Transfer, it’s your first time on campus too!! We didn’t forget about you – here’s some advice from a fellow transfer!

You may be a tad less fresh than your other fellow newcomers, but transfer students are in many ways freshmen 2.0. Actually, that is my biggest piece of advice for transfers at Barnumbia, and many of these tips will come back to it: this is basically a second freshman year, and you should treat it as such. Learn from my many mistakes!

1. Do not take a lot of hard classes your first semester.

You’re getting acclimated to a new school and starting over socially with people who mostly already know each other. Even if you managed 19 credits per semester as a freshman (which would be shockingly impressive if true) you should maybe lay off when you first get here. I took six classes my first semester, thinking as a sophomore I didn’t have to bother with that freshman nonsense again, and have lived to suffer academically for it the rest of my tenure here. The credit system here is a bit deceptive and most of my 3 credit classes have given me more work than any 4 credit courses at my previous school ever dared. Get used to the workload first!

2. Get up to speed on course selection.

You’ve also been served a bit of an academic curveball here. You probably know (and if you don’t, now you do) your grades from your previous school do not roll over and your GPA will only be calculated based on your classes here. This means you have about 25% fewer chances to save yourself academically than your peers. You also have less time to spend taking interesting classes for fun. Ask everyone you know for advice and information on academics, read CULPA reviews, whatever it takes! Also, as a transfer, you likely are a bit more certain about your major than your peers or freshman counterparts. Your core or general education requirements may seem daunting, and like you are behind on filling them, but you don’t have to prioritize them over your major classes. Just be sure to plan accordingly, and know exactly what you need to take. CC your dean on all your email enquiries. I was set back on my major classes because I couldn’t get answers to my questions in time. I only got an eventual reply because I copied my dean, but by that point it was already too late for me. Don’t be afraid of being (politely) annoying, because it may be the only way you get a response. 

3. Be social.

Remember freshman year, when you overcommitted yourself to a million clubs just to see what was going on and meet people? It’s time for round 2. I was very worried about trying to break new student orgs as a sophomore (even being a transfer) and allowed myself to be rather easily persuaded out of joining clubs I was interested in or going to events alone. You know what’s even worse than trying to join something as a sophomore? Joining as a junior. (Or, if you’re transferring as a junior, think how hard it will be to start doing new things as a senior!) Plus, lots of non-transfer non-freshmen try new clubs just for fun. Go to stuff by yourself and make new friends. Even if you’ve already made new friends, make some more. Just because you’re no longer a freshman does not mean you are safe from the doomed first semester friend group. Put your eggs in different baskets, as they say!

4. NSOP is much of the same.

For fall transfer NSOP, you should expect more or less the same thing as your freshman orientation. The parts that are specific to Columbia/Barnard were sort of helpful, but I basically was made to sit through the same presentations all over again. (Not that I would ever recommend skipping a required student event… just letting you know.) It can be a nice way to meet other students transferring in the same semester, but to be totally honest, I do not remember the other transfers in my group and I do not believe that they remember me. That’s not to say that you can’t make friends at orientation, but that it’s okay if you don’t yet. (Things are a bit different for spring semester transfers, and I’ve been told spring NSOP is a bit more useful!)

5. Housing is a game of chance.

I managed to get housing from the non-guaranteed list, which is allegedly ordered by the distance from your home address on file to campus, with students who live the greatest distance away receiving housing offers first, but I have basically zero trust in that. The most useful thing I learned at NSOP is that students who lived way farther away than I did weren’t offered housing. I also ended up receiving a housing offer from the non-guaranteed list the following year, despite not getting one when I first applied and being told I was extremely unlikely to. (Sadly, this came shortly after I signed the lease for my off-campus apartment…) I also started getting emails to my school account for a new residence hall in the last week or so with the wording seeming to guarantee a placement to anyone who applied quickly enough and did not already have housing. (It was from the actual residential life email, so it’s somewhat likely to be legit.) Clearly they really like me. Or my money. 

People complain about housing here, but every room I’ve seen has been a significant improvement over the housing offerings of my previous school. (Same goes for campus dining. Barnumbia doesn’t know how good they have it…) Transfers can never be guaranteed housing unless they become RAs. I’ve been told they are supposed to give priority to non-guaranteed students for RA positions, but I think that’s just a rumor. If you can get student housing, great! Take it! It will be, at a minimum, pretty alright for what it is and certainly cheaper than trying to find a half-decent place near campus. Having found a half-decent place near campus myself, it was a nightmare I hope to never repeat. 

6. Have fun!

School comes first, but take care and enjoy yourself. Good luck!

Image via Bwog Archives