Letters to a transfer student: Taylor Birdsong

“The key to the future is in your hands and the path is yours to carve.”

Fellow Taylor Birdsong shares a letter addressed to her younger self right after she was admitted to Berkeley as a transfer student one year ago. She discusses the emotions she experienced, her initial exposure to the Fung Fellowship, and the unexpected things she gained and learned over the course of the year.

You’re not the kind of person who cries at sad movies but when you got the letter of acceptance to your dream school you cried because there it was. All your hard work and untapped potential was recognized as they beckoned you to become what you’d always wanted to be — a bear.

You’re scared. You know it is foolish and a bit juvenile but you feel like it’s the first day of middle school at lunchtime and you don’t know where to sit. And this sticks with you — as you eagerly fill out the health forms and emails for orientation. And then one email sticks out to you- a fellowship for health and wellness. You skim it, think that it looks prestigious and interesting, and then you delete it because although you got into UC Berkeley, you don’t entirely believe that you even belong there yet. You get another email from the Fellowship, telling you the deadline to apply is in a few days. You read up on past projects, the team building, and the creative possibilities. It is enticing as it is intimidating but maybe it’s worth the risk. So you apply.

And to your surprise and delight, you get in. The uneasiness of being a transfer student doesn’t go away but then you go to lecture and it’s not what you expected. Everyone is unique, diverse, and nice! The things you were worried about — your differences, your educational background, your uniqueness — are your strengths and in the fellowship, they are valued and appreciated.

You are going to enjoy working on solving real-world solutions and learning technical terms that you’d never thought would be in your toolkit. You will remember the guest speakers throughout the year who inspired you to be confident in the thing you feared the most — your uniqueness. But mostly you will remember the friends you made and the ways they challenged you to grow as a student and person.

I know you are scared for the future but you have to believe that at the end of the day the key to the future is in your hands and the path is yours to carve. You just have to have the courage to take the risk and believe in yourself.

— Taylor

“You will remember the guest speakers throughout the year who inspired you to be confident in the thing you feared the most — your uniqueness. But mostly you will remember the friends you made and the ways they challenged you to grow as a student and person.”

About the Author

First-year Fellow
Name: Taylor Birdsong
Year: Junior
Major: Rhetoric
Hometown: Oakland, CA
Transferred from: Saint Mary’s College of California

Connect with Taylor.

Applications for the Fung Fellowship are now open for the UC Berkeley transfer class of 2022 until July 31, 2021.

Learn more about the Fung Fellowship at fungfellows.berkeley.edu.