Mark K. Benning '86 felt alienated at first, and Adam Lewis '86 thinks he's been "jerked around." Andrew J. Sussman '87 has been pleased from the start, because he found what he was looking for. Kathryn A. Kleiman '86, though, is counting on the fact that it will get better. And David D. Watson '86 says it would have been worth it under any circumstances.

They are five students who disrupted their college careers to make the move to Harvard and part of a group of students that has been a continual source of discontent. Some feel they have been mistreated because they cannot find on-campus housing. Others say they are frustrated, but willing to be outsiders if they can receive a Harvard education.

Arriving at Harvard to start anew in their sophomore or junior years, transfer students find members of their class already well settled and adjusted. They face the difficult task of integrating themselves into the Harvard community with few peers to share their experience, and without the automatic sympathy and commiseration traditionally extended to freshmen.

These problems can make transferring to any school difficult. But what can make life even more frustrating for the approximately 30 students who transfer yearly to Harvard is the lack of immediate space in one of the residential Houses, commonly seen as the core of the Harvard experience.

"I think it is a real problem for many transfers not to live on campus," says John R. Marquand, Allston Burr Senior Tutor of Dudley House. "This leads to other difficulties for them--in particular the feeling that they do not know anyone. They also have the feeling that they are second-class citizens, and that they aren't real members of the community."

Transfer students have become increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with the system. In February, transfer students flooded a meeting of the student-faculty, Committee on House Life (COHL), voicing criticism of a housing policy that only allowed them on campus as space became available, without any guarantees of ever getting into one of the 12 residential Houses.

A week later, the College announced a new transfer housing policy guaranteeing senior transfer students a spot in one of the residential Houses and accommodating juniors on a space-available basis. Much to administrators' surprise, however, fewer than one half of all junior transfers offered housing in March decided to move on-campus.

Marquand believes the new transfer policy is a step in the right direction, but no solution.

Meanwhile, Harvard's transfers continue to believe they are an undergraduate underclass. Below, five students reflect on their decision to come to Harvard in the middle of their college careers.

Part of a Group

Mark K. Benning '86 transferred from the University of Notre Dame this September. Benning, originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, says his experience on the varsity is hockey team has made fitting in to Harvard a bit easier, but still challenging.

"Hockey helped a lot, just son of stepping right into a group of people who had the same basic interests I had. I talked to some of the other transfer students on teams and in the orchestra and other activities," he says, "and we all agree that being a part of a group like that really made it a lot easier to meet people."

Still, Benning admits that there were problems. "It was tough. I definitely think that hockey helped, and people in my classes helped. But even with all that, I still felt really alienated towards the place."

Benning says his entire experience changed once he was given residence in Leverett House. "You just feel so much more a part of the Harvard community when you're in a House. It's a definite change--I really feel like I belong now. Even though I had great friends from the hockey team and my classes, there was always this sort of nagging feeling that I just didn't belong here and that I was sort of a mistake."

"That's the tough part," he says. "When you're with the whole freshman class, you have people to talk to. I guess you all sort of feel that way. As a transfer student, you're so different, and the fact that you're not living together makes it harder to share those more personal things."