I’m a transfer student. There—I’ve said it. After attending Ithaca College for three semesters, I transferred to the other hill for Spring 2007. I’ve often refrained from telling people about this out of embarrassment. But what do I have to be ashamed of? Statistics say that transfers constitute 20 percent of the Cornell population. Plus, I’m sick of lying—telling people that I lived in “a big building on North Campus” when they ask about my freshmen year. But before you judge me, let me describe the struggles that we transfers face.
First, applying to Cornell while attending IC was not easy. The transfer process was like taking another class: I had to fill out the lengthy application, find letters of recommendation, and call or visit Cornell every other day. In fact, part of my excitement after hearing I’d been accepted came from knowing I was done with applications.
But when school started, the true challenges began. I realized that transfers have to start from scratch; it’s hard to make friends when our peers are comfortably settled in their respective niches. Our housing situation—being spread throughout the Cornell campus—made establishing a social life even tougher. I lived in a Gothic building on West Campus; a friend was stuck in a converted janitor’s closet in Cascadilla Hall; someone else was assigned to the music house. One friend didn’t get housing and had to find an apartment in Collegetown at the last minute. (Read a Sun story about the transfer housing problem at http://cornellsun.com/node/31663.)
I’ve experienced downright prejudice against transfers—the idea that the only “real” Cornell students are the ones who matriculated their freshman fall. And then there’s the condescension I get when people find out where I transferred from. When I spoke to a professor about entering the English honors program, he said I was unlikely to be accepted because, “Let’s face it: Ithaca College is no Yale.” When I reveal my academic past, some Cornellians want me to prove my credentials by telling them my college or high school GPA. Others ask, “Is it a lot harder here than at your old school?” The answer is no. College is what you make of it. I know many people at IC who would flourish at Cornell—and I know people at Cornell who would have a hard time at IC. (Read a Sun story about prejudice against transfers at http://cornellsun.com/node/26216.)
Being open about my status hasn’t been easy, but I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m no longer ashamed to have spent three semesters elsewhere. I live in a house with five other transfers, and we’re all proud of our identity. Once, I was eating dinner with a transfer when a friend of his approached us and asked how we knew each other. “From class,” I said. To this day, I regret it. If I could go back in time, I would put my arm around my fellow transfer and say, “We’re both transfers. We met at orientation.”
— Chris Nelson ’09