You know you want to transfer, and why—now it’s helpful to see where you’ll have the best odds of being admitted. Transfer acceptance rates vary widely and sometimes unexpectedly. Knowing which colleges are more transfer-friendly can help you narrow down your list and target the right schools.
SAMPLE TRANSFER ACCEPTANCE RATES (2022-23)
(BU – Vanderbilt: transfer-friendly; MIT – Rice: less transfer-friendly)
| School | First-Year Admit Rate | Transfer Admit Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Boston University | 14.4% | 29% |
| Columbia | 3.7% | 11.3% |
| Northwestern | 7.2% | 13% |
| Cornell | 7.3% | 13.9% |
| Dartmouth | 6.4% | 7.3% |
| UCLA* | 8.6% | 24.4% |
| USC | 12% | 23.5% |
| NYU | 12.5% | 20.5% |
| Notre Dame | 12.9% | 26.7% |
| University of Virginia** | 18.7% | 35% |
| Vanderbilt | 6.7% | 16.6% |
| MIT | 4% | 1.4% |
| Yale | 4.6% | 1.6% |
| Claremont McKenna College | 10.4% | 6.2% |
| Duke*** | 5.9% | 4.8% |
| Williams College | 8.5% | 3% |
| Carnegie Mellon | 11.3% | 7.3% |
| Georgetown | 12.2% | 7.3% |
| Rice University | 8.7% | 5% |
**Percentage is lower for non-Virginia residents
***Figures from 2021-22
With your list solidified, it’s time to drill down on the ways you can stand out in the transfer process: Should you interview? Take loads of classes now in your intended major? Join a bunch of clubs at your current college? Let us make your job easier by sharing a transfer expert’s top tips for what counts—and what doesn’t—in your transfer applications.
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TRANSFER EXPERT: TOP TIPS
Academics lead the conversation: Admissions officers typically begin their review of an application with a thorough review of the applicant’s transcripts. If you are in your first year of college, your high school transcript is your primary piece of evidence that you’ll be academically successful at your destination college. You’ll need to submit your first-semester college transcript and, typically, in-progress grades for your second semester. Test scores (SAT/ACT and APs or IBs) can help validate your academic record, so submit them if they are a positive addition to your application.
Professors’ voices are louder: Teacher recommendations were important last time you applied, but professors’ recommendations carry even more weight because they can speak directly to your abilities to succeed in college classes. Make strong efforts to get to know at least two of your professors and show them how deeply you’re engaged with the class material by speaking with them outside of classes. Many schools require one recommendation, but most allow several more—two letters will benefit you. Admissions officers may not read more than that, so focus on obtaining two strong letters. If you’re at a large research university where you have little interaction with your faculty, consider asking a TA or graduate student instructor if they are more familiar with your classroom contributions and your work in the class before you rely on high school teachers’ letters.
Fly your academic nerd flag: Since there is no personal essay for the Common Application for Transfer, each school crafts its own prompt. Many are similar to Boston University’s: “We want to learn more about you and your reasons for transferring, in particular what you hope to accomplish at Boston University.” Even if you are seeking a better social or cultural fit, admissions officers want to hear your academic case for admission. Frankly, they don’t care if you want to be near the beach or in the middle of a city – they want to admit scholars whom their faculty will be excited to teach. Spend time on your destination colleges’ websites, especially pages for departments you’re interested in. What classes are you excited to take? What professors do you want to work with? Are there distinctive aspects of the major that appeal to you? Check out this sample essay of a transfer applicant who worked with Top Tier and was admitted to Northwestern:
I am a pre-med dropout turned environmental engineer. It all started with a brochure—a one-page application to become an EcoRep. As an EcoRep at Rochester, it is my job to educate my hall on sustainability issues through planned activities and general leadership. In EcoRep classes, we discuss pertinent issues related to sustainability: from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the pros and cons of dry toilets. Through this program, I found out about an environmental leadership workshop at Bard College called “Campus to Congress.” It was here that I began to seriously consider the dangerous impact of climate change and consumption. Over half of the country lives on the coast, what will happen when the sea level rises and those cities are completely submerged? The next generation is going to face all these problems, so it’s up to our generation to engineer solutions, from both the policy and the engineering standpoint. Through this workshop, I discovered what it meant to be an environmental engineer tackling next generation climate problems. Whether it is engineering a new energy source or discovering a new method of reducing emissions, the idea of engineering solutions to create a more sustainable world made perfect sense.
Upon returning to campus, I actively searched for environmental engineering classes, but found scarce offerings at the University of Rochester. Although there is a minor in environmental engineering, it exists as a branch of chemical engineering and few classes are offered. Although I knew what I hoped to study, I wasn’t able to proceed in my field of interest. Despite everything Rochester has offered me, the biggest things missing are an environmental engineering program and more importantly, research opportunities. Now that I’ve discovered my academic interest, I want to enrich it with research in subfields of environmental engineering such as pollutant transport, water resources, or environmental processes. My motives for transferring are therefore entirely academic. Rochester has helped me grow as a person and helped me discover my scholarly goals, but I look forward to pursuing a more focused path in environmental engineering in the years to come.
FREE WEBINAR: TRANSFER ADMISSIONS
As Associate Dean of Admissions, I managed the transfer admissions program at Pomona College for four years, supervising application evaluations and making strategic decisions to meet College goals. This experience, and my own firsthand evaluation of thousands of applications, has given me deep insights into why students seek to transfer and how they can best position themselves in this unique—and at times uniquely confusing—college application process.
Are you curious about the transfer process? Join me for a webinar, “Transfer Admissions: Understand the Process, Maximize the Application,” on January 24th at 8 pm Eastern for a deeper dive into identifying your best-fit transfer colleges and submitting successful transfer applications.
Follow us on Instagram @toptieradmissions for more tips and the latest admissions news!
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