The programmatic goals of the TSMP were threefold: (1) to instruct transfer students on aspects of the hidden curriculum present in academic culture, (2) to provide fast-tracked networking to place interested transfer students in undergraduate research positions, and (3) to provide community for transfer students as they entered the College of Chemistry. Our three goals are reflected in the design of the TSMP, which consists of group seminars, one-on-one mentorship meetings with graduate student mentors, and small-group discussions involving senior transfer student mentors, all taking place during the transfer students' first semester at UC Berkeley. Compared to a classroom setting where relationships with peers, graduate teaching assistants, and professors would typically be established over the course of a semester, these near-peer mentors can extend their personal network to their transfer student mentees based on their research interests as early as their first meeting at the beginning of their transfer semester.