@bodytext: When asked to describe the process of transferring to Tufts, junior Alex Lauritson-Lada summed up the experience with one simple phrase: "It's easier than you think."
Lauritson-Lada is one of the many students at Tufts who began his matriculation at a different institution - in his case, Trinity College. Though the number varies from year to year depending on the size of the freshman class and the amount of students who choose to live on campus, Director of Admissions Leon Braswell estimates that the number of fall transfers has "typically hovered around 45 to 50, sometimes higher," while there are anywhere from 15 to 25 students who transfer into Tufts for the January semester.
The transfer students are divided up and housed together on a floor of Carmichael or Lewis Hall in order to aid with emotional adjustment and to help them make friends.
Dean of Students Jean Herbert admits that "it is an issue about where they live." Debating whether to house transfer students as a separate group or intermixed with other students, Tufts decided on a "medium solution - that is, housing them close together but in dorms with current students," Herbert said.
Though this often produces the effect that transfer students only make friends with other transfers, many of them don't seem to mind.
"I don't have a whole lot of friends who weren't transfer students," said Kenny Hickman, a second-semester junior who transferred from American University. Still, Hickman says, "It wasn't a problem at all."
Lauritson-Lada had the same experience as Hickman: "Most of the people I do stuff with are transfer people," he said.
Senior Dan Levine, a transfer student from Union College in Schenectady, NY echoed this sentiment: "Most of my friends are transfer students," he said.
Being involved in outside activities, however, can often help transfer students make other friends. Junior Matt Kruger, who transferred from George Mason, made friends on the soccer team as well as in the Protestant Student Fellowship. Senior Chris Babayan, a student who came from Georgetown, said that he made friends with "a mix of everybody."
Whether they make friends with old students or with other transfers, Herbert said that the students are happier "by far" at Tufts than at their previous institutions. "They're coming with an attitude of wanting to like it," she said.
Lauritson-Lada agreed with this sentiment, saying that he is "much happier here than [he] was at Trinity."
Babayan also said that the move was worth the trouble. "Oh, definitely - I really despised Georgetown," he said.
For the occasional transfer student that has difficulty adjusting, there are many resources in place to help. Besides an advisor and access to the Counseling Center, there is a Senate-funded transfer student group and a transfer orientation for students to attend.
When asked whether most students utilize these resources, however, Herbert said, "I would say not - but for those who do, I think it's valuable."
Hickman "didn't even think about" going to the Counseling Center during the transfer process. Lauritson-Lada admits to going to a Red Sox game instead of orientation.
Though the process for these students was not difficult enough to warrant counseling, it can still be daunting for them.
"It's never easy," Babayan said. He describes the process as "kind of a pain in the ass ... it felt like freshman year all over again." Still, he admits to not even knowing what resources were available for help: "I'm sure they were there, but I didn't really take advantage of them," he said.
Though most of the transfer students go through the same experiences making new friends and starting life here at Tufts, they come from very different backgrounds. Some, such as Kruger or Hickman, transfer for academic reasons, while others like Levine and Lauritson-Lada chose to switch more for social aspects.
Levine said he transferred because of "people. They sucked. All of them." Hickman, on the other hand, chose to move to Tufts because American University "didn't have the major that [he] wanted, which was a classics major."
The reasons why they transferred seem to have little effect on these students' happiness here at Tufts. All expressed a genuine preference for Tufts over their previous situations.
"I'm much happier than I was at Trinity," Lauritson-Lada said.
Kruger, too, is "very happy here" and feels like he fits in.
