I feel traitorous, but:

<ul>
<li><p>What's it like being a transfer student? Does missing out on your freshman year hurt you a lot (socially speaking?) I'm good at making friends, but I hear you establish your core social network within weeks of arriving on-campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Providing my first-year GPA was respectable, how easy would it be to transfer into (just for example) Stanford? How many transfers do they accept? Are they planning to cut that number in the future? Do Stanford's transfer policies mirror those of most other colleges?</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Don't take this thread the wrong way; I'm not seriously contemplating a transfer, nor do I expect to ever seriously contemplate one. I mean, I haven't even matriculated. I'm just curious and I figure it's good to know these things.</p>