If you spotted someone on campus lately whom you have never seen before, you’re probably right. Every fall the influx of new freshman students is expected, yet every spring semester there is another class of new transfer students as well.
“Fairfield was more what I wanted out of college. I was at UConn, which was much larger, and I felt Fairfield was a better fit for me,” said Erin Rose ’05, who transferred after her freshman year.
She described the transfer process as a relatively easy one, although she wasn’t able to live with another freshman student, but said she was able to meet people easily
The number of students who transfer to Fairfield varies by semester. Typically, more students enter in the fall semester than in the spring semester. Fall transfer classes are typically composed of 50 to 70 students, while spring transfer classes usually contain 15 to 25 students. This semester, sixteen fresh faces graced Fairfield University’s student body.
Chris Zikias ’06 transferred to Fairfield a year ago. After attending Georgia Tech, he chose Fairfield because of its business school.
“I love Fairfield, but when I got here it was very much like high school, it was cliquey,” he said. “I haven’t had problems meeting people, but some people don’t like the idea of transfer students, the idea that some people haven’t spent their whole four years here.”
Applying as a transfer student does not raise or lower one’s chance of gaining admission to Fairfield.
“There is no difference in the quality of a student admitted as a freshman candidate or transfer candidate. All students are capable of doing the academic work at Fairfield,” said Karen Pellegrino of the Office of Admissions.
The only difference in applying as a transfer student is that the admission staff looks more heavily at the student’s academic record in college as opposed to their high school record.
Katherine Canner-O’Mealy ’05 is another student who transferred in to Fairfield.
“People at Fairfield seemed much smarter and into hanging out as opposed to going home on the weekend like my last school,” she said.
O’Mealy was placed with another transfer student during her first semester here, which she said helped the process. Since she knew older students already attending Fairfield, meeting people was also not a problem.
The office of admissions says there is no certain pattern of demographics for a student choosing Fairfield as their transfer school. Some move because they wish to be closer to home, others for a certain academic program. Both students who applied and were accepted to Fairfield but chose not to attend, as well as students who never applied to Fairfield are able to apply for transfer student status.
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