The first weeks of the semester present many exciting firsts, challenges and transitional processes for incoming freshmen at the University of Wisconsin, but many overlook the unique hurdles transfer students face when they arrive at their new home.

While UW has a host of programs, events and services that are offered to both freshman and transfer students, many students coming from other post-secondary institutions say they often feel like an “afterthought,” without sufficient services targeted specifically toward them.

Jessica Sznaider, a sophomore who transferred to UW this fall after spending a year at UW-River Falls and a year abroad, said while she was invited to all the events for incoming students, she was deterred from attending because there was such a clear focus on freshmen.

The orientation process was one of the most notable differences Torie Bender, a UW sophomore who transferred from Boston College, saw as representative of the insufficient treatment transfer students receive upon arrival.

“Freshman orientation is usually a couple days long,” Bender said. “Ours was only one day and it really wasn’t as much getting to know people and the campus as it was getting our classes and schedules set.”

However, Bender felt overall the university did a good job in easing her transition. She said the university sent her e-mails concerning events on campus for transfer students, though in the end she opted not to attend these.

Dean of Students Lori Berquam recognized the differences in the transition process between freshman and transfer students.

“Students who are transfers have already been through that initial first year of being away from home and adjusting to life outside their family environment,” Berquam said. “They’ve already had that high school to college transition.”

She added transfer students have already developed good study skills. She said for them, the most prominent challenges are related to meeting new people and working their way into soundly established social circles.

Noticing these and other voids in the transfer student services offered at the university, Jenny Sunday, a UW junior who transferred from the University of New England in Maine last year, and other transfer students began the Student Transfer Association and Mentor Program last year.

STAMP is geared toward providing transfer students with a unified community to educate, share experiences, build social connections and provide the information and services Sunday feels the university neglected during her transfer experience.

Berquam said she and other administrators have recognized the lack of programs specific to transfer students and are making efforts to fill the void.

“Honestly I think as a campus we are really wanting to do a better job (with transfer student programming),” Berquam said.

During the feedback for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, one possible proposal raised was a resource center specifically for transfer students.

While this suggestion may or may not be among initiative proposals this October, UW has already taken one stride toward this end. UW held the first ever transfer student-specific convocation ceremony this fall, which Sunday said was a good first step.