<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>I am making this thread to warn potential Vanderbilt transfers about the experience I've had at Vanderbilt as a transfer student. I hope this helps those of you on the fence between Vanderbilt and other schools in making your decision. I don't want anyone to go through what I have for the past two years.</p>
<p>First, many students seem to resent you. Transfer students are seen as lower caliber students who found a back door to get into the school. Anytime the fact that I'm a transfer comes up, the attitude of the person I'm talking to changes completely. If it doesn't come up, and they assume I'm a freshman admit, eventually it comes up talking about other students. (Yeah, he made a 60 on the test...what do you expect, he's a transfer!). I honestly feel like I'm second rate all the time - and I'm not the type to let thinks bother me. It just really hurts.</p>
<p>Second, it seems even professors play into the stereotype. I was in a class once that divided us up into teams for a group project. In the criteria for making the teams, she wanted to make sure "no team was made up of all transfer students, so as not to disadvantage one team compared to the others." I couldn't believe when she said that...some in the class snickered, and she split us into groups based on information from a card we filled out at the beginning of the year, one of the questions being "Are you a transfer student?"</p>
<p>Finally, I've had a hard time making friends. Vanderbilt seems to be very clique-ish, and they seem to form freshman year. As such, it took me a long time to find a good group of friends. I have a few close friends now, but I still sometimes feel like I'm in high school with the cliques, and I regret not being a freshman admit. I just feel like a second class citizen as a transfer.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is a great school, and I will be proud when I graduate next year with my degree, but I just want everyone to hear my experience. Please don't bash me for this post - it will just prove my point even more. One of my best friends here at Vandy is a transfer, and her experience has been the same as mine. I turned down a number of good schools to come here, and I really do regret it. Just some advice to transfers out there who haven't made a decision. Either way, I wish you luck. If you do come here, make sure you have a tough skin - you'll need it.</p>
<p>-Amber</p>
<p>Amber, I am very sorry that you have had such a bad experience. My D is a transfer, and she has NEVER felt as if she is treated as some sort of second-class citizen. Maybe she came into it with a different attitude, since she was actually admitted as a freshman but chose to go elsewhere … then decided to transfer in after her freshman year. No one knew that but her, though. </p>
<p>My D also has a good friend who is a transfer, and she also does not feel like a second-class citizen. She did not apply as a freshman.</p>
<p>I don’t know that it has been any different for my D and her friend socially as transfers than it would have been had they been there since freshman year. I don’t really think so. I think Vandy has a bit of a cliquey reputation for everyone. I know that it wasn’t especially easy for my D to meet people, but she eventually did. </p>
<p>The key for my D was to find things she enjoys doing, and she met her friends that way. She had to learn to be more outgoing, and this has served her well. She has also made friends outside of Vanderbilt, in the greater Nashville community. Again, this was through reaching out beyond herself and doing things that interested her. She had to learn not to wait for others, but to initiate things herself. I don’t necessarily think that it is any better anywhere else … the larger the school, the more difficult it can be to connect … but there are more to connect with, if you can just find them in the crowd.</p>
<p>I hope that you enjoy your senior year. This has been by D’s best year yet, and I wish the same for you.</p>
<p>I’m surprised to hear your experience as a transfer has not been completely enjoyable. Yet I have to point out that I know another person who personally told me she didn’t have any difficulties making friends and she doesn’t regret her decision to go to Vandy at all. Sorry that you feel the way you do, but I think you are a special case and I’m sure many people enjoy their time at Vandy as a transfer.</p>
<p>I think it’s possible to have a good time as a transfer, but I think it’s equally possible to have an awful time. I have many transfer friends who feel the same, so I don’t think I’m just a one in a million special case - maybe the person you know is the special case, and I’m happy for her.</p>
<p>I’m astonished that a professor would say “no team was made up of all transfer students, so as not to disadvantage one team compared to the others.” Shame on him/her!</p>
<p>I am sorry to hear that you have had such a hard time. Yours is not the first story like this I have heard though. A couple of years ago, a local girl transferred in as a sophomore and had a very similar experience. She came from a prep school, so the cliques were nothing new to her. But she was quite surprised by the condescending attitude towards transfer students. She graduated from Vanderbilt and is now in grad school, but does not have the fondest memories of her time there.</p>
<p>I lived with a transfer student for 2 years and he never expressed any of these sentiments. I also knew several other transfers who seemed very happy. However, I did hear about a few that were unsatisfied with the school.</p>
<p>Transferring is what you make of it. I transferred to Vandy this past year and have had the time of my life. Sorry to hear your experience was not as good.</p>
<p>You make an interesting point. I’ve met a few people who don’t like transfers, but those are the few elitist snobs.</p>
<p>With that said, however, I have run into some transfer students who are in fact not as academically well-prepared as most other Vanderbilt students. However, that is NO REASON for anyone to stereotype transfers.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you can enjoy yourself more if you hang out with the right people. I am a transfer myself, but I was recently elected president of an honorary society. As part of my speech, I told everyone that I was a transfer student…and I won by a landslide. Boasting aside…most people don’t care about your transfer status, and almost no one will care about your transfer status if you don’t care. If you find anyone who does care, just grin and savor the schadenfreude as they get all ****ed off at your accomplishments!</p>
<p>Question for the OP: Out of curiosity, why did you transfer away from your previous college?</p>
<p>I have just decided to pick Vandy over USC to transfer to. And I went through this thread. Like I have made a wrong decision?</p>
<p>@OP:</p>
<p>Are you an engineering student?</p>
<p>You will find happy people and unhappy people at every school. Don’t worry about it.</p>