Stony Brook Project Transfer – A Second Chance to Enter Dream School

Editor's Note: Nearly 1/3 of American college graduates have transferred once, so how can they successfully transfer to dream schools?

30% of U.S. college graduates transfer once before earning their undergraduate degree. Not only ordinary people, but 8 of the 45 presidents of the United States after the founding of the United States also transferred schools during college:

Current President Trump: From Fordham University in New York to the University of Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania

44th President Barack Obama: From Occidental College in California to Columbia University in New York

39th President Carter: Transferred from Georgia's Georgia Institute of Technology to the United Stated Naval Academy in Maryland

35th President John F. Kennedy: From Princeton University in New Jersey to Harvard University in Massachusetts

28th President Wilson: From Davidson College in North Carolina to Princeton University in New Jersey

Harrison, 23rd President: Transferred from Farmer's College in Ohio to Miami University in Ohio

20th President Garfield: Moved from Hiram College in Ohio to Williams College in Massachusetts

6th President Adams: From the University of Leden in the Netherlands to Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Reasons for transfer

According to Stony Brook statistics in the United States, the students who come to us for consultation for transfer usually have the following 4 categories:

Finding that existing schools are not suitable, not meeting their academic or social expectations, feeling unhappy, and already knowing what kind of university they are suitable for, commonly transferring from large public universities to small private universities, from liberal arts colleges to comprehensive universities, etc.;

Existing schools are not strong enough in the selected professional field, and it is common for students who confirm their professional direction and interests after entering the university;

Students who fail to be admitted to the target school when applying for the first time have to temporarily enter the guaranteed university and prepare to attack their target university in the future;

For various personal reasons, I temporarily enrolled in a two-year community college, but the ultimate goal was to enter an excellent four-year university.

Difficulty of transferring

The acceptance rate for transfer students is generally lower than that for new students, but this depends on the specific university and whether the university's admissions plan pre-allocates a place for transfer students.

In general, private comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges recruit transfer students, usually most of them are to supplement the vacant positions of students who have dropped out for various reasons, and a small number of schools are for the purpose of diversifying the source of students, so the number of places transferred to private universities is relatively small and difficult, especially the top private universities.

Here's the average number of transfers per year at some of the top 50 private universities in the U.S.:

Name University Name 2022 Ranking Annual Average Transfers Transfers Account for Enrollments Compared to Universities of Pennsylvania 81506% Vanderbilt University 1420711% Cornell UniversityConnell University 1755415% University of Notre Dame university 191186% Washington University in St. Louis Washington University 141106% Emory University emory University 211056% Georgetown University 231488% University of Southern California 27143531% New York University of New York University 2885413% College of William and Mary 3815710% Boston University 4247811 Tulane University Tulane University Tulane University 421167 Northeastern University 4946013% Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rosenhill Institute of Technology 551218%

(Source: Stony Brook Research)

In the United States, public universities generally reserve a quota for transfer students every year, especially for students in the state's public university system, so the number of places transferred to public universities is relatively large, and the difficulty is small.

Here's the average number of transfers per year at some of the top 50 public universities in the U.S.:

Name University Name 2022 Ranking Average Transfers Annual Transfers Account for Enrollments 20316743% of UCLA University of California-Los Angeles University of California-Berkeley 22218732% University of Virginia University of Virginia 2566516% University of Michigan-Ann Arbor University of Michigan 23104115% University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 2888619% University of California-Santa Barbara 28159231% University of Santa Barbara California-Irvine University of California, Avani 36202432% Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology 3849913% University of Florida 28196822% University of California-Davis 38313844% University of California-San Diego University of California, San Diego 34246137% University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign 47133116% University of Wisconsin-Madison 4277010% University of Texas-Austin University of Texas at Austin 38232523%

From the above table, it can be seen that several branches of the University of California have the highest number and proportion of transfer students in the United States, mainly because UC branches reserve transfer places for two-year community colleges in the state according to state policy, so including high-academic schools like UC Berkeley, nearly one-third of new students come from transfer students each year, and 90% of Berkeley transfer students come from two-year community colleges in the state.

Preparation for transfer

As with the first university application, transfers should be prepared and planned in advance, mainly in the following three aspects:

Select the target school for transfer: Regarding the target school, if it is a university that has not been applied to before, it is necessary to take time to screen, if it is a university that has been applied, usually there is little hope of re-applying for admission to the school that has previously applied for the rejection, but should focus on those schools that have placed themselves on the waiting list, and need to emphasize their progress and achievements in the current school;

Current school grades: Unlike when I first applied to a university, high school transcripts and standardized grades no longer play an important role, and the most important thing for transfer admission is the grades of the university you are currently enrolled in, especially the results of each course in the first semester after admission. In addition, being able to obtain detailed and highly evaluated letters of recommendation from professors of courses currently in schools can also be very helpful for admission;

Target school transfer requirements: To be familiar with the transfer requirements of the target university in advance, such as the requirements for course subjects and credits, which courses must be completed, how many credits are required at the minimum, whether the target school has additional requirements for its own major, and so on. In addition, it is best to get help from a counselor at your current university or an off-campus counsel before you take classes at your current university to figure out which courses can be transferred to your target university.

Time of transfer

The time to apply for a transfer is generally a freshman or sophomore year, and the latest to enter the third year, as most universities require transfer students to study at a new school for at least two years to earn their undergraduate degree. Whether to apply for a transfer in a freshman or sophomore year depends on two things:

Transfer requirements from target schools: For example, the University of California, Berkeley requires transfer students to take a minimum of 60 credits at the current school, in other words, students can only apply for junior transfer admission in their sophomore year, while many private universities do not have minimum credit requirements, and students can apply for sophomore transfer enrollment in their freshman year;

Students' own high school academic performance: If a student's high school grades and standardized grades are excellent, we recommend that freshman year students start applying to excellent universities that do not have minimum transfer credit requirements in order to increase the chances of progression to top universities, such as the University of Southern California, which is in the same california as the University of California, Berkeley, does not have a minimum credit requirement for transfer students, and the school that applies for transfer less than 30 credits will mainly evaluate its high school GPA and standardized score. If the student's high school grades and standard grades are not satisfactory, and the student's academic performance at the current university is excellent, we recommend that you apply for a transfer in your sophomore year.

In addition, many universities allow transfer students to apply for spring admission, and the spring application deadline is usually 10/15 or 11/1, so that those who plan to apply for transfer in their freshman year will have to start preparing for transfer in the summer before enrolling at their current university.

The difference between a transfer application and a first-time application

As with first-time university applications, there is a standard application process for transfer applications, but there are 5 main differences between the two:

Application form and application deadline: Many university transfer and first-time application application forms are different from the application deadline, the "Common Application" application system can establish a separate "transfer" account, students who have previously used the system and have established a "new student" account can change the previous account to the transfer status, the application form In addition to the update of personal information, the previous application documents should not be reused, and should be replaced by new documents. In addition, the deadline for applying for transfer is usually slightly later than the deadline for new students to apply.

Standardized Grades: For transfer students, many universities no longer require standardized grades or list standardized grades as optional, but we recommend submitting standardized grades for those students with excellent standardized grades.

Transcripts: Transfer students must submit their current college transcripts, and some universities no longer need high school transcripts.

Chosen major: New students can not choose a major or choose one first when applying for the first time, and can change it after entering the university, but transfer students need to have a clear understanding of their application major, and generally need to determine the major when applying, in addition to the usual application of the target school, they may also need to submit additional materials required for the selected major.

Application essay: The application essay for transfer is very important, and the essay should clearly explain why you want to transfer, why the new school is suitable for you, and your major achievements and progress after graduating from high school.

Contact author Stony Brook, USA: WeChat ID "SBES2016"