How to choose the right school

At the time, the Lawrenceville campus wasn’t what Tranberg expected. “Buildings were under construction and we’d had a lot of rain, so the campus was just a big mud ditch.”

While Tranberg liked the convenience, price and small classes at GGC, he wasn’t sure about the quality of education, so he did some research on the school’s faculty.

“I looked at the list and found that the professors held Ph.D.s from top schools across the country,” he said. “I didn’t get it, but I decided that maybe they knew something I didn’t. Maybe Georgia Gwinnett College was worth investing in.”

With that in mind, Tranberg enrolled and has watched the college build from the ground up. His involvement at the school has mirrored that growth — first as a student, then as a resident dorm adviser and finally as president of the Student Government Association for a school with about 9,300 students.

Tranberg had initially planned to transfer to a better-known college after two years, but he grew to love GGC and valued relationships he had developed with professors.

A political science major with an interest in international relations, Tranberg said his experiences as part of a rapidly growing school have been invaluable.

“I’ve been able to watch community development first-hand and my professors have encouraged me to take advantage of every opportunity. They’ve helped to mold who I have become,” he said.

Tranberg, who will graduate in May, is a finalist for a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.

“In retrospect, coming here was one of the best decisions I could have made,” he said.