Latest Posts

Transfer Students Apply to College, Too. How Come We Don’t Help Them?

Written by

help

Stephen J. Handel explores this question in an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. While doing research for a book on transfer admissions, he discovered that… there’s practically nothing out there for transfers! He searched high and low, both online and print resources, but still came up empty handed. This is despite the fact that “the transfer-student market is huge and growing.”

Handel admits that there is some information available, but it’s nothing to brag about. Gigantic college books published by The Princeton Review, The College Board, Barron’s, and others go into great detail about the freshman application process, but advice specifically for prospective transfer students is “vague or nonexistent.” Check out the books yourself, and you’ll see that it’s true.

Desperate, Handel tried searching Amazon.com, something that we tried before we started working on our book and website. If you search “transfer admissions” you’ll come up with a hodgepodge of results – most books aren’t even for transfer students. The top search result is a book that we’ve bought and read. We’ve bought others as well. Our suggestion: hold off on these and save your money. Don’t believe us? Go ahead and buy them, but know that we tried to warn you.

The argument is that the lack of transfer-specific information is due to the fact that “it is more complicated to summarize.” Sure, there’s more variation within the pool of transfer applicants than seen in the freshman applicant pool, but so what??!! We shouldn’t be ignored.

I’ll end with some smart questions written by Handel. Make sure you get the answers to these questions as you research the schools you’re interested in:

1. How many transfers are admitted in any given year relative to the number that apply?

2. Do you admit transfer students as sophomores or juniors?

3. How can a student become minimally eligible to transfer to your institution?

4. How can students become competitively eligible for your most popular programs?

Our blog post about transfer friendly colleges can help you get the exact numbers for question 1. To find answers to questions 2 and 3, you can start with college websites. For example, check out the criteria for UC Berkeley transfer applicants here. You should also call the admissions office to ask questions 3 and 4. While you’re at it, make an appointment with an admissions counselor.

It can be scary when there’s so little info for transfer applicants, but you’re not alone. We’ve been there, done that, and succeeded. Many others have done the same, and so can you.

(Photo: gruntzooki)

The College Transfer Admissions Essay: Three Keys

Written by


The big question you have to answer through your essay is basically this: “Why do you want to transfer?” We cover the transfer admissions essay in great detail in the book (with real, successful examples that worked for Stanford, UPenn, Columbia, Cornell, and other schools), but I wanted to follow up on the college essay seminar we’ve just sent out to people on the Five Steps list by giving out a couple of more transfer-specific tips. (Sorry if you’ve missed out on the Five Steps list!). Here, I cover tips that apply to both the Common Application transfer essay and school-specific transfer application essays. When I say, “the transfer admissions essay,” I’m referring to both cases. Some schools don’t even use the Common Application, but these tips are, nevertheless, useful because it’s very likely, if not certain, that those schools will also ask, “Why do you want to transfer?” Calibrate these tips to satisfy the requirements of the particular schools that you’re applying to.

Reflecting on what I wrote in my Stanford transfer application and what I’ve learned from interviewing many other successful transfer students, my biggest tips on writing the transfer application essay are:

(1) Be mature.
(2) Be honest.
(3) Be specific.

(1) Be mature.

When you’re applying as a freshman, it’s expected that you’ll be a bit naive and uncertain about a lot of things. However, as a transfer applicant with some college experience under your belt (you’ll have a whole year of college experience if you’re applying to transfer as a junior), you must be mature and show that you’ve learned from your previous experience. Know what you want out of college and clearly express why the school you’re applying to can give you what you want.

(2) Be honest.

I’ll keep this one short: be honest. That means (a) don’t lie about anything, and (b) if you’re unhappy with your current school for some real reasons, then feel free to let the admissions people know, but don’t be overly negative and/or whiny.

(3) Be specific.

It’s better if what you say in your essay specifically reflects the rest of your application. For example, if you say that you’ve realized that you want to major in journalism, but the closest thing at your current college is English, other parts of your application should clearly show that you’re gung-ho about journalism. In this case, your list of extracurricular activities might show that you were on the staff of the school newspaper.

In explaining why I wanted to go to Stanford in response to one of the school’s supplement short essay prompts, I talked up the economics program at Stanford (AFTER doing my research on the school), and it was clear from the rest of my application that I had a strong interest in economics: I put economics down as my major, my college transcript showed that I had already taken a few economics courses and had done very well in them, AND I had my economics instructors write my recommendation letters. In other words, provide solid evidence to support the reasons behind your desire to transfer.

Concluding Remarks

Overall, stress that your experience at your current college helped you gain a profound understanding of what you want to do (academically/professionally). Show that making the mistake of going to your current school has taught you about the kind of college experience that you really want. Explain that the best way for you to pursue your goals is to transfer to the college of your choice and prove it. And again, (1) be mature, (2) be honest, and (3) be specific.

UPDATE: If you want to see an example of a transfer application essay to UPenn with my analysis, click here.

Thanks for reading! If you have any tips that have worked for you, or if you have any questions, leave them in the comments section below!

Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

College Students Transferring Back to Their Home States in Record Numbers

Written by

Really interesting article in the New Jersey Star Ledger on students transferring back to colleges in their home state for the savings: Savings Draw Collegians to Transfer Back to NJ

It’s unusual to see transfer students get any press, let alone anything so positive. Although the title of the article would lead you to believe the piece is about cost savings, it’s really about how desirable transfer students have become and the consequences of the increased demand for strong transfer students.

Here are the second and third paragraphs of the article:

And as students come home, the college landscape in New Jersey is changing. Once an afterthought in the recruiting process, transfers are now considered prize catches after having proven themselves at institutions across the country.

Colleges are searching for new ways to identify and attract them, including dangling more scholarships and beefing up programs to integrate them into campus life.

Why are transfer applicants so desirable?

Although data is scarce, many school officials believe transfers graduate at a higher rate than students who just finished 12th grade. Transfers have usually settled on a major, they say, and adjusted to a more independent lifestyle.

At Monmouth, the numbers paint a vivid picture: 85 percent of transfer students graduate, compared with 60 percent of those who start as freshmen, said Robert McCaig, vice president for enrollment.

And what are colleges doing to attract more transfer students?

(1) Offering them more money:

Two years ago, Richard Stockton, like several other area schools, started offering academic scholarships to transfers from other four-year schools. They range between $1,000 and $3,000 each year.

“Very aggressive and lucrative merit-based aid has lured people,” he said.

(2) Being more lenient about approving transfer credits:

At many schools, that’s meant more willingness to approve credits received elsewhere — long a thorny proposition.

Many private colleges have “bent over backwards to make sure we’re respecting the coursework our community college transfers have done,” McCaig said. “We’re not so arrogant anymore in the private sector.”

(3) Offering more and better programs to ease their transition:

Once transfers arrive, they find a far more concerted effort to help them integrate into campus life. Last year at William Paterson University, officials launched Transfer Tuesdays, orientation programs on academic support and other topics.

The 2-year-old Transfer Center at the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University in New Brunswick runs a required one-credit seminar to quickly show transfers everything from football games to art museums.

(4) Uh, stalking them?

Seton Hall University, for example, keeps track of which students it accepts straight from high school, but who attend a community college instead. The university sends them letters or e-mails after a year, hoping to coax a transfer. It also purchases lists of members of Phi Beta Kappa, an honors society for community college students.

The one downside to all this for transfer students is that at the same time that colleges seek out more transfer students to admit, it’s not as though the schools necessarily have more room for them:

Eventually, heightened competition among transfers could mean a rise in admissions standards.

At Montclair State University, too full to accommodate many more students, the bar has been raised “ever so slightly,” according to admissions director Jason Langdon.

At one time, “if you had a 2.5, you were in. No discussion,” he said.

Now, his office looks at transcripts more carefully.

Overall, great article, even though it’s not really about savings, as the headline would imply.

Are you guys noticing more talk about transferring anywhere? Do you think transferring is a rising trend? Post your comments below!

Also, please send us your personal stories or any articles you find! We’re happy to post them up on this blog. We take a look at everything sent to us, and do our best to respond personally.

Bonus College Admissions Essay Seminar for People on the 5 Steps List

Written by

[UPDATE: We’re extending the deadline and sending the audio and slides out August 29, since we just sent out a big, 10-page-plus item to a lot of members on the list and we don’t want to overload them (don’t worry if you haven’t received it yet and you’re on the list, you’ll get it after the five steps). Sign up to the right if you want to receive the presentation!]

Lan was asked to do a special guest seminar on writing the college application essay for a major non-profit in NYC that helps high-achieving students from low-income families get into college. She’s modest, so I’m the one writing to let you know that the presentation is amazing. It’s geared for freshman applicants (rising seniors in high school), but there’s a TON of valuable information to use for writing your transfer application essay.

Here’s a 2.5 minute sneak preview:

The full 19 minute audio (with slides!) will be sent out in the next week or so ONLY to people who have signed up to receive the Five Steps to Transfer Success (sign-up sheet on the right). We’re keeping this exclusive because Lan actually uses some fairly personal examples that we just don’t want to broadcast to everyone out there.

Check out some of the feedback she got after the talk!

Feedback:


You made us understand what colleges look for in an essay. I am now confident that I will be able to write a very good essay. This workshop was very helpful and really gave everybody hope.
Anonymous, The Hotchkiss School

I thought this presentation was extremely informative. I have learned many useful and important skills that will follow me for the rest of my life.
Dennis, Fryeburg Academy

You were great! Phenomenal. Couldn’t be any better.
Ashley, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School

The speaker was impressive. The given information could be useful for years to come. She was highly engaging and encouraging.
Saran, Saint Michael Academy

Are There “Transfer Friendly” Colleges Out There?

Written by

(Photo: lissalou66)

Yes, there are “transfer friendly” colleges out there. When deciding on which schools to apply to transfer to, it’s worth taking a few minutes to check out a wide range of the schools you might be interested in applying to (before you start narrowing it down) and to think about two points: (1) the school’s interest in accepting transfer students and (2) what support the school provides for transfers.

(1) Does the school actively court transfer students or not?

The first point can help you to decide if the school is within your reach. A school’s admission rate can be a good start if you have absolutely no idea of your chances. As an example, let’s look up Vanderbilt’s transfer acceptance rate:

  • Go to www.collegeboard.com
  • Under ‘Search by college name’, type ‘Vanderbilt’
  • Click on ‘Admission’
  • Look at the data under ‘Transfer Students’

In 2008, 533 students applied to transfer and 298 were accepted. That means that 55.9% of all fall transfer applicants were accepted. That’s huge! Compare that to, say, Stanford’s 2008 transfer acceptance rate of 2.1%. Just judging from this basic information, it looks like Vanderbilt might be a school that’s really interested in taking in transfer students.

[UPDATE: We added Fall 2008 transfer acceptance rates at 50 top colleges here. You can also get there by clicking on the “Stats” tab at the top of the page.]

The transfer acceptance rate of a school is only part of the story, however: what if a lot of students that entered as freshmen simply left Vanderbilt in later years, thus opening up all those spaces for transfers? In this case, the high transfer acceptance rate could be less about the transfer friendliness of the school and more about the school simply having a lot of space to fill.

The truth looks like it’s somewhere in between. In an article in Vanderbilt’s student newspaper, the high transfer acceptance rate is in large part due to Vanderbilt completing a special residence hall that all freshman are required to live in. That residence hall, however, can fit 40-60 less freshmen than the normal freshman class and those 40-60 slots can now be filled by transfer students. The article does, however, also quote a dean there who has some very good things to say about transfer students. So the higher transfer acceptance rate is due both to a welcoming policy toward transfers, as well as some space opening up.

Should the transfer acceptance rate affect your decision to apply to a school? Ideally, not too much. Whether or not you apply to a school should really be based on what you’re looking for in a school (whether it has a strong department in your chosen major, and offers you the opportunities and facilities you need to succeed) and whether or not your profile (interests, GPA, and, if applicable, test scores) fits what that school is looking for. If you are up to a school’s standards and have good reason to transfer to it (such as any of the many successful real stories mentioned in the book), the overall acceptance rate shouldn’t affect your approach too much either way. Again, just use the acceptance rate as a basic, first-sweep indicator of what schools might be more transfer friendly than others.

In practice, however, students love looking at the admissions rates, and it does affect where they apply to. I recently talked with Robert, who will attend the University of Pennsylvania as a transfer student beginning this fall (he did his freshman year at Northwestern):

Lan: You mentioned that Penn has a relatively high rate of transfer admission. Did that affect your decision to apply there? Did you think that applying there would increase your chances of getting accepted?

Robert: Yeah, actually I did. I originally wasn’t even going to apply to Penn, but my sister said, “You should apply to Penn. It’s known to have a good transfer rate.”

(2) Does the school offer some kind of support to transfers once they’re in?

One quick and basic way to find out is to see if there’s a student organization devoted to transfer students. Let’s look at how we can find out more about the level of transfer friendliness at Brown University:

  • Go to www.brown.edu
  • To the right of ‘Life on Campus’, click on ‘Student Groups’
  • Click on ‘Browse Organizations’
  • Scroll through the list or try searching for ‘transfer’
  • You’ll find ‘Organization of Transfer Students, Brown (BOTS)’

Under this organization’s name, there’s even the email address of the group contact. This person is very likely a transfer student (and possibly a transfer counselor) who may be happy to provide answers to questions about transfer students at Brown.

I spoke with Bryce, who transferred from Hampshire College to Brown University. She was heavily involved in the Brown Organization of Transfer Students, serving as a student-counselor to new transfer students. She said that Brown has a great transfer community. She explained that when she came in as a sophomore, the message was: “Just acclimate yourself to Brown and just pretend like you never transferred. Just pretend that you’re the same as everyone else.”

However, she and several other transfer students worked hard to create a stronger support system for transfers. The message then became: “You’re a transfer student and that’s part of your identity as a Brown student. You should celebrate that and take part in the transfer community. Make it a part of your experience rather than try to ignore it.” If you’re someone that wants a little extra support once you’re in as a transfer student, a transfer environment like the one at Brown might be for you.

For more information on what a really transfer-friendly environment would look like, check out our in-depth spotlight on the College of William & Mary.

You can follow the above steps to dig up even more info on schools you’re interested in. This is the second college you’ll be going to. Now that you’re older and wiser, take the time to do the research to find a school that’s really the best fit. There’s one out there for you. Happy researching!

If you found this useful, please comment and/or pass this on! Thanks!

Photo by Keming Tan on Unsplash

Transferring Colleges: Three Ways to Overcome a Weak High School GPA

Written by

The question: How can I overcome a weak high school GPA if I want to transfer to a school with high academic standards?

My high school transcript was pretty weak for the school that I was shooting to transfer to. I got Cs in two math courses, and Bs in a host of others (even in courses that I considered myself good at, like English). Further, I got a 1 on my French AP exam (which is what you would get if you just wrote your name on the test and did nothing else), and low scores in the other AP tests I took (2s and 3s mostly). How could I get around my weak high school performance to transfer to Dartmouth?  And this is a school where 45% of accepted freshmen this year were the valedictorians of their high school classes (see here).

There are really just three ways to overcome weak high school performance:

(1) Make sure your grades are better overall
(2) Focus on what you are really good at
(3) Confront your weakness head on

(1) Make sure your grades are better overall

First, I made sure my grades at my current college were beyond reproach. I only got one B (and it was a B+!) at my first college, which I’ll discuss below in a second. I also stayed at my first college two years before applying to transfer out (applying in the fall of my second year of my college career), to provide myself with a longer period to prove myself and establish a solid record of improvement.

Your grades should show a consistently improving trend. If, for example, you were a B student in high school, and that prevented you from getting into the college you really wanted to go to the first time around, you want to show that you’re pulling off consistent As at whatever college you’re at. It will prove that you’re more than ready for your first choice school.

Take a look at the average high school GPAs for accepted students at each school you’re interested in transferring to (the school admissions websites will have the info), and make sure you’re well within or above that range.

Besides getting better grades all around, there are just two further strategies you can pursue to overcome a weak high school transcript: (2) focusing on your passions and doing really well at those, and/or (3) confronting your weakness(es) head on. I did a little bit of both when transferring myself, so I’ll talk about what I did on each side.

(2) Focus on what you are really good at

I knew that (at the time, anyway) I was interested in classical history (the Greeks and the Romans), so I made sure I was really good at any courses I took in that subject. I also demonstrated my interest outside the classroom in several ways.

First, I saw a flier one day for a scholarship that would pay for an undergraduate to go on a classical archaeological dig (which besides being right in my area of interest, just sounded really cool too), and so I applied and, luckily, got the scholarship (more on applying for scholarships in the future). Second, I also participated in a one-on-one research project with a professor (which really helped him write a strong letter of recommendation for me later on, since we knew each other so well by the end of the project). Finally, I also took a summer school course in classics after my first year (that I got an A+ in).

If your high school GPA was dragged down by the fact that you’re just not good at certain subjects, then one way to improve your GPA would be to simply not take those courses at your current college and instead focus on what you’re really passionate in.

History is full of examples of tremendously accomplished people that were very bad at certain things. We just don’t hear about how, for example, Richard Feynman was horrible at English and philosophy because, frankly, who cares given that he won the Nobel Prize in physics and accomplished so many other things?

In fact, one could argue that, in many cases, the intense focus these people applied on the one or two things they really cared about—to the exclusion of so much else—is what made them so great in the first place.

If you’re interested in transferring, you should have a better sense of what you’re interested in than a high school applicant would, since you’re (likely) at least a little older, and you’ve (definitely) had the chance to take college level courses.

Take more courses in the major you’re leaning toward and really excel in them. You should also get involved in activities that reflect your academic interest. Do research with a professor. Even if you may not be good at other subjects, you can still blow the admissions officers away at the topics you are good at.

(3) Confront your weakness head on

So I mentioned at the beginning that I got a 1 on the AP French exam. Other weak subjects aside, that one really bugged me, since I wanted to be good at a second language and the 1 was really embarrassing to me since, again, it’s what anyone could get on the test by just writing their name.

So I sucked it up and took Intermediate French at my college. Not even low-level French, but the hardest level of French I could hope to take and not completely fail. I mustered up all  the study skills I could, using flash cards and whatever other tools I found that would get the information into my head, and I worked like a demon that whole quarter.

…and I got a B+. Not exactly the A that I was hoping for and that would demonstrate really extreme improvement, but not bad nonetheless. In my application essay I pointed out the 1 I got on my French AP exam (instead of just ignoring it, leaving the admissions office to wonder what happened there), explained to them why I did so poorly on the test the first time around, and showed them how I took the course at a high level in college and pushed myself to do pretty well in an area I was otherwise weak at.

If you want to be really impressive (which you’ll have to be if you want to stand out to a super-competitive school), you can directly confront any areas of particular weakness on your high school transcript at the college you’re currently at. For example, if you got a bad grade in a high school math class, take a college math course or one that uses a lot of math and absolutely crush that course. Then you can highlight how although you had troubles with math that hurt your high GPA when you were applying to colleges as a freshman, you’ve directly overcome that weakness. This is obviously a hard thing to do since you’re trying to succeed where you once slipped up, but there’s no more direct and indisputable way to show that you’re a stronger applicant, and a stronger person.

Now what if you take that course in college and unfortunately don’t do well in it yet again? First of all, do everything you can in your power to avoid messing up in the class. If transferring to a particular, hard-to-get-into school is important to you, and if your desire to improve in this area of weakness is genuine and strong enough, we think there’s no way you won’t work hard enough to improve.

But maybe something horrible happens on the day of exam—there are always things that are out of our control—and you still don’t do well in that course. Explain in your application what went wrong, and still stress the point that you were willing to take on a subject or course that you didn’t do well in in high school knowing full well how it would look on your transfer application if you missed your goal. Your willingness to challenge yourself so directly is still incredibly impressive.

So to summarize, this is how you overcome a weak high school GPA:

(1) Make sure your grades are better overall at your first college than they were in high school
(2) Really excel at the areas you are good at/interested in
(3) If you want to really blow them away, do your best to overcome particularly weak areas

If you found this useful, please comment and/or pass this on! Thanks!

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

How to Get a Free Transfer Admissions Consultation… From the College That You’re Applying To

Written by

(Photo: jessemichaelnix)

People spend a ton of time and sometimes a ton of money trying to guess what a school is looking for… here’s a tip: why don’t you just ask them?

Try simply callingeach of the schools you’re interested in and make an appointment to speak with an admissions counselor either in person or over the phone.

Tell them a little bit about your background (where you’re from, why you’re interested in transferring), and then ask for tips about how to make yourself stand out or how to show that you’re a good fit for the school (assuming that you’ve done your research and really think that you are a good fit).

Of course, the counselor can’t tell you if you will get in or not, but you will hear directly from the people evaluating your application exactly what you need to do to stand out to them.

Rather than being seen as a negative, we’ve heard from admissions counselors that taking action like this can only boost your chances, because not only are you learning exactly what the decision-makers are looking for, you’re demonstrating some impressive initiative by being thoughtful enough to do the obvious thing that no one does and just talking to them!

Looking back, I wish someone gave me this advice when I was applying to transfer. But I did make the call when I was applying to graduate school at Columbia.

When I met with the admissions counselor, I brought in copies of my resume and transcripts and talked about my goals and why I was interested in the program. The counselor not only gave me a better sense of the school, but he also gave me pointers on what to highlight in my application essay. I left the appointment feeling more confident and more directed because I was able to see a part of the admissions process from an insider’s point of view.

Admissions counselors are there to help you. Make use of them.

If you found this useful, please comment and/or pass this on! Thanks!

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash