There are a lot of myths about transferring colleges. Going from “good enough for now” to your dream school isn’t as easy as a semester or two of straight A’s, and that’s even more true if your dream school is one of the best schools in the country.
2022 Transfer Acceptance Rates
It might seem early to talk about transferring, but we don’t believe in early. The moment you find yourself unhappy with your current school or catch yourself wondering if the grass is really greener on another campus, we say apply. Why? Because transfer admissions, for lack of a better term, are kind of a crap shoot.
Strategies for Transfer Applicants 2022-2023
If you’re here, this is your sign that you should apply to transfer. If you have even one sliver of doubt at your current school, or you’re unhappy, or you just want a bigger and better challenge, you should think about transferring. But, you need to know more about how transferring works in order to have the most success.
What is the Cornell Transfer Option?
Cornell is absolutely the most Ivy in the bunch. Its transfer acceptance rate (estimated at 17%) is higher than its standard acceptance rate (10%) and they between 500 to 700 transfer students a year. The infrastructure and support for transfer students at Cornell is nuts and truly unlike any other school. Compare Cornell’s 17% transfer acceptance rate to Princeton’s 1.2% (or to put it simply, 16 students), or even to a school like Duke which has an approximately 5% transfer acceptance rate.
How to Write a College Essay for Transfer Students
If you are thinking about transferring, you know that you are going to have to write some essays. Great transfer essays are kind of like ven diagrams: they show the overlap between you and the school. Pretty much every essay you write in the transfer process should lead the reader to think, ‘Wow, they are perfect for this place!’ It helps that a lot of the essay questions feel like excuses to write love notes to the school: why do you want to go here? What do you want to study? What do you want from an education? Etc. We see these types of questions pop up every year. While questions can vary from college to college, there are some tricks that can be applied broadly to writing a great transfer essay.
Help with Transferring Colleges
Every year we work with students who are trying to transfer. Every year we get many of these students into top schools, and every year we get the question, “how do you do that?” The long answer is, it’s not just one thing. There is a lot that needs to go into transferring. You need grades and scores and all of that, but when it comes to your essays, they have to be stellar. Writing transfer essays can be tricky, but we do have some processes we think everyone who is trying to transfer should do with or without our help. Again we do this every year, trust us, if you want to transfer there are two things you need to do before you even start writing.
How to Transfer into a Top-Tier College
Just like in first-year admissions, getting into a top-tier college as a transfer is competitive. Top colleges can be very selective when it comes to transfers. But that doesn’t mean that you should be discouraged. Going with a plan and being organized will help you get into an elite transfer school. And we are happy to share our top 4 tips to make a first-rate transfer obtainable.
Transfer Application Strategies for NYU
So you want to transfer to NYU? We get why you would want to. They have great programs in most subjects, plus, getting to live in NYC is nothing to sneeze at. However, NYU is difficult. They even say it on their website, “Admission for transfer students is highly competitive.” So you will need to make your application shine.
5 Tips for Transferring Colleges After One Year
So you are looking into transferring colleges? The first thing we want to say is good for you. It’s easy to stay at a place that isn’t right for you (lots of people do!) We are super pro-transferring if you don’t feel like your current college is the right fit. That being said, transferring takes a little work. Ok, in most cases more than a little, but it doesn’t need to be scary. By utilizing a couple of simple tools and tricks, you can ensure that your transfer will go as smoothly as possible and we are here to give them to you.
UPenn Transfer Acceptance Rate
We’re just going to start off by saying, transferring into an Ivy League is hard. There is a common misconception that you can go to a state school or community college for a year, do alright, and transfer into an Ivy. That’s not the case. Students who might be able to get into an Ivy as a transfer are kids who were already qualified to go when applying the first time around, but didn’t quite make the cut.
Yale University Transfer Acceptance Rate
Yale is an incredibly hard school to get into. In fact, its acceptance rate is about 6 percent. Transfer rates are notoriously hard to pin down, but a 2017 said the transfer rate at Yale was about 2.5 percent. Why is the transfer rate so low, you might ask? Well, very few people leave Yale each year. You see, when a university accepts its freshman class, it doesn’t typically leave spots open for transfer students to join in sophomore year. A school like Yale has high matriculation rates anyway, so they’re really hoping to seal the deal with the 6 percent-or-so of applicants they admit each year. So, if you’re hoping to be in the teeny, tiny fraction of people who does make it in as a transfer, we have some advice for you:
Transferring Colleges During Covid-19
Earlier this summer, we wrote this blog post as part of our Coronavirus Question series. And because we’ve been getting emails and questions about transferring during Covid-19, we wanted to update our readers and provide more context.
How Do I Know Whether To Transfer Colleges?
If you’ve been wondering whether or not you should transfer, that itself is a sign that you might want to consider doing some research. It’s probably safe to say that the “Should I Transfer” question pops into student’s minds at least once or twice throughout even the best college experiences. Your roommate keeps microwaving salmon, that one professor doesn’t seem to see that you’re trying, or saying goodbye to your parents was a little harder than you thought it might be. These are all reasons to think, even momentarily, that you’re better off elsewhere. If you’re experiencing singular experiences of doubt, don’t freak out! That is the college experience.
Transferring College After One Year
If you’re considering transferring, now is the time to start the process. Crazy, we know. This will vary by school, but generally speaking, transfer applications are due in March. It’s just about time for the holiday break, and before you know it will be January 1st, 2021. This means that you should do all of your research now so that you’re in a good place to start the process by the start of the new year. We understand that time makes no sense this year, but it’s time to set the wheels in motion. Keep reading for the three big ticket items you have about three months to accomplish:
Coronavirus Question: Should I Go to a Local College and Then Transfer?
Students often have thoughts about how they can creatively work around the competitiveness of the college admissions system. In fact, some have tried to cut in line by transferring to lower-performing schools for their junior and senior years to graduate with a better standing for their resume. While this scenario isn’t cutting in line, per se, one question we’ve gotten from students is whether or not they should go to a local college and then transfer to a college they’d prefer to attend. Here are our thoughts:
How to Transfer to Amherst
Amherst is a small, highly competitive liberal arts school in Amherst, Massachusetts. Given that Amherst is quite difficult to get into as a freshman, it should come as no surprise that their transfer acceptance rate is below 5%. Their website will take you through the requirements, but we’ll go over the required writing supplements below.
How to Transfer to Pomona
Pomona is a small liberal arts school in California, and is also a member of the Claremont Colleges. Pomona didn’t release their regular acceptance year, so it makes sense that their transfer acceptance rates are not published by the school either. If you’re considering applying to Pomona as a transfer, be aware (and accepting) of the fact that it’s an uphill battle. Hot tip: Before you start writing, read through all of the questions to avoid overlap. Good luck!
How to Transfer to Tufts
Tufts is a private research university in Medford, Massachusetts, and you can read more about their transfer requirements . We’re breaking down the prompt that is required of every Tufts transfer applicant below. However, additional questions will populate after you’ve chosen what school and program you’re applying to. Because we don’t know your life and/or what program our blog readers are interested in, we’re only going over the question that everyone will be asked. Don’t forget to check for the other questions once you’ve written this one.
How to Transfer to Williams
Williams, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts, has a transfer acceptance rate that rivals the Ivy League. It is difficult to find statistics online that came directly from Williams, but it has been reported that their transfer acceptance rate is 3%. We’ll break down their supplements below, but be sure to check their website for additional requirements.
Transferring to Cornell University
Last year, we did a deep dive into transferring to Cornell. This is because Cornell is a true outlier among the Ivy’s with a transfer acceptance rate of 18%-19% for the past four years. For context, Princeton didn’t even accept transfer students until last year and Columbia’s transfer acceptance rate is around 6%.