Many challenges arise for students who transfer in the middle of the school year as they adjust to a new community. While first-year students are settling into their new home for the next four years, the transfers have to repeat the tiring process of meeting new people.

Starting on Jan. 10, more than 200 students arrived on campus for the first time, said Carrie Grogan Abbott, director of the Office of First-Year and Transfer Programs. Taking part in the Winter Welcome, an event held to transition new students, were 120 general transfers and 80 freshmen transfers. Additionally, there were 30 Syracuse freshmen students who spent their first semester studying abroad through the Discovery Florence and Discovery Strasbourg programs.

Syracuse University has seen an increasing trend of mid-year transfer students in recent years, but recently numbers have leveled off, Abbott said. During the plateau, those in charge of first-year and transfer programs are finding ways to make transitions run smoothly.

“Whenever a new student starts, transitioning can be difficult,” Abbott said. “We recommend they attend orientation events, go to your school meetings, go to your classes, put effort in connecting with those around you.”

Past and present transfer students, though, said the challenges of transferring to SU, including social integration and inconvenient locations, seem increasingly apparent. One of their biggest concerns is where they live.

While some transfers live on main campus, a large number of them live in SkyHall on South Campus. The 10 to 15 minute bus ride to and from main campus can be a struggle for students trying to navigate the new environment.

“I am worried about having to figure out the bus schedule and not being on main campus,” said Sebastian Kaestner, a sophomore transfer from City College of New York. “It will only add to my problems.”

Kaestner, though, said he thinks it’ll be worth it, as he believes SU is a “better school with better ratings” than CUNY. In fact, he said he had always intended to switch schools.

During move-in weekend, orientation leaders went from residence hall to residence hall on main campus to meet the new transfers and get them acquainted to the school and their peers. But several students and parents moving into SkyHall lamented a lack of help they received. There were no luggage carts and no one from the Goon Squad to assist.

Melissa Mark, a freshman transfer from the University of Puget Sound, said she did expect an absence of help given the time of year and lower number of move-ins, but said she felt it was “a little disorganized.”

“No one told me what to do when I got here. I didn’t receive that winter packet they said I would receive either,” she said. “There was definitely no one holding my hand.”

Recognizing the problem, Lexi Madison, a senior orientation leader and information management and technology major, has tried to include transfers in more events. She said she is confused as to why transfers are secluded on South Campus.

“If it were up to me, I would put [the transfers] all in the center of campus so they can be right in the middle of everything,” Madison said.

She advised that her peers go out of their way to help transfers adjust.

Other luxuries, like rushing a fraternity or sorority, are off limits to transfers as well. Under SU Panhellenic Council rules, all students must have 12 SU credits to rush. That’s a problem for someone like Mark, who said she transferred because of the small size of her old school and its lack of social activities.

To counteract the isolation that some transfers may face, Abbott said the Office of First-Year and Transfer Programs hosts many social, educational and academic programs. During the Winter Welcome, for example, transfers watched the Syracuse-North Carolina men’s basketball game in the Schine Student Center and ate dinners together, among other events.

Despite the potential challenges, transfer students said they were excited to get started at SU. Chris Sommi, a sophomore transfer from Oyster Bay, N.Y., said he is most looking forward to rising to the new academic challenges.

“I am coming from a community college, so this will be entirely different experience,” Sommi said, smiling broadly. “But I’m not worried, I always find my way.”

Published on January 14, 2014 at 12:27 am

Contact Madysan: mgfoltz@syr.edu | @madysangabriele