{"id":8234,"date":"2025-04-28T13:07:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T17:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/?p=8234"},"modified":"2025-04-28T13:07:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T17:07:03","slug":"julia-strobel-my-cortland-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/2025\/04\/28\/julia-strobel-my-cortland-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Julia Strobel: My Cortland Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you had asked me what my life would look like in 2025, I would never have pictured this. Graduating from SUNY Cortland with a bachelor\u2019s degree in Communications and preparing to pursue my master\u2019s in Business Administration at SUNY Binghamton, none of it would have been possible without the life-changing decision to transfer to SUNY Cortland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My path wasn\u2019t a traditional one. I didn\u2019t arrive at Cortland as a freshman straight out of high school. I transferred in as a junior, filled with nerves and uncertainty about what the future would hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I graduated high school in 2020, a year that turned everything upside down. Like many others, I had planned to go away to a four-year college right after graduation. But when the pandemic hit and classes shifted online, I decided to stay closer to home and enrolled at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first two semesters were filled with monotonous online courses, taken from the same desk where I\u2019d finished high school. In my third semester, we returned to campus part-time, masked up and socially distanced. Finally, in my last semester, I got a glimpse of what college was supposed to feel like: in-person classes, meaningful conversations, and a sense of connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As graduation approached and I prepared to earn my associate degree, I found myself at a crossroads. Should I join the workforce? Finish my degree online? Or transfer to a four-year school and finally experience the \u201ccollege life\u201d I\u2019d been missing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That final semester, I spent time in the career center and met with transfer advisors. Those conversations helped me see what I truly wanted: to be on campus, surrounded by new people, and to grow not just academically but personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I applied to nearly every SUNY school upstate: Oneonta, New Paltz, Buffalo, Oswego\u2026 you name it. Cortland was on the list, but it wasn\u2019t my top choice\u2026 at least, not at first. That changed when I started visiting campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was one of those long road-trip days, hours of driving from one college to the next. Cortland happened to be on the way, and my mom said, \u201cCome on, we might as well check it out.\u201d I sighed and agreed, mostly just to get it over with. It was raining when we arrived, but somehow, the campus still felt warm and full of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we pulled up to the admissions building, we met our tour guide, and to my surprise, no one else had shown up. What was supposed to be a group tour turned into a private one. As we walked through campus, something clicked. Everything just felt right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finally felt like I was where I was meant to be, and for the past two years, Cortland has truly become my home. What they say is true: This campus really is a family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That first day of classes was intimidating. I walked in unsure of myself, but I quickly realized I was in an environment that would challenge and support me. My professors didn\u2019t let me coast. They took the training wheels off and pushed me to grow: to think critically, expand my skills, and find confidence in my communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with the challenges and uncertainties, I never felt alone. Adjusting to a new school isn\u2019t easy, but Cortland made it feel natural. With countless campus events, support for transfer students, and opportunities to join clubs and intramural teams, it didn\u2019t take long for me to feel connected. By the end of my first semester, I felt like a different person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had found a sense of independence I would never have developed while at home. Because college isn\u2019t just about academics\u2026 It\u2019s about learning how to navigate life. It\u2019s about growing up, taking care of yourself, becoming your own advocate, and learning to stand up for what you believe in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transferring to SUNY Cortland was the best decision I\u2019ve ever made. I\u2019ll always be proud to be a Red Dragon. To anyone currently in their undergraduate journey, my advice is this: get involved in any way you can, keep your priorities straight, and don\u2019t blink\u2014because it goes by faster than you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you had asked me what my life would look like in 2025, I would never have pictured this. Graduating from SUNY Cortland with a bachelor\u2019s degree in Communications and preparing to pursue my master\u2019s in Business Administration at SUNY Binghamton, none of it would have been possible without the life-changing decision to transfer to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-opinions","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/09\/Cortland-oldmain-building.jpeg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/09\/Cortland-oldmain-building.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"Julia Strobel","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/julia-strobel\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}