<p>I'm thinking about transferring to Duke for 2012, and I was wondering if the transfer students have a harder time due to the fact that they're about two years behind their classmates on bonding and socializing? Also, I haven't really looked into the hard stats yet (I've only just started thinking about this as an option), so it would be great if anyone could enlighten me on the size and caliber of transfer community as well. Thanks!</p>
<p>Don’t know much about the transfer community but from historical anecdotes I’ve seen on CC and from the few transfers I’ve met I’d say the size of the transfer community is very small. Duke seems to admit very few transfers. But I would assume that the caliber of the admitted transfer are high.</p>
<p>I’m also a potential Duke transfer (for class of 2013 though). First off, congrats! In the acceptance letter, Christoph Guttentag said there were 50 students admitted. I’m assuming 30-40 will actually enroll… I’m assuming the incoming transfers will form a tight-knit community. As you know, there will be a transfer student orientation, so by the end of that, we should at least know the other transfer students well. I’ve talked to other current transfer students at Duke, and they said they didn’t have much trouble making friends… they suggested joining clubs and getting involved in study groups early on to help with making friends. Hope that helps! Good luck with your decision… maybe I will see you at Duke next year :)</p>