UCLA Transfer Students:
The BRC's Transfer Student Program at UCLA is here to support accepted and current transfer students achieve personally, academically, and socially. Up to 34% of each incoming undergraduate class at UCLA are transfer students, making this one of the largest transfer student populations in higher education, totalling 7,375 enrolled transfers in 2013!
UCLA is proud of its transfers. Transfer students do just as well in their classes and graduate at similar rates as those who enter UCLA as freshmen.* Many transfers are surprisingly similar to the 4-year juniors and seniors (in age, ethnicity, gender), but are more likely to be financially independent from their families or come from a wider range of socio-economic backgrounds.* California Community Colleges provide access for lower-income and first-generation college students to work toward quality higher education.* As former-transfer Chancellor Block reminds us, the beauty of the UC system is that you do not have to be wealthy or dependent to excel in higher education.* Plus, transfers are in good company: former LA Mayor Antonio Villaragosa & baseball great Jackie Robinson are former UCLA transfer students!
See suggestions from the BRC for transfer students and frequently asked questions in the evidence-based UCLA Transfer Timeline. Transfer student advice,* scholarly research, & the UCLA Transfer Student Focus Group findings suggest that successful transfers plan early, go easy during their first quarter, and are active, invested Bruins throughout. National higher-education transfer research suggests that, by immersing in campus culture--by finding leadership, mentorship, internship, and research opportunities,--transfers can take full advantage of this world-class research university.* **
Hi. I'm Vanessa, your program developer and advocate in the Bruin Resource Center, a division of Student Affairs. Myself and the awesome BRC Transfer Intern Team create and conduct helpful transfer workshops, synthesize UCLA transfer research findings, facilitate the UCLA Transfer Students Facebook Group for students to ask questions of each other, connect students to campus resources (often simply by searching keywords), hold office hours to answer questions, & hold speed-friending sessions, game nights, volunteer experiences, quarterly Transfer Mixers, and more to inspire transfer community. I also teach (and recommend to new transfers) upper-division courses on Student Development & Wellbeing, facilitate InterGroup Dialogues on race & class, and offer a Fiat Lux on the Transfer Student Experience. Our team is passionate about making transfer students visible and connected, dialoguing about the invisible transfer identity, making our services available electronically for busy commuting students, and celebrating transfers' hard earned achievements through Bruin Transfer Pride Week. At the BRC, we advocate for inclusion and equity & invite campus-wide staff, student, and faculty collaborations to support a transfer-receptive culture* at UCLA.
Congratulations to transfers graduating in 2013! You will be missed :-). Looking forward to this summer: all incoming, current, and transfer alumni are invited to participate in the forthcoming Bruin Transfer Ambassador program. Also, Vanessa will personally be available to talk to in person in the BRC, in the Student Activities Center room B44, from 10am-6pm weekdays, but especially during office hours Tuesdays & Thursdays from 12-2pm. Everyone is welcome to ask the UCLA Transfer Student Program questions through email, at transfers@ucla.edu.
With Bruin Transfer Pride,
Vanessa Luke, MA [aka 'the Transfer Lady']
Helpful Transfer Links
Admissions' New Student Checklist
College of L&S Academic Counseling
UCLA AAP's Transfer Summer Program
UCLA Department List (for Departmental Counselors)
UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships
Student Transfer Opportunity & Mentorship Program (STOMP)
UCLA Campus Tours (book one today!)