Transfer students at UC Berkeley have had to build their own world. They have a student association. They hold potlucks. Next month they're going to have their own talent show. So while they are a part of the campus, they are also apart from it.

"The first semester is hard because it's very different from the community college experience," said UC Berkeley junior Valentine Rizzo, 22, who initially missed being at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. "The lectures and classes are much faster. You're in a big campus and you feel lost."

What it's like to be a transfer student is on the minds of many high school seniors throughout California waiting to hear this month whether they got into one of UC's undergraduate campuses. To save money, the university plans on redirecting some 3,200 eligible students to a community college for two years with a guarantee they can then transfer to a UC campus. So a good number of students who planned on a four-year college experience may not have that option.

It's not easy starting at Cal as a junior. Your peers have spent two years bonding and getting used to the rigors of academic life at one of the nation's most prestigious public universities. Many transfer students end up bonding with each other, either through the transfer dorm or Berkeley's Transfer Student Center on Lower Sproul. Ultimately, they may enjoy a deeper, more intense appreciation for all that Berkeley has to offer because their time there is so brief.

"I've met people here I know I'll be friends with for the rest of my life," said senior Alfredo Garcia, president of the Re-entry and Transfer Student Association and a regular at the transfer center. "It's a community of students who help each other out to get through the university."

The average age of a UC Berkeley transfer student is 25 and many grew up in low income families. Garcia, 32, was raised in public housing in Sacramento and didn't think about college until his former sixth-grade basketball coach told him at age 25 that he should go. He went to American River College before transferring. He and a number of other students have been key in building a sense of community at the transfer center, which opened four years ago to help those feeling overwhelmed and isolated.

Berkeley's 4,838 transfer students, most of whom transferred as juniors, make up 21 percent of the undergraduate population. Roughly 26,000 community college transfer students were enrolled at UC campuses in fall 2001 -- 31 percent of all juniors and seniors at UC.

Academically, transfer students systemwide perform as well as juniors and seniors who started at UC as freshmen in a range of subjects from engineering to math, according to the University of California Office of the President. The four-year graduation rate for transfers, however, is just 79 percent, 10 percentage points lower than the rate for students who started out at UC.

One clear disadvantage for transfers: If they want to graduate on time, they have only two years to connect with professors who can write them recommendations for graduate school. So the transfer center has a distinguished lecture series every Wednesday at noon. Even on this campus of 23,206 undergraduates, transfers get a sense that Berkeley's world-famous professors care about them, as well as a chance to build relationships, said Helen Johnson, director of the Transfer Student Center.

"There's this whole intimidation factor at Berkeley. It's so important to know faculty," she said.

From an overstuffed recliner inside a small room whose intimacy lent the gathering a sense of privilege, Professor William Taylor described why he studies Mexico's colonial history. Toward the end of his talk before about a dozen students, he acknowledged Berkeley's size can make it difficult to get an education.

"It's hard to be an undergraduate here," he said and then advised the students, "You need to knock on the door and approach faculty members and fellow students about your education. If a faculty member is busy, don't take it personally. Knock on the next door."

Before arriving at Berkeley, transfer students should have already picked a major because they have no time to sample different classes. This has been "a major source of pressure" for 27-year-old Mauricio Astacio, who is interested in Eastern philosophy but found that classes in that subject are spread over several departments.

"I wish that maybe I would have had those extra couple of years here to get acclimated and move into the academic portion of my career with more certainty," he said.

The center is a busy hub. During lunch, students gather around the tables with pizza, sandwiches and yogurt and lounge on the couches. One woman brought her dog on a recent afternoon.

Of the roughly 4,300 transfer students on campus, Johnson estimates the center comes in contact with about 1,000 to 2,000.

Many transfer students suffer from what the center's staff call "impostor syndrome." Students irrationally believe that they don't belong at Berkeley, that the campus made a mistake admitting them. Some feel others view them as "lesser than" because they entered as juniors. The center offers classes on coping with the rigorous academic pace.

"I have people who come in crying and say, 'I made a mistake; I don't know why I came here,'" said student Patricia McDonald, 45, a program assistant at the center. "More is expected of you here. Everything has to be perfect. It's very competitive."

McDonald transferred to Berkeley from Merritt College in Oakland. At community college, instructors might assign one book for a class, while Berkeley professors assign eight books plus an inch-thick reader filled with excerpted articles. The first semester at Cal typically is the hardest. If transfers find a support network, they adjust faster, she said.

"Without this place, it would be a lot more difficult," said 21-year-old Janaya Nichols. "This is an anchor for my academic and social life."

Denise Bailey, 20, who attended Grossmont College in El Cajon, said she has solid connections with others in the transfer dorm. Going to community college saved her money, and she enjoyed smaller classes than Cal's freshmen and sophomores typically have.

"It saved me lecture halls with 500 kids," she said.

Some transfers fear the state's move to redirect UC-eligible students to the community colleges for two years could displace the transfer students who come from low-income families and need a lower-cost option for the first two years of college. The state would need to expand the percentage of transfers it accepts to accommodate them all. Doing that, officials at the University of California Office of the President say, will depend on having more funds.

"Is it going to make it more competitive for people like me?" said student Deanna Johnson, a parent who said she's in her 30s. "How are you going to make room?"

Sandra Panopio transferred to Berkeley from community colleges in Southern California after she didn't get into her first choice, UC San Diego. She decided against UC Irvine because she "didn't want to settle" and doesn't regret her decision. She has been actively involved in Berkeley student groups, and she saved money by attending community college, where she got valuable perspective.

"In the community colleges, there's a lot more reality," she said. "You're sitting in classrooms with mothers and people who have full-time jobs. ... My experience has been very good."