The Transfer Alliance Program (TAP), run by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), allows state community college students to pursue an honors program while completing prerequisites for transfer. A study was conducted to compare the characteristics, experiences, and academic performance of TAP and non-TAP transfers to UCLA, with questionnaires distributed to 90 TAP and 778 non-TAP students who transferred to UCLA in fall 1993. Responses were received from 54% of the TAP and 26% of the non-TAP students and indicated that TAP students were more likely to be younger than non-TAP students, more likely to have taken honors courses at their community college, and more comfortable approaching faculty outside of class. In addition, TAP students had a slightly lower grade point average and were less likely to use academic tutoring at the university. Based on responses, a factor analysis was conducted of three factors from the community college environment (i.e., academic preparation, transfer process, and academic involvement) and five factors from the UCLA environment (i.e., social involvement, experiences with faculty, adjustment process, perceptions of adjustment, and overall satisfaction). This analysis indicated that TAP participants had higher mean responses for all three community college factors. However, they also had higher mean responses on adjustment process and perceptions of adjustment, indicating that they were more likely to experience transfer shock. Contains 25 references. The item factors and a table of student scores on the factors are appended. (BCY)