<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I'm an international student and recently got accepted as a transfer student.</p>
<p>I have a few questions about how well transfers fit into the student body.</p>
<p>I've read that usually freshman develop groups they hang out with during the first year. Does this make it more difficult than usual to mingle in/develop your own social circle?
Is the transfer "stigma" prevalent at Columbia?</p>
<p>Oh and are all transfers housed in the same dorm? Any suggestions for housing which would/wouldn't be conducive to socializing?
[I don't want a single :/]</p>
<p>I'd appreciate all responses. </p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>Hi,
I transfered from Vanderbilt to Columbia for last year. Most transfers are placed into the same housing units, and all transfers go through orientation in small NSOP groups with other transfers/5 year plan kids.
I wasn’t placed into one of the primary buildings/floors of transfers and thus lived with two other transfers and two random people in a suite in Claremont. While both of my roommates became close with most of the other transfers, I ended up joining a Fraternity and hanging out and making many of my friends through that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>How did the social life and atmosphere compare with that at Vanderbilt?
I’m asking this 'cause, IMO the atmosphere at V and my current college are pretty close…</p>
<p>there’s a lot of room for you to make friends as a transfer. I’ve known and gotten along with quite a few of them. Only a small minority of freshmen make small groups who they spend all their time with, everyone else is usually just as eager to make friends as you will be. Like are you going to stop making friends after 1 year? (other people are also like this) Some of my very best friends, I met or I became close to my senior year. There’s no stigma whatsoever, and while it is tougher to make friends as a transfer than as a freshman, if you introduce yourself, take a little initiative and join campus organizations, you will not feel a difference.</p>
<p>prateek92, i just enrolled as a sophomore transfer student yesterday, and i had the exact same worries!</p>
<p>where are you staying on campus? and does anyone else on this thread have recommendations?</p>
<p>It’s really different. Vanderbilt was basically all greek life, which I hated. I don’t have anything against frat parties (obviously, I joined one here), but when they are the only thing you can do I feel like they get too much power. The social scene is really fragmented, it’s a mixture of dorm/apartment parties (most seniors live in spacious suites), the bar scene is big for freshman/sophomores and juniors and seniors (get a fake if you want to go out), and fraternity parties hit that demographic as well, along with peopel going downtown to clubs/concerts, etc.</p>