<p>For which does a student have a better chance of admission at Harvard (or in general, for that matter): HS Senior applicant or transfer student?</p>
<p>High school student has better chance.</p>
<p>
from [Yale</a> Daily News - Harvard says it will accept fewer transfer students](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20363]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20363)</p>
<p>(you’d think google would come up with something from the Crimson)</p>
<p>…this makes me shake with fear.</p>
<p>I’m a transfer applicant. :(</p>
<p>Yes, the odds are much tougher for transfer applicants.</p>
<p>transferring is statistically harder: acceptance for freshmen is about 9 - 10%
for transfers it is 3 - 4%</p>
<p>but i have no idea what the quality of the applicant pools are relative to each other, so these stats don’t necessarily mean anything.</p>
<p>Fitzsimmons told me that it’s relatively easier to break down the transfer app pool than freshman because there are quite a few who apply when they probably shouldn’t be applying. So I guess they narrow it down to about 100…then it’s crunch (and dream crushing) time. </p>
<p>Freshman applicants are probably a lot stronger, but they have more room. Though I don’t know much about that.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen the transfer applicant pool. But I did meet every student who transferred into Harvard between 1997 and 2002. The median qualifications of the admitted transfers are INSANE. I knew plenty of amazing people who got in as freshmen. But when I met the other transfers, it was like, what the (*$# am I doing in this group? Honestly, I’m glad I didn’t know what this group was like before I applied, because I might have chickened out, and that would have been one of the great mistakes of my life.</p>
<p>great…just splendid.</p>