It’s apparently become much more common in recent years for students to transfer between colleges. Apparently about one third of people who’ve been admitted to college will eventually graduate from a different college. What factors whether students successfully transfer? According to a piece in Inside Higher Ed, it depends on the institution. Scott Jaschik writes that:
[I]n some key respects, private colleges are much more likely than publics to pay attention to factors commonly associated with a first undergraduate admission and with a more individual review — including test scores, high school quality, personal essays and interviews. In many of these areas, it is only a minority of private colleges that care, but these factors are negligible at most public institutions.
The majority of transfer applicants (64 percent, slightly lower than freshman applicants) are admitted and while in all cases it’s postsecondary grades and course rigor that matter most, private colleges are more likely to pay attention to things like the essays, the letters of recommendation, and the interview.
The information in the Jaschik article comes from a study recently released by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. View the report here.
