hello!! i’m applying to transfer for fall 2021 and would be arriving on campus as a junior. i’m super excited at the idea of attending a school like smith, but i’m wondering what it’s like for transfers. is it easy to meet people? / how do you meet people as a transfer? thanks in advance xx
Hi! I am so excited for you to be applying to Smith! Smith has some pretty amazing programs for transfer students. A few of my friends are transfer students and the first place to make friends would be from participating in orientation programs. All new students have tons of activities and I know many people that formed some initial friendships from their orientation group. After orientation, the next support system would be the Head of New Students (or HONS) in your house (here is a link to some info about HONS). Part of your HONS would do is plan activities for all new students to introduce them to each other and the house community. I would say that the Smith community is so welcoming to everyone no matter when you enter. I think that Smithies love meeting new people and see any time as a time to make a new friend. Outside of the few ways I talked about, I would also suggest using social media and just messaging someone that you would like to hang out with (I personally love when people do this, and when I have done this the responses have always been positive). Another cool thing is to reach out to people in your classes for studying-- you already have something in common and then you can get to know them while studying. My last tip would be joining student orgs! There are so many from cultural organizations to tour guiding or even ghost hunting (info about student orgs linked here). Joining an org is another great way to meet people who you have at least one connection with! I hope this helps.
--Nyla ‘23
