Brothers create CollegeShuffle, an informational website for prospective transfer students
By Andrea Barreto
Nov. 10, 2011 1:53 a.m.
Komail Abdeali had trouble adjusting to UCLA when he transferred from Saddleback Community College in 2009.
He said that he and other transfer student friends had trouble fitting in with students who had already established friendships since their first year here.
When Abdeali’s older brother witnessed the struggles he went through to transfer, the siblings decided to create CollegeShuffle, a website designed to provide information specifically for prospective transfer students to UCLA.
Zorrane Abdeali said he noticed that there was a lack of opportunities through which transfer students could share their experiences.
The website offers testimonials and perspectives from UCLA transfer students on a wide variety of campus topics, including choosing majors and enrolling for classes.
In addition to discussing academics, the site also offers students other tips, such as where to buy inexpensive BearWear and places to eat in Westwood.
Such insider knowledge is essential to transfer students’ ability to adjust, said Santiago Bernal, the assistant director of the Center for Community College Partnership at UCLA.
The Abdeali brothers stressed the importance of hearing the advice firsthand from students who have successfully transferred.
Natasha Majano, a third-year English student, said many of her friends at community college still ask her for advice.
She said community college counselors cannot help if students don’t understand what they hope to get out of transferring.
“A lot of counselors don’t know what you want and they can’t tell you what you want,” she said.
“If I just let people do what they wanted with my future, I wouldn’t have transferred as soon as I did.”
Initially, the information on the site came from Komail Abdeali and other friends who had transferred.
As CollegeShuffle grew, Zorrane Abdeali said that more students began joining the website and sharing their insights about UCLA.
“All we really wanted to do was involve the transfer students (and) make them feel welcome and help them get acclimated to UCLA as soon as possible,” Komail Abdeali said.
Bernal said that sharing personal experiences is beneficial to prospective transfer students, which is why peer mentors for the community college partnership are also encouraged to use their own transfer experiences to assist their students.
The website now recruits transfer student interns from UCLA to review submissions along with the website’s administrators to validate the information and ensure that it is relevant to students, Zorrane Abdeali said.
Bernal said online resources are beneficial for students who are already on the path to transferring, adding that the goal of the site is to help students navigate the transfer process.
However, information from the Internet, can sometimes be misinterpreted if there isn’t anyone there to explain it in person, he said.
But for Lorena Niebla, a third-year political science transfer student, Internet resources such as CollegeShuffle are more convenient than talking to counselors.
“A website like that for only transfers would be good to answer all the doubts and little questions I had that (otherwise) I had to wait hours for my counselors to answer,” Niebla said.
Zorrane Abdeali said that they are working on expanding the website to other UC campuses.
“The more UCs that get on (board), the more valuable it would be to students.”
