Transfer Students

I want to go to a Yale where transfer students feel seamlessly integrated and warmly welcomed into the Yale community. Every year, Yale welcomes 20-30 transfer students from other colleges around the country. For these students, coming in midway through the college experience, when friend groups have already been established, can be a difficult social experience. Even though this group of Yale students is small, their experience is still important, and YCC needs to think critically about how it can work with administrators to improve the transfer experience.

Yale should:

• Allow transfer students to opt-in to freshman programming during Camp Yale, or offer separate orientation programming specifically for transfer students during Camp Yale.

• Expand the range of pre-orientation programs that transfers can participate in.

• Allow transfer students to study abroad through Yale-sponsored programs that are not run by Yale. Currently, transfer students are only allowed to study abroad through a limited network of Yale-run programs.

• Ensure that transfer students get the same reminders incoming freshmen do about healthcare forms, placement examinations, and roommate preference forms.

What YCC can do:

• Survey transfer students on their experiences, including ease of integrating socially, transferring credits, and other logistical factors, and issue recommendations for how to improve the transfer student experience.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the Transfer Counselor (TroCo) program and recommend enhancements.