folks who are listening today might have received a postcard.

And so, one of the things that we do in collaboration with the transfer center, transfer community, but also the communications team here at the College of Engineering is to do these postcard signings. And it’s a way to celebrate our incoming class and let them know that there’s someone here waiting for them, hoping that they would join us in the fall semester. And we saw a big turnout in the transfer center with students eager to sign cards and seeing what students got in into their major. Was there anyone from their hometown or from their similar community college?

And so, students build community and build connections based on their hometowns, who went to their community college. Oftentimes, we know that students are the only ones who come from their community college or the only ones who ever moved away from their hometown. And so, it’s really exciting to see when they’re eager to write a letter and be like, “Hey, here’s my Instagram handle, follow me,” or, “Here’s my email. Email me if you have any questions.” And so, I can tell and I can see that there is a big support in a transfer community to support one another, which I think is very different from what we often hear in engineering that it might be really competitive or no one wants to support each other. But I think what we’re seeing is that there is the eagerness to support one another and offer tips and offer guidance.

Laura Vogt:
And I think you could really see that in what Damanpreet said, your trajectory of working with Engineering Student Services has been that you started off as a mentee in the Berkeley Mentorship Cohort, that you were a mentor and a Transfer Ambassador. What made it so that you kept wanting to come back and be part of those resources?

Damanpreet Bhattal:
I was really happy with the community that I built when I started as a mentee and I just wanted to give back. So my mentor during my first semester, everyone, every transfer student, I believe, experienced this is the imposter syndrome. “Am I good enough? Do I belong here?” So having that mentor leading my way like, “Okay, you’re good, you’re fine,” there were times when I would panic, and like, “This is too much for me to handle.” So it helped me, whether it was with working on our resumes together or on a LinkedIn profile together or just hanging out, having coffee or going out for lunch. So through her, I was like, “I should give back. There must be another Damanpreet coming in who’s going through the same situation.” So that’s when I decided, I was like, “Okay, I want to be a mentor.”

And when I started as a mentor and I’m like, “Can I be a Transfer Ambassador as well?” Because I know they were hiring at that time, because I utilized the transfer center as soon as I transferred, I was in there. I met the Ambassadors during my transfer pre-engineering program, which is run by ESS, the T-PREP program. So I was able to build that community there. And then, utilizing the transfer center helped me a lot. So that’s when I really liked the role of the Transfer Ambassadors, which was like, they’re just there. We’re there as your friend, as your peer, whatever you need, we’re there to help you. If we don’t have the answer, I reach out to Heidi, and then, she can help the person. So it’s like everyone is there to help everyone out.

Laura Vogt:
So I know, with the transfer center, that it’s open, the hours are open, you don’t have to sign up to go into it, but right now, we’re doing the call for students to apply to be in the mentorship program and be mentees. What would you tell people who are like, “Ah, do I really want to do this? Is it time? Is it worth it?”

Damanpreet Bhattal:
I think it is definitely worth it. You can make new friends, you can be friends with your mentor. I’m still friends with my mentor. You can learn a lot, to be honest. It will be a great experience, because it’s a big transition from community college to UC Berkeley. So a mentor can help you lead the way. They can help you navigate your resources. So it’s definitely worth the time. It’s not like you have to meet with your mentor in person all the time. You can email them, text them. It assures you that you have someone there, a specific person to support you, rather than focusing on your journey alone.

Laura Vogt:
Awesome. Thank you so much. And Heidi, are you able to do the Transfer Link class again in this fall?

Heidi Maqueos:
Yes. So I’m excited to be leading the Transfer Link course this fall, and the Transfer Link course will be open to all incoming transfer students and continuing transfer students. So if you are interested in receiving support as you transition into your first semester, the course will be offered on Tuesdays from 11:00 to 11:59 AM. And it’s a one unit course that you can sign up for. If you have any questions about the course, you can feel free to email me. And my email is HMaqueos, that’s H-M-A-Q-U-E-O-S at Berkeley.edu (hmaqueos@berkeley.edu), to learn more about the course and to sign up for the course. And so, really, what the goal is through the Transfer Link course is to offer students resources as they’re transitioning and bring in directly campus partners to support them in finding out about all of the resources that are available, but make it more one-on-one based.

And so, we will partner with the financial aid office, the Cal Housing, disability student services programs, counseling and psychological services, to come out and support our students, and also ESS advising and integrate at the advising component of the College of Engineering into also the Transfer Link course and supporting our students and making sure that they feel prepared, not just only this fall, but as they continue in the next couple semesters that they’ll have here. And so, I’m really excited to meet this cohort. And so, it’s not limited to only T-PREP students, so it’s open to all transfer students who want to apply.

Laura Vogt:
That’s excellent. Thank you so much. Is there anything else that we haven’t talked about yet that you want to add?

Heidi Maqueos:
I guess another announcement that I want to make is that I will be hiring Transfer Ambassadors for the academic year. And so, if any of our listeners are interested in becoming Transfer Ambassadors or becoming involved more in transfer programming and transfer center, please be on the lookout for the job post or the job announcement, that will go out in the next week. And I will be emailing students. And you can also find it in the ESS newsletter as well. So if you’re interested in supporting, becoming more involved during your first year, this is definitely an opportunity to do that.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you both so much for being here today. I really appreciate the effort and the enthusiasm that you have for our transfer students to make sure that their time here is successful, [inaudible 00:26:50], that they feel good about themselves. If any of you listening would like to know more about the transfer experience, you can listen to our past podcasts at engineering.berkeley.edu/ESSpodcasts. There have been students stories shared almost every season, and we make sure to have the transfer student experience as their own podcast. So thank you everyone for tuning into The (Not So) Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. And we’ll be back next week with more information and resources for your time here at Berkeley.