TLC Frequently Asked Questions

While in a Transfer Learning Community (TLC), you will make connections with peers, faculty, and Transfer Scholastic Assistants (TSAs) to create your own community within USD. You will participate in curricular and co-curricular activities related to the Engage theme and your TLC class. You will share interests, knowledge, and experiences with others, and enrich your experience at USD. All this — learning in a small group, getting to know your professors, making connections with classmates, and sharing ideas and experiences — will help you connect to the Torero community.

Yes, all transfer students participate in a TLC in their first semester at USD.

In successfully completing your TLC class and actively participating in the required curricular activities, you will fulfill the First Year Integration competency of the core curriculum. 

No, both resident and commuter students participate.

After reviewing the Transfer Learning Community class listings (Fall or Spring), jot down a list of your TLC class preferences to take to your advising meeting. You will not be able to sign up for your preferred TLC class yourself, so it is important you are prepped with a list so your advisor can enroll you in a TLC class.

Every effort will be made to assign you to a TLC class consistent with your interests, but placement in your preference is not guaranteed. Placement is also dependent on your transferred units and class availability. 

Just one! Your TLC experience will take place in your first semester at USD.

Most TLC classes satisfy specific core requirements such as literary inquiry, theological and religious inquiry, and more, but ALL will satisfy the First-Year Integration core requirement. In your Transfer Learning Community, you will learn to recognize broad connections between different ways of problem solving, and learn to articulate the benefits of using multiple perspectives to identify solutions to today’s urgent challenges. This process encompasses the First-Year Integration competency of the core requirement.

The only way to complete the First-Year Integration competency is by successfully completing a TLC class. For a break down of each TLC class, please visit our Linked Classes page. 

In addition to completing the mandatory curricular requirements of your TLC class, you will be invited to engage in co-curricular events hosted by your TLC. These co-curricular events are offered for you to explore your theme and make connections to life in and out of the classroom.

There is no deadline, but we encourage you to complete all necessary requirements (as outlined in your new student checklist) as soon as you are able so you can meet with your academic advisor. When you meet with your academic advisor, they will work to enroll you in your TLC class preference. Every effort will be made to assign you to a TLC class consistent with your interests, but placement in your preference is not guaranteed.

TLC classes have been carefully chosen to offer transfer students a variety of both upper division and general core classes. Advisors will also be reviewing your transferred coursework to make sure the TLC class in which you are enrolled is an appropriate choice.

Yes! We've designed orientation to include sessions where you will connect with your Transfer Scholastic Assistant (TSA), the transfer students in your TLC class, and other new students. All orientation sessions are designed to help ease your transition to USD, and include opportunities for you to start making connections with the Torero community. You will learn about the university’s many resources, as well as how to succeed academically and socially.

In most cases, a student's TLC faculty member will not be their academic advisor, as most students will be assigned a different advisor within their school/major.

You will fill out the Transfer Student Questionnaire to let us know what your intended major is, and based on this information, you will be assigned to an academic advisor within your field. You will meet with your academic advisor prior to your arrival, via phone, Skype, or in person, to discuss your class schedule.

Your TLC faculty member will serve as an additional resource and mentor as you transition to USD.

Please visit LGBTQ at USD, the Title IX Office, or the Women's Commons for more information.