Students congregate at the Mifflin St. block party, 2025. Jake Piper/The Daily Cardinal
Savannah Schuyler
When Annie Katsiavelos transferred to the University of Wisconsin–Madison from the University of Rhode Island, she was hoping for a change that was closer to home. Originally from Chicago, Annie wanted to be somewhere that felt more familiar yet still had good academics. Like many transfer students, she quickly discovered that getting involved on campus is hard to mix into the chaos of life in a new city.
“I just knew UW-Madison was a good school and it’s closer to home,” said Annie, a sophomore majoring in Communicative Sciences and Disorders. “But once I got here, it was kind of hard to figure out how to get involved.”
Finding clubs and extracurricular activities can be overwhelming for any college student, but for transfer students, the process can feel especially isolating.
Many transfer students have already gone through the challenges of adjusting to college life at a different institution — only to start all over again when they transfer. Annie said the stress of adjusting to a new campus made it hard to prioritize finding social opportunities.
“I think it was a mix of trying to get settled in and the courses here being more difficult,” she said. “Joining a club honestly wasn’t really on my radar at first.”
Annie did eventually get involved, but not through traditional means. Her advisor recommended the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA), a club for students in her major. And when a classmate mentioned she was starting a Greek Club, Annie was quick to express interest. Still, she admits that she hasn’t quite found a strong sense of community yet.
“I’m in NSSLHA now, and I’m planning on joining the Greek Club once it gets going,” she said. “But I haven’t really found that one club where I feel super connected.”
Resources like the campus Org Fair and online directories are meant to help students find communities that match their interests, but Annie found those tools didn’t support her needs.
“The Org Fair honestly wasn’t that helpful,” she said. “It was really overstimulating. Just too many people, too far to walk and I kind of felt discouraged from joining anything with the chaos.”
Instead, she believes having digital resources would have helped her get involved earlier. That’s where ClubCrush caught her attention, a new Tinder-style app developed by UW-Madison students.
“I think it’s a good idea,” she said, adding that the swipe-based design makes finding clubs more engaging. “It makes it fun, kind of like a game.”
While she said she’d probably only use the app during the beginning of the school year, Annie believes it could help other transfer students during their first few weeks. In the mix of unpacking, learning your way around and adjusting to new classes, Annie thinks an easily accessible app like ClubCrush would make transfer students comfortable with getting involved earlier.
When asked what advice she’d give to new transfers trying to get involved, Annie emphasized the importance of making connections — both with advisors and peers.
“Talk to your advisor first. Sometimes your major has a club that fits with it,” she said. “But also just talk to people in class. Word of mouth helps a lot. That’s how I found out about Greek Club.”