Advertisement

CSU Acceptance Rate for Transfers

Have you been trying to get all the information you can on csu acceptance rate for transfers? Have you been able to get all the information you want? If you haven’t, you need not get worried. The article below brings you the information you are looking for.

Advertisement

You will also discover up to date related posts on csu acceptance rate for transfers, easiest colleges to get into, hardest colleges to get into, colleges with low acceptance rate, high acceptance rate colleges, easy big schools to get into, colleges that don’t require sat or act scores & colleges with low entry requirements on collegelearners.

Cal State L.A. plan to raise admissions standards faces pushback from  students and faculty - Los Angeles Times

About Hardest Colleges to Get into

SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips
College Transfer Acceptance Rates: Which Schools Accept the Most Students?

Posted by Melissa Brinks | Oct 4, 2020 12:00:00 PM
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

feature_university-1

Transferring from one school to another is a wise or even necessary choice for many students, but it’s not without obstacles. College transfer acceptance rates are actually lower than freshman acceptance rates, meaning competition is higher.

This might sound like it’s cause for alarm, but, like applying as a freshman, it just means you need to be prepared.

If you need or want to transfer but aren’t sure where to go, check out some of the colleges with the best transfer acceptance rates.

Why Is the Acceptance Rate Lower for Transfer Students?
Knowing the reasons transfer acceptance rates are lower will help you better understand what schools are looking for. You can address these concerns about transfer students in your essay, demonstrating that you’re a great candidate. Don’t panic—it’s not impossible to be a successful transfer student!

body_frustratedReading transfer rates might make you feel like this, but don’t get discouraged!

Because transfer students have already proven that they can succeed in a college setting, it seems counterintuitive that their acceptance rates would be lower. However, due to a lack of information on transfer student graduation rates as well as many misconceptions about transfer students, it’s only recently that colleges have begun to court them.

In the past, many colleges assumed that accepting transfer students would lower graduation rates. The truth is that transfer students and students who start at a four-year school have the same graduation rate of 60%.

The difference is that only 28% of community college students overall graduate within four years, and 60% of them never transfer. The low graduation and transfer rates might signal to colleges that community college students in particular aren’t ready for four-year education, despite their graduation rate being the same as that of four-year students.

Transfer students also tend to take more time to graduate, which is often because they aren’t enrolled full-time—many work or care for families while in school. Another common belief among colleges was that students who attended community college instead of a four-year university right after high school did so because they weren’t ready for a four-year education academically.

As time has gone on, studies have shown that even top-scoring community college students don’t move on to four-year schools, suggesting that it’s not academic readiness, but rather some other obstacle—money being one of the biggest.

Many transfer students are at lower income brackets than students who enroll directly at four-year universities. Low-income students typically have lower enrollment rates, but without surveying students directly, colleges might have assumed that transfer students just weren’t ready for universities.

In fact, one of the many reasons that transfer school enrollment was lower for low-income students is that many schools lacked scholarships and grants for incoming transfers, raising the financial burden.

Coupled with many credits not transferring and therefore requiring more classes at a higher cost, the financial burden on low-income students was simply too high for a long time. However, things are changing—many schools have created pathways for students to move from community college to four-year schools with few obstacles.

body_positive-2Good news! College transfer acceptance rates are improving!

Why Are College Transfer Acceptance Rates Changing?
There are a couple reasons that colleges are now beginning to accept transfer students at higher rates.

One of the largest is that undergraduate enrollment has decreased, leaving more room for transfer students to take those spots. With lower undergrad enrollment, colleges need to find a way to make up the difference, and two years of tuition from a transfer student is more beneficial to colleges than having no tuition at all.

But an even bigger reason is that elite colleges have a reputation as having largely homogeneous student bodies. Princeton admitted its first transfer students recently, which serves to add diversity to a college typically seen as white and wealthy.

So though admission rates for transfer students are lower than rates for freshmen, that doesn’t mean you’re up against insurmountable odds. The processes for transfer students are changing, and planning ahead will protect you from many of the common obstacles transfer students run into.

How Many Transfer Students Get In?
Transfer acceptance rates vary among schools. Some, like Princeton, are just now beginning to accept transfer students after decades of having policies against them. Almost half of all college students enroll in two-year public schools, and 37% of all college students transfer at some point in their education.

According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), in 2010 the transfer acceptance rate was 64% overall. In the last eight years, however, significant strides have been made to simplify the process for transfer students of all kinds.

Of all two-year college students who transfer, some 42% go on to earn a bachelor’s degree—a substantial increase over the number of all two-year college students (around 13%) who earn a bachelor’s degree. That’s actually slightly higher than the national average for earning a bachelor’s degree within four years.

However, just 33% of students transfer within six years, extending the time they spend in school.

Again, while all this looks bleak, it’s important to note that things are improving. With programs designed to smooth the process for transfer students by providing transparency about credit transfer, more financial assistance, and more interest in courting these students, rates are improving overall.

body_college-9If you want this to be your study space, plan early.

Which Schools Have the Highest Transfer Acceptance Rates?
Planning to transfer colleges is much like planning to attend a four-year school straight out of high school. You should develop a list of potential colleges to transfer to so that you can attend the school that best suits your needs—and having a variety of schools with different transfer acceptance rates is a great way to do that.

Because there used to be some stigma that transfer students weren’t ready for a four-year education, there’s sometimes an assumption that transferring prevents you from getting into good schools.

Though many Ivy League colleges do have extremely limited transfer programs, there are still many top universities that readily accept transfer applications. In fact, one of them (UCLA) is both a top-ranked school and one of the biggest accepters of transfer students.

The majority of college applicants are high school seniors, and most of the college application advice out there is aimed at them. But what do you do if you don’t fall into this narrow category? Our eBook on how to prepare for and apply to college as a nontraditional student will walk you through everything you need to know, from the coursework you should have under your belt to how to get letters of recommendation when you’re not a high school senior.

Get eBook Now!

Read on to find out which schools accept the most students and what acceptance rates the top schools have!

20 Schools That Accept the Most Transfer Students
The biggest reason some schools have higher transfer percentages is that they’ve instituted programs to make that pathway easier. Often, these schools will partner with local community colleges through articulation agreements, which help ensure that more credits transfer appropriately.

About High Acceptance Rate colleges

The following schools take some of the most transfer students in the US.

School Transfer Acceptance Rate Number of Transfer Students Admitted
UMD University College 99% 18,716
San Francisco State University 66% 11,168
CSU Long Beach 33% 11,128
CSU Northridge 55% 11,417
CSU Los Angeles 47% 10,062
University of Central Florida 59% 8,790
UC Davis 55% 9,764
Florida International University 76% 10,074
Cal Poly Pomona 59% 10,254
CSU Fullerton 40% 10,331
San Jose State University 67% 10,941
University of Houston 87% 7,761
University of South Florida 59% 8,774
UCLA 22% 5,538
San Diego State University 23% 5,979
Texas State University 77% 5,111
University of North Texas 64% 4,490
University of Texas at Arlington 69% 4,199
CSU Sacramento 67% 3,579
Liberty University 30% 1,338

UMD University College, which has a whopping transfer acceptance rate of 99%, has partnerships with all 16 community colleges in the state, as well as 90 more throughout the US.

Transfer Students | Admissions | Colorado State University

Likewise, the University of Central Florida has a variety of programs intended to make the transfer process smoother, including guaranteed admission for students at many colleges.

If you can, find a school partnered with your current college to make the entire transfer process easier. Instead of worrying about classes that don’t match up and lost credits, you’ll know which courses you need to take and when.

If these programs aren’t available, you’ll have to make your own. Do as much research as you can as early as possible to avoid losing credits or running into other obstacles while trying to transfer schools.

body_harvard-5Top schools are taking more transfer students today than they did in the past.

Transfer Rates at Top 20 Schools
Just like acceptance rates at top universities, transfer rates to schools such as Princeton and Harvard are very low.

Princeton previously accepted no transfer students at all, but since 2017 has been accepting just a handful of students per year. Princeton isn’t the only one—more and more schools are increasing their outreach to college transfer students.

Here are the transfer acceptance rates at the US News top-ranked national universities:

School Ranking Transfer Acceptance Rate Number of Transfer Students Admitted
Princeton University 1 ⁠<1% 13
Harvard University 2 <1% 17
Columbia University 3 5% 176
MIT 4 3% 19
Yale University 4 2% 27
Stanford University 6 <1% 24
University of Chicago 6 5% 33
University of Pennsylvania 8 7% 205
Northwestern University 9 15% 367
Johns Hopkins University 9 11% 156
Caltech 9 6% 6
Duke University 12 <5% 26
Dartmouth College 13 4% 24
Brown University 14 3% 77
Vanderbilt University 14 22% 383
Rice University 16 7% 23
Washington U in St. Louis 16 23% 238
Cornell University 18 13% 682
University of Notre Dame 19 30% 229
UCLA 20 22% 5,538

These top schools are selective but definitely not impossible to get into. Vanderbilt has a 22% acceptance rate for transfer students, and UCLA takes more than 5,000 transfer students per year, despite its low acceptance rate.

Though you’ll need to be truly exceptional to make it into Harvard or Princeton as a transfer student, that’s also true of applying straight out of high school. If you want to make it into the Ivy League, plan early and make your application stand out, and always apply to multiple schools.

With a strong enough application, you’ll have your choice of schools to pick from, regardless of how low or high their acceptance rates are.

body_confident-2Get your application in order and you’ll be feeling great about transferring.

About Colleges with Low Entry Requirements

How to Boost Your Transfer Acceptance Chances: 4 Tips
Even though all this information can help you better understand the transfer process, acceptance isn’t just up to luck. With lower acceptance rates overall, you’ll need a highly polished application to stand apart from everybody else.

1: Prepare Early

The #1 thing you can do to make your transfer process easier is to start early.

If you’re attending community college, begin thinking about what schools you’ll want to transfer to and work with an advisor to create an academic plan. If you’re transferring for other reasons, such as a program change or because you’re in the military, start doing some research right away.

It’s far better to do some unnecessary work in looking up school requirements than to realize your credits won’t transfer and there’s no way to fix it. The sooner you start, the more time you have to create a transfer plan that’s going to benefit you in the long run.

2: Coordinate With Transfer Schools

The easiest way to transfer schools is to find a school that’s part of an articulation agreement with your current college. These agreements mean there are already clear guidelines for what courses transfer and which don’t, eliminating some of the hassle and worry for you.

If there’s no articulation agreement and your schools aren’t in contact with each other, then see whether your new school has a transfer department you can coordinate with. The more information you can get for what credits will transfer and which won’t, the better off you’ll be.

Getting in touch early, even if you’re not accepted, can give you a clearer idea of what your next college will expect and help you plan out your time at your current school more efficiently.

3: Treat Your Application as If You’re a Freshman

While it might seem as though transfer students should have an edge in college admissions since they already have some experience, that’s not necessarily true.

Don’t assume you’re going to have an easier time applying—treat your application with the same care and thoughtfulness you would if you were a freshman trying to make your first good impression.

The further removed you are from high school, the less your high school grades and test scores matter. You can replace them with college grades if you have them. Your letters of recommendation should be from college professors rather than high school teachers, as well.

But keep in mind that admissions is still competitive and you’ll need to make an effort to stand out. Take your application seriously, and treat it as if they won’t be impressed by your prior experience as a college student—they should be impressed by you and your journey as a student, not just that you have college courses under your belt.

4: Write a Great Essay

Essays aren’t the most important factor when transferring schools, but they are a great place to flesh out your application.

In your essay, address your reasons for transferring—but stay positive. Instead of framing any dissatisfaction with your current school as a negative (e.g., “The gym is old and crumbling, and there are no nice places to study on campus”), focus on the positives of the school you’re applying to (e.g., “[College]’s facilities consistently impress me—it’s not hard to see myself making friends on the tennis court or curling up with a book in the library”).

Follow all the best practices for writing college essays, but do be sure to fold in your own college experience if you can. Why transfer now? Why transfer to this school in particular? What have you learned from your time in college, and what do you hope to learn in the coming years of your program? You should be able to confidently answer all these questions, even if they don’t come up in your essay.

What’s Next?
Getting your transfer application in order can be confusing. What do you need? What don’t you need? This guide has all the info on whether or not you need your SAT scores to transfer.

Even if you don’t dream of attending an Ivy League, a Harvard-worthy application will make you a shoo-in for other colleges. Learn more about crafting an amazing Ivy League application!

Transfer students need to be just as judicious about choosing the right college as those entering college right out of high school. You’ll need a good list of schools to apply to, and this guide can help!

Want to build the best possible college application?

We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world’s best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We’ve overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League.

We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools.

Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

Get Into Your Top Choice School

Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article!
TweetShare

Melissa Brinks
About the Author
Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor’s in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

Get Free Guides
to Boost Your SAT/ACT

Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT.
100% Privacy. No spam ever.
Student and Parent Forum

Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com, allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like