Every semester brings new wildcats to the Hill, and with that, new teammates, new potential members (for Greek life), new friends, and new future campus leaders. While we typically associate new students with the fall semester, we tend to forget the importance of the spring semester. Every year across the country, thousands of undergraduate students decide, by one way or another, that their college just isn’t for them and transfer to a new college. New spring transfers provide a refreshing, dynamic blend of students who strengthen the college experience.
Culver-Stockton’s Eric Kniel, the Director of Admissions, stated, “I can confidently say that this year we have had the largest spring class in almost 10 years.” Kniel has worked in Admissions for Culver-Stockton since 2017. He notes that there has “been a big change in athletics, in terms of transferring.” Kniel also stated that most students are upperclassmen (juniors and seniors), “29 of the 34 were upperclassmen.” That’s 85% of the class being classified as upperclassmen. Kniel said it is quite typical to have more upperclassmen transfers.
Kniel was proud to announce that for the spring academic semester, we have 34 new wildcats who decided to give Culver-Stockton a try. “This is the biggest class we have had in a long time.” He then notes the smaller 2025 spring transfer class, “Last year we had 27 transfers… in 2023 we had 19 transfer students.”
When asked about where the majority of transfer students came from, Kniel said that there is no particular place or region that he’s seen an influx of students from. “ Transfer students come from all over the country… In this class, we have nine international students.” This brings in a diverse group of students who have different backgrounds and experiences.
Kniel could not pinpoint the reason for the influx of students this spring, but he did credit his fellow faculty members in marketing, who could be a factor. “Marketing has done an awesome job with advertising to transfer students.” Kniel expressed his excitement for the spring semester and semesters to come, hoping that increased enrollment remains a trend.
As students, we should also be excited about the new students on campus. To any of the new transfers that may be reading this, we’re glad you chose Culver-Stockton and hope you have found a new home here on the Hill. Go Wildcats!
