Admissions Committees - What they are looking for

Transfer Students
1

<p>What are admissions committees really assessing in a transfer application? Specifically, what is the order of importance of:</p>

<li>College Transcript</li>
<li>Recommendations</li>
<li>College EC’s</li>
<li>High School Transcript</li>
<li>High School Rec’s (<<is this important?)</li>
<li>High School EC’s</li>
<li>ACT/SAT</li>
<li>The college you currently attend</li>
<li>If you applied to that college last year and was denied/waitlisted-denied</li>
</ol>

<p>Are there other factors that are important to a transfer application?</p>

2

<p>Depends on school. For example, UCs don't even look at #2, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #9.</p>

<p>However, let's just say a school looks at all the factors, the order (IMO) would be:</p>

<p>1, 3, 8, 7, 4, 6, 2, 9</p>

<p>I doubt any schools look at #5, but i may be wrong.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, each school is unique. In addition, your specific standing as a student makes a difference for many college admission boards, especially during transfer requests. For example, if you're applying for sophomore transfer your high school stats will be weighed with more scrutiny and importance compared with a student applying for junior admission. In addition, each field can be variable to a wide variety of factors, especially since everyone's situation is incredibly unique. I'd think a general rule of thumb without considering the personal story of the applicant may be as follows:</p>

<p>College GPA (taking into consideration the applicant's number of college hours, rigor of classes, major, academic prowess of school attending)</p>

<p>College ECs (including time commitment, research, special talents, leadership positions, work experience, and special recognition or awards received) *I would place college ECs over high school grades and scores only for junior transfers</p>

<p>High School Trans (Class rank/strength of schedule)</p>

<p>SATs/ACT (dependent on length of time in college, college performance, and how long ago the test was taken)</p>

<p>High School ECs (for those applying as a sophomore transfer)</p>

<p>Essay</p>

<p>College Recs (high school recs won't be as important. Many schools actually require at least one rec from a college professor. However, it couldn't hurt to supplement your application with past recs in addition to current ones)</p>

<p>Race and Socio/Eco factors (may weigh more depending on applicants’ specific income level, race, and school in consideration)</p>

<p>*In state residence also very important for some schools esp. publics!
*Some universities take into consideration whether you've previously applied or visited their campus</p>