The Collegian

Issue date: 10/10/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Annie Douglass Events such as this past Sunday's Fall Preview Day that draw in large volumes of student volunteers who help many prospective transfer students like Christo Raines '08 find their love for Saint Mary's College of California.

For the Saint Mary's students who came to Moraga for their first full freshman year, life adjusted rather quickly and most transitions were easily made. But not all of the students just off Saint Mary's Road had it so easy.

"Twenty-two percent of our overall population is transfer students," said Craig Means, associate director of transfers. Associate Dean of Community Life Jim Sciuto said, "Transfer students needs are different than traditional freshmen. Many have taken breaks and are coming back to college."

Therefore, with such an age gap, and for other reasons, "you get a wide range," of transfer students, said Means. "We have a larger percentage who are coming form larger schools and want a more intimate community."

Means said, "We've been able to streamline our admissions process." Means said that because of improvements with prospective and orientation programs, the transfer students are getting more involved. Sciuto added that the school is becoming more of an attractive option. "We're attracting better transfer students," Sciuto said. "Each has their own specific needs and slowly we're starting to understand those needs."

Some of those needs could be housing. On average, there are nearly 200 new transfer students per academic year and 79 of them have on-campus housing. "We have more students who took advantage of on-campus housing," said Means. "This is the third fall we have guaranteed [housing] on-campus [for transfers]."

"During the housing lottery, we hold aside space for transfers," said Sciuto.

Means said that "[Residence Life] specifically made sure they weren't in central campus."

This was not true last year, however, as Christopher "Christo" Raines '08 transferred as a sophomore and was placed in freshmen housing.

Continued...

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