New website to ease transfer process

Students applying to colleges might wonder if there is anyone who knows exactly what it takes to be accepted into a college. Zorrane Abdeali, who was an undergraduate business administration student at University of California, Riverside, had the same question in mind when his younger brother, Komail, a political science major at Saddleback College, took his first steps transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles.

“During his transfer process, I noticed some gaps in resources that were available to him,” Abdeali said. “It took a little extra effort for the student to find information that was unbiased — in other words, not from universities.”

The biggest difficulty in applying was finding transfer students who made the jump from community colleges to universities. Realizing that they might not be the only ones struggling to find this information, the Abdeali brothers started a transfer student website, collegeshuffle.com, which helps connect pre-transfer and post-transfer students.

“That is where the whole idea derived from,” said Abdeali. “Getting other students who have done it successfully to get in touch with those students that are new to the process of transferring.”

Abdeali said he strongly believes that it is better to learn from someone who has already gone through the process of transferring than “a university flier.”

The website allows students to create a profile to connect with other transferring or already transferred students, Abdeali said. Students who have already transferred give advice through articles about finding basic housing to finding the cheapest books for classes. Prospective students can filter their search by GPA, major, transfer year and college rating.

“We want students to really interact with each other,” said Abdeali.

Even though the website has over 1,000 students, Abdeali's goal is to bring more on board and measure the site's helpfulness to students. He is not sure if the amount of students registered is a big enough sample size, knowing that there are thousands of transfer students out there.

Abdeali said he has California State Universities and private universities in mind, but that it takes time. Right now, the priority is to get the word out.

“Without the students' feedback and insight it will really not work,” he said. “We are trying to get it straight out of the students’ mouth. The hardest part is to get a diverse group of students to give a lot of information.”

The website was fully launched last year, but still needs help from students who are proficient with computers and smartphone apps, which would help to fulfill one of their dreams, launching a collegeshuffle.com app. Those interested in volunteering are welcome to join their team, Abdeali said.

For those interested specifically in transferring to UCLA, the Abdeali brothers created an e-book, “The Transfer Roadmap – UCLA Edition.” The book discusses three key transfer aspects, life before, during, and after UCLA.