The blaring sounds of the Brown band welcomed 46 midyear transfers and four visiting students to Brown Tuesday morning as they made their first symbolic passage through the Van Wickle Gates.
The procession was one of the first official events of the mid-year transfer student orientation; the first two days were cancelled due to the blizzard last weekend. It was followed by a lunch in the Leung Gallery where students were joined by members of the faculty and staff, 10 transfer student counselors and members of the Brown band.
Antonia Dixon '07, who transferred from Johns Hopkins University because the school didn't have an art concentration, said of Brown, "It's getting better every day, but it didn't start off very well because of the blizzard."
"We had a big orientation planned out but had to scrap the whole thing because of the storm," said Andrew Hirsch '05, a transfer student counselor and co-coordinator of transfer student orientation.
"We had to cancel a welcoming meeting and a meeting for parents and try to compress everything into one day. Now we're focusing on explaining the nuts and bolts of academics," said Joe Pucci, associate dean of the college.
According to Carol Cohen, also an associate dean of the college, the transfer student counselors took on extra responsibilities on Sunday and Monday, keeping transfers informed as they arrived on campus and organizing informal events to replace the canceled ones.
"Last minute, we planned some getting-to-know-you activities... a group lunch in the Ratty, a tour of campus (and) a trip to the bookstore," Hirsch said.
He said midyear transfer student orientation is usually easier and quieter than the one in the fall when there are 100 students entering Brown. "But this year was pretty stressful and hectic," he said.
Hirsch said the goal of the counselors, all of whom were transfer students themselves, is to help transfers adjust to the academic and social life at Brown and to create a strong inter-transfer community so that they will "have something to fall back on."
"It's easy to talk to people and be friendly. It's harder to make sure they're really comfortable," he said.
Meghan Denault '07, who transferred from Ithaca College but took this past semester off to study in Ireland and travel around Europe, said her biggest challenge as she enters Brown will be getting used to classes, not meeting new people.
"I've changed environments so many times in the past couple months. It's less of a big deal this time around. There's less social pressure," she said.
Some transfer students are accepted at the mid-year point due to individual students' preferences and in order to balance the size of the University, said Michael Goldberger, director of admission.
About three years ago Brown stopped admitting first-year students at the mid-year point because "it really put them off track," Goldberger said.
But he said entering the University mid-year doesn't seem to have the same effect on transfer students.
