<p>I'm talking to a friend who will be starting his freshman year of college this fall about the possibility of transferring. He is telling me that he's going in with an open mind but that he is going to start getting his stuff together for transfer applications regardless because he doesn't want to be stuck there after the first year if he doesn't like it. I'm confused about this whole process, so I want some clarification.</p>
<p>1) When are transfer applications typically due? He thinks they're due around the same time as other applications (the first of the year or so), so he has to have decided whether or not he wants to transfer by around October. I seem to have it in my mind that they're due in March to transfer for the following fall, but I may be wrong.</p>
<p>2) Do most schools require a minimum number of transfer credits? In other words, is it possible to apply to most schools (Ivy and top-tiers included, selective though they may be) after the first semester of your freshman year at another school? Will you have to start over as a freshman the following fall, or do they accept those credits? Will he probably be stuck at his school for sophomore year if he doesn't end up liking it?</p>
<p>Hello there! Hope that I can be of some assistance being an aspiring transfer student myself.</p>
<p>The deadline for transfer applicants varies from school to school. Depending on which semester you are applying for, most universities typically share in common March 1st for the Fall semester deadline. You will find that most universities do not accept transfers for the Spring semester.</p>
<p>It is to my understanding that 30 transferable semester units is typically the basic minimum to transfer, with the maximum being no more than around 60-75. The figures may be off a bit, and feel free to correct me if such is the case, but I have found this to be the trend in most tier 1 universities - LAC’s and ivies alike. This trend however does not apply to UC’s.</p>
<p>In short, if your friend is opting for one of the many universities that follows this trend, he will most likely matriculate as a sophomore, or even as a junior, assuming that he gets accepted. There is no universal answer to your questions, however, I am certain that you too will see the pattern by doing your admissions research.</p>
<p>Hope that covered everything. Feel free to PM me if you have any further questions.</p>
<p>1) Transfer Applications, from what I’ve seen, are either rolling or March-ish for following fall semester. Some schools, like Taylor University, waive the application fee if you apply earlier, though. Many schools, like Vanderbilt University, do not accept Spring Transfers.</p>
<p>2) Some schools do. University of Florida requires that a student have either an Associate’s Degree, 60 semester hours or 90 quarter-hours to transfer. They don’t accept “lower-level” transfers. Yes, there is a maximum you can transfer as well, since many schools require half, or 60 hours to be earned there. Other schools, like Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, only allow 1 transferred course to be put towards a minor. Essentially a school doesn’t want to confer a major or minor if you didn’t earn it from that university. Usually “Gen-Ed” requirements are easier to transfer. But this is not alwaysthe case. Vanderbilt University is very picky about their AXLE/Gen-Ed Liberal Arts Curriculum. AP credits may not satisfy AXLE, certain transfer credit cannot (i.e. summer transfer)… each school is different.</p>