Amid the sea of freshmen and returning students, transfer students find it especially difficult to secure on-campus housing.
About 200 transfer students are struggling to secure housing for the fall, according to Sue Smith, associate director of College Houses and Academic Services.
For these students, the combined effects of an increase in upperclassmen living on campus and an unusually large freshman class have made finding a place to live particularly difficult this year.
Despite initial concerns, Housing and Conference Services has "placed everyone who requested on-campus housing," according to Business Services spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger.
But most will not end up with their first choice of housing, she added.
Because transfer students are admitted after regular decision freshmen, they cannot apply for housing until "late May or early June," long after regular students have applied, Lea-Kruger said.
This "usually puts [them] at the back of the line," said College senior Armin Gollogly, who transferred to Penn in 2007. Gollogly applied to live in the high rises that year but ended up living in Kings Court /English House.
Flexibility is key, Lea-Kruger said, and transfers who are not as selective about where they live often opt to "expand their choice of room" in order to be assigned.
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