Upon accepting their offer of admission to the University, transfer students’ first challenge often starts with finding housing.
Housing and Residence Life at the University offers information to incoming transfers about both on-Grounds and off-Grounds options, but they often encourage on-Grounds housing to ease the transition process. Johnson Malone Weedon, an upperclass and transfer focused community, and Hereford Residential College are two such on-Grounds housing options.
Fourth-year College student Kyle Rayo went through the housing application process when he transferred and was assigned to Hereford College, a hall-style upperclass community.
“In Hereford I got lucky because my whole hall was [inhabited by] transfers,” Rayo said.
Not all transfer students take Rayo's route of living on-Grounds, however — including second-year College student Kelly Falvey, who opted to live in GrandMarc apartments on 15th Street when she transferred to the University.
“My dad wanted me to live in on-Grounds for my first semester at a new school,” Falvey said. “But people told me most kids live off campus after first year.”
The decision has been a mixed bag, Falvey said, but ultimately one she is happy with.
“I’m missing out a little on being in an environment of transfers [and] finding people with more in common with you, so [living off-Grounds] is hard at the beginning,” Falvey said. “But I love living off-Grounds. I feel more integrated into the social scene.”
Not all transfer students feel they make the right call, however.
“I totally would have done [housing] differently,” said second-year College student James Banks, who currently lives in Hereford. “I would have decided to live off-Grounds.”
To make better informed housing decisions, many in-state transfer students use friends from their hometowns as a resource.
“The most helpful resources were my friends from high school who already went here," second-year College student Catherine Blake said. "One was living in a Lambeth apartment and someone dropped out so I got the spot. I can’t imagine coming from out of state.”
In addition to receiving his housing assignment, Rayo — like all other transfers — was assigned a Transfer Student Peer Advisor, or TSPA, to help him in his transition. He became a TSPA himself after second year.
“Right when you transfer you can feel like you don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s nice to know you have someone there to get you acclimated,” Rayo said.
As a TSPA, Rayo echoed the sentiment that in-state students often have an easier time connecting with students to secure housing.
“Being from Northern Virginia helps," he said. "[There are] kids from other high schools you can connect to. [I sympathize] with kids from out of state. [You have to] nudge [them] a little bit because they’re the ones who could have the most trouble adjusting.”
The University's tendency to consolidate transfer students into close quarters is a mixed bag, Rayo said. In addition to University-sponsored transfer student activities, ranging from movie viewings to a transfer student dinner, Rayo said there is work to be done to make on-Grounds housing options for transfer students more attractive.
“Hereford is a gift and a curse because it is single rooms [and] people can get content with closing doors, [which can] limit the community vibe,” Rayo said. “The University needs to connect transfer housing more in general and create more of a community.”
Correction: A previous version of this article mischaracterized the Hereford Residential College as an "apartment complex." It is a hall-style upperclass community.
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