"I think the housing system is a wonderful thing, and now that I see it I'm sort of sorry that I don't live in a House. But I did not primarily come here to be in the House system. I think most people who are disappointed came here for the wrong reason--I came here because I wanted the academic program and I wanted to be with the students that are here. Both of those things are being fulfilled, so I'm happy."

Overall, Sussman says that "It's really no harder to transfer here than it is to transfer to any other comparable school. It's a pain in the neck to transfer, but I don't think Harvard makes it particularly difficult."

"I don't think we're being treated poorly. In fact," he adds, "if anything I think we get a lot of special attention. Every attempt was made to make us accustomed to the system."

Jerking Us Around

But not all transfer students share Sussman's approval for the administration's treatment of transfers. Adam Lewis '86, originally from Yarmouth, Maine, transferred from the University of Maine at Orono after his sophomore year, and received housing in North House this spring.

"Throughout," he says, "it's been like a political jerk for us--they've just been jerking us around. They haven't done anything to accommodate us. You had to ask hundreds of questions to know what the idiosyncrasies of this place are."

Lewis attributes many of the problems he has had to the housing situation. "The fact that we live off campus is very isolating," he says. "And I've moved three times since I've been here--that doesn't exactly make for an effective academic rhythm."

But Lewis, who is concentrating in neurobiology, admits that he has been pleased with the academics. "I came here for some of the courses. I came here for the research. That I'm extremely satisfied with."

"The housing was very difficult and very expensive. The lack of social integration was also difficult. On the whole, the academics I like, the teaching is poor, and the social and the living situation is abysmal--which could certainly be helped by the administration."

"I guess I would do it again," Lewis says. "But I would caution those who are trying to transfer that it's a struggle. You have to have some character strength to weather it, to put up with the isolation."

Sleep on Subway Grates

David D. Watson '86 transferred this year from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Although he admits to the same housing problems that plague all transfer students, his enthusiasm for being at Harvard overrides everything.

"I would probably sleep on one of the subway grates for the privilege of going to school here," he says.

"Whenever I have housing problems, what I most often do is smile to myself and remember that if I had gone to Yale or Brown or stayed where I was, I would have been required to accept housing--and I would not have gone to any of those places, even under the circumstances. The one more than makes up for the other."

Still, Watson admits that since he has received housing in Adams House this semester, his experience "has changed dramatically."