I’m interested in applying as a transfer student to some colleges I was denied at as a senior in high school. Will the university be able to pull up in their system if you applied and were denied as a first year student? What about if you applied previously to transfer? I realize the chances of being accepted as a transfer having already been rejected as a junior are slim, but my grades in college are stellar.
Looking into a few ivys (Stanford, Penn, Dartmouth, Harvard) and Stanford primarily.
I doubt they keep your app once you’ve been denied (for Stanford that would mean hanging on to 40K apps per year. I believe they will look at your transfer app with new eyes every year. Good luck
Not so, Erin’s Dad. Colleges will hold records (it’s just digital, anyways) – I understand it’s 3 years – for exact situations such as this: gap year students or transfers.
The supplements on many transfer applications will ask if you have previously applied. The good news is that some colleges retain scores, too, which spares you from having to pay twice to send the same standardized testing results.
Congratulations on the strong start! However, as you seem to be aware, undergraduate transfers can be limited at many elite schools - so just keep your expectations in-check.
My DS wanted to go to Notre Dame for his bachelors, but was not accepted. DS didn’t kick it into gear until Sophomore year in HS, so his GPA was a little low for their standards. To compound matters, he was an accounting major and ND doesn’t accept any transfers into the business school, so transferring was never an option.
He went on to a public ivy and graduated magna cum laude. However, things have a way of working out - he was accepted at ND for his masters with a generous scholarship and graduated this spring with honors. So now he is a proud alum of two great schools with fantastic networks!
I believe they do keep records, but if you feel you want to give it a shot, why not? Just keep in mind that you will be giving up a situation where you are excelling in the classroom and probably already have a set group of friends, activities etc. so give it a lot of thought before you consider a move. For some people transferring is a great move, for others it may not be.
And my S had a similar experience to the above – he was able to parlay his excellent undergrad track record into getting into a MS program at Notre Dame and it worked out great for him as well.
Interesting. That’s a lot of records to capture and hold.
Another reason that records are retained is in case of later questions about a student’s record. You might recall the case of Adam Wheeler, the transfer student to Harvard who faked his transcript and rec letters. He was caught when he tried to apply for post-graduate fellowships with more fake credentials, which is when Harvard officials went back and audited his application.
But in that case he was admitted so they would have a reason to keep his application.
They do keep all records for 3 years, and as it is all scanned, it does not take up much “space” on computers or servers in the cloud.
Here’s an FAQ from the Notre Dame website for transfer applicants:
"I applied to transfer to Notre Dame before, and was not admitted. Can I apply again?
The Admissions Office retains First Year and Transfer applications for two years.
If you’ve applied for First Year admission within the past two years, your freshman application materials will be included in your transfer file. You don’t need to resend official standardized test scores unless you’ve retaken the exams."
Every school may have their own policy. I used to work at a university where admission records were kept electronically, and yes, we kept every application for admission. However, that could also help applicants, because we automatically knew which “checklist” items were already received (like test scores or transcripts) and we wouldn’t require them to be re-submitted.
If you applied ED, was accepted, and broke the agreement, a college would want to know. No chance of acceptance in that scenario.
@college_query In cases where checklist items were matched, did the student indicate (s)he was a previous applicant or did the university auto-match the new application with previous ones?
“having already been rejected as a junior”
Is OP saying he already tried an app for a junior year transfer and was denied? That would be some heavy ‘writing on the wall.’ And schools generally want you for more than senior year.
Is that what you mean, OP? Tried to transfer as a college Jr? Time to give it up.
Otherwise Stanford takes very few transfers and those transfers have extremely impressive resumes, one recent woman won the Mongol Derby horse race, impressive military service, musical genius etc. If you have amazing accomplishments, they won’t care that you didn’t get in as a freshman.
Stats for Fall 2015
number accepted: 20
accept rate: 1%
http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/profile.html
same with Harvard.
Agreed.
Time to give it up-you risk looking like a fool.
@newbie1616 - applicants could identify themselves as having attended before, but did not identify if they had merely applied before. They were auto-matched to their prior applications through matches in name, date of birth, SSN (if provided), HS attended, etc.
@lookingforward I apologize for the wording. I was rejected as a high school applicant, not transfer. I mean to say, I realize the chances of successfully transferring in as a junior are slim given I was rejected as a first-year admit. I have not applied to this school as a transfer yet.
@BrownParent I have good accomplishments. Much better involvements than the profile I had as a high school student.
YES, colleges keep all applications for one year. If you applied as a high school senior and you were denied, then when you apply during your college freshman year to be a transfer, the college CAN SEE your original denied application. However, if you wait and apply to transfer during your college sophomore year, you are basically a “new” applicant and only your college grades/scores and college EC’s are seen.
However, the application will ask if you have ever applied before! Be truthful b/c even if they don’t save your old (denied) application, they very well may save your name on a list of previously denied applicants. But don’t fret – being previously denied is not a nail in your coffin. It’s logical that most people applying to transfer are doing so because they went to their second choice college and found out it’s not a good fit so they want another shot at their first choice college.