<p>D.T.</p>
<p>Hanna was not a Swarthmore student, although I believe she did take a class or two there before she transfered from her original LAC to Harvard.</p>
<p>There are two problematic biases with transfer students. First, they transfered, which probably means they weren’t happy at their original school. Second, they are comparing a 2nd, 3rd, and/or 4th year experience at their new school to a 1st year experience at their original school. Even if you are happy as a clam and stay put, the 3rd and 4th year academic experience is usually much better than the 1st and 2nd year academic experience as you move beyond the basic pre-req courses into more interesting stuff and, more importantly, learn how to pick the “good” professors.</p>
<p>A third potential transferee bias comes into play when a student transfers out of a school that wasn’t at the top of their admissions list to begin with, i.e. a “safety” school. I have no reason to believe this was the case with Hanna, but it is frequently the case with disgruntled transferees.</p>