Transfer Student Community aims to help transfers

The newly initiated Transfer Student Community hopes to bridge the gap between transfer students and the USC community at large. In a process that started in Fall 2015, transfer student and senior business administration major Nicole Daviau, founded the Transfer Student Community as an official club at USC on the first day of the semester.

Daviau explained her experiences as a transfer student and the large gap in services and recognition for transfer students on campus.

“I was a lost spring transfer admit. Basically my whole first year I was trying to navigate resources on my own,” Daviau said. “You don’t get any specialty treatment … It is an unmet need on campus. here I am two years in. I am just starting to get what USC is about and I have to leave.”

Daviau said that many opportunities for transfer students to succeed are squandered by the rocky transition from their previous institutions to USC. Transfer students have for a long time struggled to fit into the academic and social fabric of USC. They arrive on campus after the traditional freshmen arrive from the high school classroom.

Daviau hopes to transform the Transfer Student Community into an organization which can begin to address the issues and serve as a proper forum for a problem-free transition to USC. Currently, the group is ramping up both faculty and student support.

“There are a few supporters, —Karios Llobrera and Lena Njoku— in academic counseling services … I reached out to [Assistant Vice Provost] David Glasgow and will be meeting in the next few weeks,” Daviau said. “In past events, we couldn’t get large enough facilities or enough food. I look at it as a ground-breaking semester.”

The Transfer Student Community hopes to address key issues faced by transfer students on campus.

“I spend lots of time in between classes just wandering around.” Daviau said. “[Resources on campus such as TransferMation] do spring admit and transfer mixers and things like that but most transfers arrive at eight am and leave at six, when most of these events are in the evenings.”

Jordan Lachica, a junior transfer student majoring business administration, found the community’s aid in networking and guidance in the benefits of the new Transfer Student Commuity.

“Socializing with other transfers and finding your way through campus, navigating the resources, would be a benefit of the [Transfer Student Community],” Lachica said.

Daviau said that a lounge and lockers are needed for transfer students. As Daviau explained, to travel home for lunch is simply a luxury that many transfer students, and often times commuters, simply don’t have. Daviau said the goal is for the Transfer Student Community to have flexible meeting times which cater to transfer student schedules on campus.