I am a classic transfer student. I graduated from high school in 2004, went to Bellevue Community College — now simply “Bellevue College” (BC), which sounds rather classy, if I may say so — and graduated with my associate degree in arts and science in 2006.

I didn’t do Running Start and was a rather “old” 21 when I arrived at the UW in the fall of 2006. It’s been a very fast, very fascinating past three years here, but it wouldn’t have happened if I had not done my first two years elsewhere.

If I had gone straight to the UW as a freshman, I wouldn’t have had a clue as to what I was doing for at least two years. I could have gone early; I had been accepted when I finished high school, but opted to keep plugging away on my associate degree. It was a tough call, but for me, it was the right one.

I had originally intended to major in one of the physical sciences; a rough run-in with calculus changed that notion and led me to journalism. I had the opportunity to write for BC’s school paper, The Jibsheet, and immersed myself in the field while taking a wide variety of classes — courses that I might have been able to take at the UW, it’s true, but certainly not with the same instructor-to-student ratio with most classes 20-to-1 or less.

I would have missed out on the chance to really dig deep and explore why, exactly, I was in college in the first place — and would have lost the invaluable opportunity to find out what I value in an education and why. To put it another way, I was given the chance to get a clue and to think hard and well about what I really wanted to do.

In the process, I saved thousands of dollars — money I used to help defray the cost of living at the UW when the time came to transfer. I also found myself ready to rock and roll, as it were, academically, and felt ready to immediately immerse my mind in what the university had to offer.

Indeed, I hit the scholastic ground running and was not afraid to knock down professors’ doors, question my advisers about the minutiae of my majors, and visit all the offices and departments I could find. The “big bad U” is what you make of it; I wouldn’t have made as much of it without having gone to a community college first. I would not have had the same opportunities as a UW freshman and sophomore, that’s for sure.

The actual transferring process was hard at times of course, and I did feel more than a little disoriented when I first arrived.

I also sometimes feel like I lost out on not being here from my freshman year onwards when it comes to college-long friendships. But I have more than enough relationships and friendships fostered from BC — some of whom made the leap with me to the UW — to compensate for this.

As G.K. Chesterton put it, “When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it.” Well, I feel like I’ve done both — first at BC, and now here.

When I got to the UW after two years of community college, I appreciated it more. Don’t let anyone knock you if you have a similar background to mine. I was only then really ready to be a Husky. I would have loved it, I’m sure, if I had come earlier, but I would have missed out on all the experiences that helped me excel.

In the end, transferring to the UW made me a better student.