Hey, everyone! I’ve noticed a lot of transfer stories up lately, and I thought it would be cool to have them all in one place, since this is around the time when prospective students decide that they definitely want to apply for transfer admission! I think it’d be a nice resource for applicants looking to PM current students, too.
I don’t have a format in mind, but I suppose it would be good to list the school you transferred to, what you like, what you don’t like, how orientation was, that sort of thing.
I’m a sophomore at Penn in the College
Orientation: Orientation was amazing. We have a really dedicated transfer student organization on campus, and they’ve done so much to help us get acclimated. We had a ton of events at night just for transfers, which was so much fun and really helped all of us feel ~social~ just because we got to see everyone out of their typical orientation event element. There are 200 or so of us, so while it’s a big transfer community compared to some Ivies, it felt like a really cozy version of freshman orientation. I personally loved it, it felt like summer camp and I met some of my best friends here. TSO is such an amazing organization and I don’t think my time here would be the same without them–if you’re looking to transfer anywhere, I’d try to find out if there’s a similar transfer-advocacy group! (Also, Penn has so much money, wow. I’ve never eaten that much free food in my life.)
Housing: LOVE the housing here. If you want a single, it’s super easy, which is definitely what I wanted. It’s suggested that transfers live in the “transfer community” in this one residential building. Not the prettiest for sure, but it suits my needs perfectly. I finally feel like I’m having the traditional dorm experience, going to knock on my friends’ doors on a whim, dealing with the lighthearted dramatics of college life with people I really like. I know a ton of people living in the most desired buildings on campus too, so it’s not like we’re all shoved into one building. A lot of us just opted to live in the community.
Social: I transferred because I didn’t like my old school’s social scene. (Oops.) While I don’t go out too much here, there are things happening EVERY weekend, which I love. I know some girls who did fall rush, and a ton of guys I know got into the frats they wanted, so transfers are definitely integrated into the social life here. It helps that clubs have their own parties/BYOs, so if you get involved in clubs, you have a built-in friend group of transfers and non-transfers. There are some off-campus frats and sororities that don’t really have transfers in them, but they don’t have a very big presence on campus, so I’ve never felt excluded. Also, this is the first time I’ve gone to all home football games at any school. That’s a big achievement for me. Haha
Stigma: I’ve read a lot about people feeling like they’ve been treated as a second class citizen as a transfer, but I haven’t found that here really. There are sometimes the offhand remarks like “Transfers are basically freshmen,” but that doesn’t bother me too much and it only really happened in reference to new transfers during orientation. I have leadership positions in several clubs, my professors certainly don’t care, and I have a good mix of non-transfer and transfer friends, so I’m perfectly happy with the change.
Academics: SCHOOL IS HARD. This is the one time when I’ve gotten Bs after giving a class my all. I’ve gotten 60s on midterms here, which before this year I would’ve considered outside of the realm of possibility. I don’t think this has much to do with transferring, because many of my non-transfer friends have the same academic struggles. Also deans/advisors are super forgiving about things for transfers. Usually in my major, you have to take a bunch of courses before the end of sophomore year, but that requirement was waived for me just because I expressed that I wanted to explore different fields before committing.
So yeah. I’m so beyond happy that I transferred. Penn isn’t perfect, although my post maybe implies that it’s a really perfect place. It’s not. There were some days when I was super nervous about the adjustment, or days when I felt lonely about the fact that I didn’t really know anyone well. But even on the days when a guy didn’t text me back, or when I got a 60 on a midterm, or I had to wear an ugly cast all around campus for a week, I still woke up feeling excited to be here. This is the only time I’ve ever been sad about leaving school for break!