Updated: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
The transfer admissions process can often be even more selective than regular undergraduate admissions, and with 35% of college students transferring at least once, it’s important to understand exactly how difficult (or not!) it is to transfer to your dream school.
There are a number of reasons why students choose to transfer schools. It can be anything from homesickness or a negative experience their first year, to a change in major that isn’t offered at their current institution. Often students are also transferring from a two-year school to a four-year university. What’s key when transferring is to know why you want to transfer and how to build a balanced transfer college list that can meet your new needs. Part of building that list includes understanding your chances of admission.
It’s important to understand that the transfer admission process is often much more selective than the undergraduate process — especially at universities where gaining admission is already very difficult. According to NACAC, on average, transfer admission rates were slightly lower than that of first-year students. Why? First, students are applying for admission to classes that are already established and may have few seats available. It’s not like the undergraduate process, where the class is first being built and there are thousands of spots for applicants. However, that’s not to say that it’s hard to gain admission as a transfer student at all universities. In fact, at some schools transfer admission rates are about the same or slightly higher than the undergraduate admission rate. As schools look to fill out their classes and maintain high yield rates, they’ve placed more of an emphasis on recruiting transfer students.
Here are some transfer admission rates for fall 2023 (the most recent data available.)
| School | First-Year Acceptance Rate | Transfer Acceptance Rate |
| American University | 47.38% | 80.50% |
| Amherst College | 9.81% | 8.68% |
| Auburn University | 50.47% | 50.98% |
| Babson College | 19.74% | 26.09% |
| Barnard College | 7.96% | 20.65% |
| Bates College | 13.06% | 15.11% |
| Baylor University | 50.97% | 89.40% |
| Boston University | 10.85% | 39.74% |
| Bowdoin College | 8.02% | 6.82% |
| Brandeis University | 35.33% | 37.32% |
| Brown University | 5.23% | 4.15% |
| Bucknell University | 32.01% | 26.46% |
| California Institute of Technology | 3.14% | 4.02% |
| Carleton College | 22.28% | 10.97% |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 11.40% | 5.77% |
| Case Western Reserve University | 28.67% | 32.02% |
| Chapman University | 55.61% | 56.32% |
| Claremont McKenna College | 11.12% | 8.31% |
| Clark University | 41.67% | 30.07% |
| Clemson University | 52.91% | Overall: 38.05% In-state: 49.23% Out-of-state: 36.04% International: 26.67% |
| Colgate University | 13.88% | 11.95% |
| College of Charleston | 72.00% | 87.40% |
| College of the Holy Cross | 21.10% | 46.45% |
| College of William and Mary | 32.72% | 48.13% |
| Colorado College | 20.03% | 42.77% |
| Columbia University | 4.00% | 10.11% |
| Cornell University | 7.90% | 12.67% |
| Dartmouth College | 6.23% | 1.56% |
| Davidson College | 14.48% | 14.76% |
| Denison University | 16.93% | 34.93% |
| DePaul University | 73.53% | 63.07% |
| Elon University | 67.31% | 56.25% |
| Emory University – Emory Campus | 10.65% | 16.80% |
| Fairfield University | 44.98% | 7.14% |
| Fordham University | 56.28% | 80.22% |
| George Washington University | 43.54% | 58.88% |
| Georgetown University | 13.08% | 13.21% |
| Georgia Tech | In-state: 36.60% Out-of-state: 12.53% International: 9.95% | 27.84% |
| Gonzaga University | 75.96% | 67.33% |
| Grinnell College | 12.68% | 12.12% |
| Hamilton College | 11.77% | 11.15% |
| Harvard University | 3.45% | 0.79% |
| Harvey Mudd College | 13.10% | 5.08% |
| Haverford College | 12.91% | 15.50% |
| Indiana University | 80.37% | 65.99% |
| Johns Hopkins University | 7.56% | 6.39% |
| Lafayette College | 31.47% | 21.08% |
| Lehigh University | 29.26% | 29.50% |
| Lewis & Clark College | 74.53% | 50.98% |
| Loyola Marymount University | 40.29% | 40.84% |
| Loyola University – Chicago | 81.39% | 55.14% |
| Macalester College | 28.21% | 27.52% |
| Marquette University | 87.48% | 73.27% |
| Middlebury College | 10.37% | 5.90% |
| New York University | 9.41% | 37.17% |
| Northeastern University | 5.65% | 24.30% |
| Northwestern University | 7.22% | 12.75% |
| Oberlin College | 32.98% | 22.89% |
| Pepperdine University | 49.85% | 43.97% |
| Pitzer College | 16.66% | 20.77% |
| Pomona College | 6.76% | 7.17% |
| Princeton University | 4.50% | 3.09% |
| Providence College | 48.72% | 55.95% |
| Reed College | 27.16% | 19.33% |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 58.50% | 55.49% |
| Rice University | 7.88% | 4.45% |
| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | 72.81% | 67.19% |
| Rutgers University | Overall: 65.35% In-state: 62.27% Out-of-state: 71.98% International: 70.72% | 57.57% |
| Santa Clara University | 43.84% | 60.56% |
| Sarah Lawrence College | 58.93% | 54.78% |
| Smith College | 19.73% | 25.00% |
| Southern Methodist University | 61.22% | 68.77% |
| Stanford University | 3.91% | 2.04% |
| Swarthmore College | 6.94% | 9.20% |
| Syracuse University | 43.12% | 43.42% |
| Texas A&M | 63.10% | 58.07% |
| Texas Christian University | 42.60% | 84.16% |
| Trinity College | 33.52% | 44.49% |
| Trinity University | 28.16% | 32.93% |
| Tufts University | 10.13% | 12.76% |
| Tulane University | 14.59% | 50.59% |
| University of California – Berkeley | Overall: 11.73% In-state: 15.13% Out-of-state: 7.80% International: 3.53% | 26.23% |
| University of California – Davis | Overall: 41.64% In-state: 36.25% Out-of-state: 60.35% International: 49.14% | 64.14% |
| University of California – Irvine | Overall: 25.75% In-state: 20.39% Out-of-state: 47.25% International: 32.56% | 43.55% |
| University of California – Los Angeles | Overall: 8.73% In-state: 9.46% Out-of-state: 8.62% International: 6.09% | 26.32% |
| University of California – San Diego | Overall: 24.76% In-state: 24.51% Out-of-state: 31.92% International: 17.93% | 62.54% |
| University of Chicago | 4.79% | 7.91% |
| University of Colorado – Boulder | In-state: 92.35% Out-of-state and International: 74.82% | In-state: 83.95% Out-of-state and International: 68.16% |
| University of Denver | 70.67% | 78.81% |
| University of Florida | Overall: 24.03% In-state: 52.58% Out-of-state: 14.25% International: 19.60% | 47.79% |
| University of Georgia | In-state: 50.24% Out-of-state: 28.11% International: 21.60% | 73.92% |
| University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign | Overall: 43.69% In-state: 56.23% Out-of-state: 35.87% International: 34.50% | 51.70% |
| University of Maryland | In-state: 53.90% Out-of-state and International: 41.56% | 55.45% |
| University of Massachusetts – Amherst | 57.74% | 68.73% |
| University of Miami | 18.51% | 51.38% |
| University of Michigan | 17.94% | 34.50% |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Overall: 18.74% In-state: 41.16% Out-of-state: 9.33% International: 18.22% | 45.07% |
| University of Notre Dame | 12.38% | 15.80% |
| University of Pennsylvania | 5.87% | 4.58% |
| University of Richmond | 23.31% | 49.66% |
| University of Rochester | Overall: 35.85% College of Arts, Sciences and Engineering: 35.81% Eastman School of Music: 36.89% | 39.09% |
| University of Southern California | 10.13% | 24.45% |
| University of Texas at Austin | In-state: 40.97% Out-of-state: 11.76% International: 13.24% | 30.18% |
| University of Vermont | Overall: 60.02% In-state: 59.83% Out-of-state: 71.43% International: 32.83% | 79.50% |
| University of Virginia | In-state: 27.58% Out-of-state: 13.18% International: 11.50% | In-state: 45.00% Out-of-state: 19.00% Virginia Community College System (including Guaranteed Admission Applications): 58.50% |
| University of Washington – Seattle | In-state: 52.27% Out-of-state: 38.46% International: 45.42% | 46.13% |
| University of Wisconsin – Madison | Overall: 43.24% In-state: 60.67% Out-of-state: 42.67% International: 31.91% | 47.55% |
| Vanderbilt University | 6.28% | 18.86% |
| Vassar College | 17.73% | 11.72% |
| Virginia Tech | In-state: 47.08% Out-of-state: 63.16% International: 68.01% | 59.59% |
| Wake Forest University | 21.56% | 29.88% |
| Washington & Lee University | 17.36% | 4.71% |
| Washington University in St. Louis | 11.96% | 12.21% |
| Wellesley College | 13.91% | 14.55% |
| Wesleyan University | 17.10% | 25.85% |
| Williams College | 9.99% | 3.15% |
| Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 58.50% | 77.18% |
| Yale University | 4.50% | 1.22% |
As a transfer student it’s important to know how your application will be evaluated in the admissions process. According to NACAC, GPA and grades at students’ current college or university are most important to schools when evaluating transfer applications. Students need to be doing well in their current courses in order to have the best chance of admission at their top-choice transfer schools.
The transfer application will also be a lot different than the applications you may be familiar with from the undergraduate admissions process. Instead of providing information on your high school courses and activities, you will provide information on your courses at your current school and recommendations from current professors. While transfer application essays vary from school to school, overall, they tend to ask questions about why you are transferring and your intended field of study — rather than the usual personal statements and quirky prompts.
There are a number of resources to help guide you through the transfer admissions process. Here are a few below:
At IvyWise, we work with students in any part of the college admissions process, including those who are navigating the transfer admissions process. For more information on our college counseling services for transfer students, contact us today.
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