Obama's Lessons for Transfer Students

Obama's Lessons for Transfer Students - US News and World Report

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Obama's Lessons for Transfer Students

His former roommate talks about what he and Obama learned about

switching between colleges

By Kim Clark

Posted January 16, 2009

Barack Obama began to feel lonely and out of place after his freshman year at Occidental

College in Los Angeles, he says in his autobiography, Dreams From My Father. So he

decided to transfer to someplace more urban and, he hoped, diverse¡ªColumbia University

in New York. When he got there, Obama discovered that the life of a transfer student is not

so easy, according to Phil Boerner, a friend from Occidental who transferred to Columbia

the same year and shared an apartment with him their first semester in New York. "We

didn't know people, and we were living off campus," which made it hard to connect with

Columbia students, says Boerner, who now works as the spokesman for the California

Veterinary Medical Association.

Of course, Obama's transfer experience worked out, and Columbia helped shape him into

the man who is about to move into the White House. (Six other presidents also were

transfer students.) But Boerner and admissions deans say there are a few things Obama¡ª

and the more than 30 percent of college students who transfer between colleges today¡ªcan

do to make the transition smoother.

When he arrived in Manhattan in the fall of 1981, Obama discovered Columbia didn't

provide housing for transfer students. So he says he slept in an alley the first night, then

stayed with a friend until he found a crummy, semiheated apartment near campus.

Obama writes that he loved exploring New York. Boerner says the two of them spent their

free time in their first semester visiting museums, exploring Central Park, or strolling down

Broadway. Obama says in Dreams that he matured at Columbia and became a disciplined

student.

"It was good for us in a lot of ways," says Boerner. He says he felt lucky to share an

apartment with Obama, who was an excellent roomie. "He did his share of cooking and

cleaning," Boerner says. Obama sometimes made curry when guests visited. At the time,

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Obama's Lessons for Transfer Students - US News and World Report

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Boerner says, Obama wanted to be a writer, not a politician. "He's a great guy; very

generous and fun to be with."

But both Obama's memoir and Boerner note that there were plenty of transfer hassles that

taught them some hard lessons. Because they didn't know the city well and didn't have

much money, they ended up renting a third-floor walk-up next to a burned-out building in

a dodgy neighborhood, Boerner says. The radiators were often broken, so Boerner recalls

they sometimes had to wrap themselves in sleeping bags when it was cold. The hot water

was so unreliable they often had to shower on campus. And Boerner remembers feeling a

little lonely early on because most of the students in his classes already knew each other.

College admissions officers say students who want to change colleges can learn from

Obama's and Boerner's experiences:

Redouble your efforts to find happiness at your first campus before going through the

hassle of transferring. Starting over again at a new school is so hard that "I'd be hesitant

about transferring unless you are really unhappy, or unless the other school has a program

you are really interested in," Boerner says.

Make sure you're qualified to transfer to your target school. Some elite schools, such as

Harvard, haven't accepted any transfer students recently. Others are extemely picky;

Columbia accepted 8 percent of transfer applicants in 2007, and the University of

Pennsylvania accepted 16 percent in 2008.

Study hard and write a persuasive essay if you want to transfer to an elite school like

Columbia. Successful transfer applicants to top schools generally have great grades and test

scores and have written essays that explain "what they have learned about themselves" and

"what the motivating factor is to change their environment," says Eric Furda, dean of

admissions at Penn. For academic reasons, Penn prefers those who want to transfer in as a

sophomore (not the more typical junior). "We don't embrace the student who is trying to

trade up" to a more prestigious bumper sticker, Furda says.

If you're planning on transferring from the start, apply first to schools with good

transfer or "articulation" programs with your target school. A growing number of schools,

such as Cornell, are establishing "guaranteed" transfer programs with selected community

colleges. Students at those community colleges who take specified courses and get good

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grades can automatically transfer to the four-year school as juniors. A list of highly ranked

schools that accept lots of transfer students is below.

Search out schools that offer lots of help, such as on-campus housing, to transfer

students. Rod Risley, executive director of Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for

community college students, says transfer students do better when their new school

provides early counseling, on-campus housing, and early course registration. Too many

schools, he says, let regular students register ahead of time, which leaves transfer students

with the worst course selection. He says Mount Holyoke, Amherst, and Bucknell are among

the highly ranked schools that are improving their services for transfers from community

colleges. Many public universities, such as Texas A & M-Commerce, are offering even more

services, including employment assistance for spouses of transfers, Risley says.

Jump into campus activities and life. Transfer students have missed out on freshman

bonding experiences, so they have to make an extra effort to forge friendships, Boerner

notes. "If you can get into a dorm, that would help a lot," he says.

Transfer

Acceptances

Transfer Acceptance

Rate

Washington and Jefferson

College

40

93.0%

Arizona State University

5258

89.5%

Calvin College

151

88.8%

Randolph College

53

86.9%

Ohio State University--Columbus

3543

84.8%

Colorado State University

2012

84.5%

University of Denver

393

83.6%

Washington State University

3583

83.4%

Samford University

255

82.3%

Iowa State University

2124

81.4%

University of Oklahoma

2556

80.5%

University of Kansas

1963

79.5%

College Name

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Obama's Lessons for Transfer Students - US News and World Report

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College Name

Transfer

Acceptances

Transfer Acceptance

Rate

University of Utah

2311

79.1%

Hillsdale College

51

78.5%

University of California--Riverside 4086

78.2%

Hollins University

50

78.1%

University of Oregon

1838

75.2%

Duquesne University

279

75.2%

Drew University

108

74.0%

Siena College

241

73.5%

University of California--San

Diego

6494

73.2%

University of California--Davis

5466

72.5%

Ohio University

762

72.2%

Hope College

118

72.0%

College Name

Transfer

Acceptances

Transfer Acceptance

Rate

Drexel University

2743

71.7%

University of California--Santa Cruz 3374

71.0%

St. John's University

51

70.8%

University of California--Santa

Barbara

5622

70.8%

Augustana College

97

70.3%

Loyola University Chicago

1817

69.1%

University of Puget Sound

190

69.1%

University of Iowa

1813

69.0%

University of California--Irvine

6040

68.7%

Miami University--Oxford

438

68.5%

University of Vermont

741

68.3%

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College Name

Transfer

Acceptances

Transfer Acceptance

Rate

Michigan Technological University

470

68.0%

University of Missouri--Columbia

1654

67.7%

Luther College

81

67.5%

Kansas State University

1477

67.2%

University of Arizona

2850

67.1%

University of Tennessee

1909

66.8%

Clemson University

1156

66.4%

College of St. Benedict

57

66.3%

University of Nebraska--Lincoln

1246

65.7%

University of Massachusetts-Amherst

1989

65.3%

Southern Methodist University

497

65.2%

Juniata College

51

64.6%

University of Tulsa

293

64.5%

Clarkson University

146

64.0%

University of Colorado--Boulder

1973

63.8%

Tags: colleges | students | Barack Obama | education | Columbia University |

transfer students

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