4-year students' attitudes towards transfer students

sarahchun
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 06:58:29 +0000

This transfer stigma has been a minor dilemma for me, and I have devised strategies to destroy it:


Put them in their place [lose-lose]
If you were admitted to HYPSMC, would you still choose Cal? Looking at the stats of admitted freshmen, specifically under the “Accepted/Rejected” part, rarely do I see successful applicants to HYPSMC as well. And if they did get into HYPSMC, it is much less likely for them to SIR to Cal. Using their same framework of generalization, they’re mostly HYPSMC rejects. How does that sound? HYPSMC rejects. Apparently that’s what some HYPSMC students think of Cal students in the following thread: ■■■■■■/1xPYD6V . But whether we applied to HYPSMC or not, we as Cal transfers are affected by this stigma, so this is a lose-lose scenario. This is effective in trivializing the transfer stigma by comparing it to the pain of the HYPSMC reject stigma, but it’s a M.A.D. strategy.
Context of the state [win-win]
“But that’s why Cal needs to stop admitting undeserving students so we can raise the school’s prestige and reputation!” Valid argument, if Cal were privatized. But UC Berkeley, as of right now, is owned by the people of the state of California. And as far as I know, the UCs were meant to provide quality education for the people of the state. And guess what? California community college students are people of the state too. I know it sucks to see the dumbest person you know back in high school tread the same college ground you worked hard your whole life to get into. Let me just say that if not for community college, I don’t know if I’d ever get to attend college at all: Immigrating to America with no money, not knowing where to live, not knowing anyone, not knowing much about America, being forced to work, having no time to live while I supported my parents who are too old to get a job. In community college, I noticed that many of my classmates were worse off than I was. I was able to get a car with my job, while some had to go through 4 hour bus rides to go to school. Some were working double jobs. Some have grown old working their entire lives. Many were young mothers. In each class, we’ve had a veteran. The UC system is obligated by law to provide continuing education for these people. The “prestige” of UC Berkeley is a result of rising demand for education, the selection/rationing device used to handle the scarcity of available seats (e.g. SAT, essay), the cumulative advantage of being known for its selectivity and for attributions to particular achievements (achieved by faculty and graduate students mostly). Prestige can help financially by attracting OOS applicants, and it may help increase the quality of education by attracting the best educators; but to deny the aforementioned people of California (citizens, immigrants, undocumented) a chance at a Cal education for prestige is to deny Cal’s principle of existence. Indeed, privatization has been discussed as an option, but that is another topic: ■■■■■■/1rPZFPY
Embrace the challenge [lose-win]
Work hard. Learn your stuff. Get better grades. Get rich. Win the Putnam math competition. Win PenApps. Win hard.