Every year, the Stanford community welcomes approximately 1,600 freshmen and 80 transfer students. Though the experiences of these two groups during their first year on the Farm — with issues ranging from housing to social activities to advising — can be very different, the University seeks to welcome both equally.

Stanford takes care to offer short- and long-term programs in order to facilitate the adjustment to campus culture and administrative procedures, beginning with New Student Orientation. However, with transfers substantially outnumbered by freshmen, Orientation tends to focus on the concerns of freshman who are entirely new to college life. This has prompted the University to find other ways to integrate transfers into Stanford.

Ben Huston, a sophomore transfer from the University of Arizona, feels that Stanford does cater more to the incoming freshmen than to other new students, but has few complaints about that approach.

“The start of college wasn’t a new thing for me — it was something I had already been through,” he said. “I wasn’t looking for someone to hold my hand when I got here, but freshmen might need more help since they are new to the experience.”

Unlike freshmen, transfers normally have few events held specifically for them throughout the rest of the year to keep them in consistent contact with other transfers. Some feel that recurring programs might be excessive and prefer to assimilate directly into Stanford life through complete immersion.

“I don’t want to have the transfer label attached to me,” said Ryan Huss, a sophomore transfer from Florida State University. “It’s been very easy to adjust to Stanford, to make new relationships and to get involved.”

Like other transfer students, he cites his luck with housing and a great residential staff as primary aids in making his transition smooth.

“At Toyon, I got to know a lot of people from my class, and it was definitely comforting that my RAs were approachable and knew my name from the start,” Huss said.

The administration monitors the satisfaction of transfer students with a survey similar to the one administered to freshmen at the end of the year. Jared Scherer, the director of New Student Orientation, claims that the complaints of transfers do not differ very much from those of other students on campus — perhaps an indication that their problems are less related to their transfer status than to the fact that they’re Stanford students.

However, some transfers agree that the quality of advising could be significantly improved, a complaint commonly voiced by freshmen in the 2002 freshmen survey.

“The last time I met with my adviser was during Orientation,” Huss said. “I’ve had a huge problem with transfer credit. Stanford’s a really particular bureaucracy, so I’m still trying to figure out what GERs I’ve completed.”

Julie Lythcott-Haims was appointed earlier this year to the new administrative position of dean of freshmen and transfer students in order to address new student concerns. Both she and Scherer voiced their desire to constantly improve the experiences of all new students, particularly the transfers, who may have traditionally received less attention in their reception than first year students.

“We want to ensure that the transfers get the same warm welcome to Stanford our freshmen get,” Lythcott-Haims said.

As part of these new efforts to maximize contentment with the transfer experience, new programs and ideas are in the works for next year. A new Transfer Buddies program will match returning transfers with new transfers, the Outdoor Education Program will be tested to acquaint new transfers with each other during a camping trip before the start of school and the recently implemented transfer community coordinator position, currently held by junior Mike Hipolito, will ensure that the student voice is present in the planning process.

Scherer concluded, “We’re currently in the process of assessment and definition in terms of where we want to go with the restructuring of our program and resources. We’re trying to figure out the needs of transfers and how we can best meet those needs.”