Group helps transfers cope with transition to university

Monday, November 23, 1998

Group helps transfers cope with transition to university

TRASFER: Association’s mentors aid in academic, social adaption
to campus

By Barbara Ortutay

Daily Bruin Staff

That lost, lonely feeling many encounter when entering UCLA is
not limited to the students fresh out of high school.

Transfer students, even with two years of college already behind
them, face similar difficulties, in addition to dealing with unique
problems that range from social to academic, according to Transfer
Student Association (TSA) President Johnny Briones.

"They feel isolated because it’s a bigger school compared to
community colleges," he said. "Also (because most of them are used
to the semester system), they have to adjust to the quarter system,
and they have to do it fast."

To help transfer students adjust to UCLA, the association holds
an annual transfer student reception and sponsors a mentorship
program. But this year, TSA started out with only four members, so
it was difficult to organize the more than 1,000 transfer students
admitted to UCLA, Briones said.

"I personally had to call 300 people for our last reception,"
Briones said.

Since then, TSA membership has increased to 15, but this still
doesn’t amount to much compared to the thousands of transfer
students attending UCLA, Briones said.

In addition to the reception, which aims to welcome transfer
students in a social setting, the TSA mentorship program provides
one-on-one guidance to incoming transfer students by pairing them
up with transfer students already attending UCLA.

The program is not running this quarter, according to TSA member
Graciela Villa, but is planned for the spring of 1999.

Villa, a third-year sociology student, said in her experience
peer counselors often don’t meet transfer students’ needs.

As part of the Academic Advancement Program (AAP), Villa was
assigned a peer counselor who was not a transfer student and could
not answer all of her questions.

"It felt weird that my AAP counselor was younger than me," she
said.

Villa added that the TSA mentorship program aims to lessen the
"lack of networking" that exists between transfer students. By
meeting other students in the same situation, transfer students
have the opportunity to see that their problems are not unique.

In addition to social isolation, transfer students are also
faced with academic challenges that come with entering a four-year
college as a junior.

"You feel kind of left out during Welcome Week," Villa said. She
added that while the event says it welcomes all incoming students,
she felt it targeted freshmen while mostly ignoring transfer
students.

Letters and Sciences Academic Advisor Bruce Barbee said most
transfer students are working and many have families, which adds to
the pressures of adjusting to a four-year university.

He echoed Briones’ statement regarding the difficulty transfers
have in adjusting to the quarter system.

"They have to adapt to a 10-week system instead of an 18-week
semester," he said, adding that this requires a significant change
in study habits.

Barbee said that while it is "easier to figure out" the needs of
incoming freshmen, the opportunities for help are there equally for
all entering students.

While TSA mostly targets students already at UCLA, beginning
next fall they plan to launch an outreach program at local and
state-wide community colleges.

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