Transfer Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50
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Fall 2010
| US News rank | College | Freshman rate | Transfer rate | Transfer rate +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Harvard | 7.0% | 2.1% | -4.9% |
| 1.2 | Princeton* | 9.0% | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | Yale | 8.0% | 4.8% | -3.2% |
| 4 | Columbia | 10.0% | 7.3% | -2.7% |
| 5.1 | Stanford | 7.0% | 2.0% | -5.0% |
| 5.2 | U Penn | 14.0% | 15.2% | 1.2% |
| 5.3 | Cal Tech | 13.0% | 6.7% | -6.3% |
| 5.4 | MIT | 10.0% | 3.9% | -6.1% |
| 5.5 | U Chicago | 19.0% | 14.4% | -4.6% |
| 10 | Duke | 16.0% | 9.1% | -6.9% |
| 11 | Dartmouth | 12.0% | 3.7% | -8.3% |
| 12 | Northwestern | 23.0% | 11.4% | -11.6% |
| 13 | Johns Hopkins | 21.0% | 9.5% | -11.5% |
| 14 | Washington U in St. Louis | 21.0% | 9.1% | -11.9% |
| 15.1 | Brown | 9.0% | 10.8% | 1.8% |
| 15.2 | Cornell | 18.0% | 22.0% | 4.0% |
| 17 | Rice | 21.0% | 26.0% | 5.0% |
| 17 | Vanderbilt | 18.0% | 40.6% | 22.6% |
| 19 | Notre Dame | 29.0% | 36.7% | 7.7% |
| 20 | Emory | 29.0% | 35.8% | 6.8% |
| 21 | UC Berkeley | 22.0% | 22.8% | 0.8% |
| 22 | Georgetown | 20.0% | 22.5% | 2.5% |
| 23.1 | Carnegie Mellon | 33.0% | 17.0% | -16.0% |
| 23.2 | USC | 24.0% | 26.6% | 2.6% |
| 25.1 | UCLA | 23.0% | 29.3% | 6.3% |
| 25.2 | UVA | 33.0% | 40.1% | 7.1% |
| 25.3 | Wake Forest | 40.0% | 30.0% | -10.0% |
| 28 | U Michigan | 51.0% | 41.1% | -9.9% |
| 29 | Tufts | 24.0% | 10.9% | -13.1% |
| 29 | UNC Chapel Hill | 32.0% | 40.5% | 8.5% |
| 31.1 | Boston College | 31.0% | 15.8% | -15.2% |
| 31.2 | Brandeis | 35.0% | 46.3% | 11.3% |
| 33.1 | College of William & Mary | 32.0% | 43.1% | 11.1% |
| 33.2 | NYU | 38.0% | 30.3% | -7.7% |
| 35 | U Rochester | 38.0% | 22.0% | -16.0% |
| 36 | Georgia Tech | 52.0% | 34.4% | -17.6% |
| 37 | UC San Diego | 38.0% | 55.9% | 17.9% |
| 38.1 | Lehigh | 38.0% | 35.7% | -2.3% |
| 38.2 | UC Davis | 45.0% | 66.5% | 21.5% |
| 38.3 | Case Western Reserve | 67.0% | 30.2% | -36.8% |
| 38.4 | U Miami | 39.0% | 35.3% | -3.7% |
| 42.1 | UC Santa Barbara | 46.0% | 52.1% | 6.1% |
| 42.2 | U Washington | 57.0% | 44.6% | -12.4% |
| 42.3 | U Wisconsin | 57.0% | 44.6% | -12.4% |
| 45.1 | UC Irvine | 45.0% | 48.6% | 3.6% |
| 45.2 | UT Austin | 47.0% | 41.0% | -6.0% |
| 45.3 | Penn State | 55.0% | 42.2% | -12.8% |
| 45.4 | U Illinois | 67.0% | 47.4% | -19.6% |
| 45.5 | Yeshiva | 72.0% | 80.2% | 8.2% |
| 50 | George Washington U | 32.0% | 27.0% | -5.0% |
Fall 2009
| College | Freshman rate | Transfer rate | Transfer rate +/- |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yeshiva | 62.6% | 73.8% | 11.2% |
| UC Davis | 46.2% | 69.9% | 23.7% |
| UC Santa Barbara | 48.2% | 66.4% | 18.2% |
| UC San Diego | 37.6% | 61.9% | 24.3% |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 42.8% | 61.6% | 18.7% |
| UC Irvine | 44.2% | 60.7% | 16.6% |
| U Illinois | 65.2% | 51.6% | -13.5% |
| Vanderbilt | 20.1% | 51.3% | 31.1% |
| U Washington | 57.7% | 46.7% | -11.0% |
| U Wisconsin | 57.2% | 46.1% | -11.2% |
| Penn State | 51.6% | 44.4% | -7.3% |
| U Michigan | 50.0% | 43.7% | -6.3% |
| College of William & Mary | 33.5% | 43.7% | 10.2% |
| UT Austin | 45.3% | 43.2% | -2.1% |
| Emory | 29.7% | 39.5% | 9.8% |
| UVA | 32.1% | 39.4% | 7.3% |
| U Miami | 44.4% | 39.2% | -5.2% |
| Lehigh | 32.8% | 38.6% | 5.8% |
| Brandeis | 40.4% | 36.8% | -3.7% |
| Case Western Reserve | 70.0% | 36.8% | -33.2% |
| UNC Chapel Hill | 31.6% | 35.7% | 4.0% |
| Georgia Tech | 58.8% | 35.4% | -23.4% |
| Notre Dame | 28.6% | 34.5% | 5.9% |
| NYU | 37.8% | 33.4% | -4.4% |
| UCLA | 21.9% | 31.7% | 9.9% |
| Wake Forest | 37.5% | 28.8% | -8.7% |
| USC | 24.4% | 25.9% | 1.5% |
| UC Berkeley | 21.6% | 25.6% | 3.9% |
| Tufts | 26.6% | 25.6% | -1.0% |
| Rice | 22.3% | 25.3% | 2.9% |
| Cornell | 19.1% | 22.4% | 3.3% |
| Boston College | 30.1% | 21.3% | -8.7% |
| U Rochester | 38.7% | 21.2% | -17.5% |
| U Penn | 17.7% | 19.5% | 1.8% |
| Washington U in St. Louis | 22.2% | 17.9% | -4.2% |
| U Chicago | 27.3% | 17.7% | -9.6% |
| Northwestern | 27.1% | 15.9% | -11.2% |
| Carnegie Mellon | 36.3% | 15.3% | -21.0% |
| Georgetown | 19.8% | 14.0% | -5.8% |
| Duke | 18.9% | 12.7% | -6.2% |
| Johns Hopkins | 31.3% | 8.5% | -22.8% |
| Brown | 11.2% | 8.2% | -2.9% |
| Columbia | 9.8% | 6.1% | -3.7% |
| MIT | 10.7% | 6.0% | -4.7% |
| Dartmouth | 12.6% | 5.9% | -6.6% |
| Cal Tech | 15.3% | 4.5% | -10.8% |
| Yale | 7.5% | 2.3% | -5.2% |
| Stanford | 8.0% | 1.9% | -6.1% |
| Princeton | 10.1% | 0.0% | -10.1% |
| Harvard | 7.5% | 0.0% | -7.5% |
Fall 2008
| College | Freshman rate | Transfer rate | Transfer rate +/- |
|---|---|---|---|
| UC Davis | 52.6% | 70.3% | 17.7% |
| UC Santa Barbara | 49.2% | 67.5% | 18.3% |
| UCSD | 41.6% | 65.3% | 23.7% |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 44.1% | 60.7% | 16.6% |
| Vanderbilt | 25.3% | 55.9% | 30.6% |
| University of Washington | 61.0% | 55.8% | -5.2% |
| UC Irvine | 48.7% | 55.7% | 7.0% |
| U Illinois | 69.1% | 54.9% | -14.2% |
| College of William and Mary | 34.1% | 52.6% | 18.5% |
| University of Texas - Austin | 43.5% | 46.1% | 2.6% |
| University of Wisconsin - Madison | 52.7% | 45.7% | -7.0% |
| Penn State | 51.2% | 44.6% | -6.6% |
| Case Western Reserve | 73.3% | 43.2% | -30.1% |
| Notre Dame | 26.7% | 41.9% | 15.2% |
| University of Michigan | 42.1% | 41.2% | -0.9% |
| UNC Chapel Hill | 34.0% | 39.2% | 5.2% |
| Georgia Institute of Tech | 60.9% | 36.9% | -24.0% |
| UVA | 36.7% | 34.9% | -1.8% |
| UCLA | 22.8% | 34.5% | 11.7% |
| Emory | 26.6% | 33.6% | 7.0% |
| NYU | 32.1% | 31.1% | -1.0% |
| USC | 21.9% | 29.3% | 7.4% |
| Lehigh | 27.9% | 27.7% | -0.2% |
| Cornell | 20.7% | 27.5% | 6.8% |
| UC Berkeley | 21.6% | 26.1% | 4.5% |
| Rice | 23.0% | 25.8% | 2.8% |
| University of Rochester | 42.7% | 25.6% | -17.1% |
| Wake Forest University | 38.4% | 25.5% | -12.9% |
| University of Florida | 39.5% | 25.1% | -14.4% |
| Brandeis | 32.4% | 22.5% | -9.9% |
| Northwestern | 26.2% | 22.0% | -4.2% |
| Tulane University | 27.0% | 20.6% | -6.4% |
| Washington U in St. Louis | 21.7% | 20.4% | -1.3% |
| Tufts University | 25.5% | 19.8% | -5.7% |
| Georgetown | 18.8% | 18.2% | -0.6% |
| U Penn | 16.9% | 16.8% | -0.1% |
| U Chicago | 27.9% | 13.1% | -14.8% |
| Brown | 13.7% | 12.0% | -1.7% |
| Johns Hopkins | 25.4% | 9.8% | -15.6% |
| Cal Tech | 17.4% | 9.3% | -8.1% |
| Carnegie Mellon | 37.9% | 9.2% | -28.7% |
| Boston College | 26.2% | 9.2% | -17.0% |
| Dartmouth | 13.5% | 6.9% | -6.6% |
| Columbia | 10.0% | 5.7% | -4.3% |
| MIT | 11.9% | 5.6% | -6.3% |
| Duke | 22.4% | 5.2% | -17.2% |
| Yale | 8.6% | 3.2% | -5.4% |
| Stanford | 9.5% | 2.1% | -7.4% |
| Princeton | 9.9% | 0.0% | -9.9% |
| Harvard | 7.9% | 0.0% | -7.9% |
Data source: usnews.com, collegeboard.com
Some notes:
Why these schools? They happen to be the Top 50 National Universities according to US News. We wanted a sampling of the most popular schools that students might be curious about. Keep in mind there are about 2,500 four-year colleges in the US.
The last column takes the transfer admissions rate and subtracts the freshman admissions rate. A positive percentage means the transfer admissions rate is higher than the freshman admissions rate (i.e., all other things equal, it was easier to get in as a transfer than a freshman).
As with all statistics, take them with a grain of salt. The numbers change each year, and, if you can make a strong case for transferring, your odds will be much better than what you see here (and, of course, the opposite is true too).