<p>Do all transfer students living on campus live in the same area? Is it hard for transfer students to mesh into the already formed groups from people there since freshman year?</p>
<p>It used to be that transfers were properly integrated into their affiliated colleges. I had no issue becoming a part of the Porter community as a Winter 2010 transfer and still maintain friendships with those I met who were not transfers. I felt no animosity directed towards me for my transfer status nor did I feel excluded. The biggest hurdle I faced was trying to properly plan out classes with limited time available for sporadically offered courses.</p>
<p>As for how it is now, I am unsure. As a continuing transfer myself, I have found it difficult to make friends with many of the transfers as they are segregated into Building A at Porter (if they choose to live on campus). They did finally give back the option to at least choose the Village or the University Town Center instead of just the Transfer Community back to new transfers for the coming year, but this is likely a response to both space issues at Porter and the complaints about being forced into one area some have voiced.</p>
<p>A year ago before the TC was fully understood (we were still being told only half the building would be going to new transfers and the other half to upperclassmen close to this time last year), I would have told you that UCSC has been nothing but a welcoming experience in terms of joining groups. However, the forced segregation of the TC leaves you with only other new transfers to socialize with in your immediate vicinity. The UTC and the Village I do not know much about, but they have never struck me as the best socializing areas.</p>
<p>You will find a few who like the TC and think it’s great. But there are others like me who feel it is detrimental to what makes UCSC’s college system so great. It takes away that feeling of community that one should have with their college. It takes away any reason for transfers to even have a college affiliation. A few of the transfers this year I have found the rare opportunity to speak with voiced concern over the fact that they had become so used to Porter’s community that they did not want to leave, yet they no longer had priority to live in the community as non-affiliates.</p>
<p>Perhaps things will change for the better next year, though.</p>
<p>So for a transfer student is it smarter to pick Porter as your college since that is where the housing is?</p>
<p>Porter affiliation is severely limited for freshman and very rare for transfers because of the TC. There were statements last year from some new transfers that Porter was not an option for transfers (although I never could find this information online myself). A small handful claimed they were able to get affiliation, but they were most likely the rare exceptions if so.</p>
<p>A young man I talked to figured out that if he wanted to stay at Porter for next year, he needed to request his affiliation be changed to Porter. He was denied.</p>
<p>So you can request Porter as your number 1 choice for affiliation, but I wouldn’t bank on getting it. It is highly unlikely. You had a better chance before the TC existed and when Porter was promised to have ample room it has been missing for years due to renovations.</p>
<p>Transfer housing is at more than the TC for next year, by the way. You can also now choose the Village or the UTC. I really wish the TC would go away and that the university would let students choose to live in their college affiliations again.</p>
<p>So does the TC really segregate itself from all other colleges? Like if I was in Kresge or Crown I would rarely actualy meet people from those colleges?</p>
<p>Also does college affiliation really matter that much? Like are there different perks for different colleges?</p>
<p>Yes, it does. It is also hypocritical. They always spout how transfers are no different, yet they punctuate the difference by requiring transfers to live in specific housing locations. Despite the positive things you’ll here spouted on the website about how much of a good thing it is, it offers nothing that you would not get at your own college and takes away from you your chance to fully experience your college community by living in it all two years.</p>
<p>And the point of the residential college system is to create a sense of a small LAC-type community while having the benefits of a large university. Each college has its own themes which for some do matter, but the sense of community is what I like. If you’re not looking for a sense of community that will be maintained for all of your years, then it won’t matter to you. Honestly, I’d say you’d be better off living off campus or in Village or UTC (no mean plans required last I checked). You’d be able to meet people from nearly all years at either one.</p>
<p>Each college is unique and many of us go through such stress trying to choose our top five that it seems a silly waste not to be able to experience that community all two years of transfer.</p>