Can you transfer to second choice school with an original merit offer?

Parents Forum
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I have always assumed the answer was no, but I was wondering if it’s possible to have an agreement of any kind with your second choice college to transfer perhaps after year 1 if it does not go so well?

In our case, daughter was very torn over schools, both offering large merit packages. She even bought the sweatshirt of choice #2 when she thought it was #1, but then changed her mind. I presume that since colleges offer merit to strong students based on the GPA and SAT scores, and that only admitted freshmen help their rankings, that merit money would vanish after that first freshman period.

But if half way through year 1 she realized it was a big mistake, is there anything that can be done? Or are her only choices at that point to apply as a transfer to choice 2 and pay full price, which would be a lose/lose situation (stay at a school that isn’t working for you for a discount, or transfer at a premium)?

Is there a way to ask admissions if they would honor an offer if the student were to apply as a transfer for the following year?

It’s silly to me that a prized student wouldn’t be considered a prized student 6 months later in life … but I understand that much of this college process is a business and a game, and not really a meritocracy.

Thanks for any insights!

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I’ve never heard of that type of arrangement (except for transfer options like Cornell gives but that doesn’t include merit although they still meet full need for transfers) but why not ask? I always tell my kids the answer is no until you ask. I’ll also give you a sample size of one similar to your scenario. My D19 was accepted to school 2 (no merit) but chose school 1. She’s now considering transferring and reapplied to school 2 which not only accepted her again but gave a $17k merit scholarship this time.

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3

Know your kid. One of mind suffers from decision paralysis, and knowing that there was even a chance of doing this would have really slowed down/impaired adjusting to the original college- and then having to repeat the experience (make new friends, get involved on campus, etc) all over again would have been dreadful for everyone.

Some kids can give institution #1 a fair shake and decide they made a mistake- others just won’t jump in with both feet unless they say “I’ve made a decision and now I’m going to bloom where I’m planted”.

You know your kid.

But I will say- that unless you are comparing Sweet Briar and WPI (to pick two VERY different college experiences) or Reed vs. BYU, it is hard to imagine that a kid just couldn’t adjust to a college which was her first choice. What’s so meaningfully different-- college A has a Banana Republic in town but college B has J Crew? Are these material, academic and intellectual differences or just lifestyle???

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Of course you can contact admissions and ask school 2 if she is unhappy at school 1. However, it is likely that the merit money has already been given out to those who accepted their offer and started as freshman.

5

I think @EconPop has experience with this, I believe his son was contacted by a school he had turned down and told they would honor their original offer if he changed his mind after his first year. Maybe he can comment.

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These are all good tips, and I agree with you.

To give a little background, ironically her first choice is actually WPI, and her second choice was Michigan State. Michigan State was going to be about 10K per year cheaper (both gave great merit). MSU has a massive campus which she really loved. They have amazing amenities in the forms of shops and cafes and so forth, all safely located adjacent to campus. Literally 100+ places to visit. She also knew with MSU, she would have exposure to a ton of dining halls, a thousand club options, and the chance to meet new people all the time.

On the flip side, WPI is a more intimate, small school. She really admires their project based learning, the prestige she associated with the school, and she felt a good vibe with the other students she met and saw, and also loved their major-specific study abroad program. At MSU, she saw lots of kids, overall felt good about them, and she felt that at a school with 50K students, there would be plenty of all types, and plenty of options.

Ironically, in her major, these schools are ranked #6 and #7 in the nation, respectively, so IMHO, that’s sort of a wash.

So for MSU it was great price and great campus + a good quality education.
At WPI it was fit, feel, and what she felt was a slightly better program.

She (and I) totally agree that the J Crew versus BR is a non-factor.

When she originally picked MSU, she said she immediately felt regret about saying no to WPI. When she switched to WPI, which was her original first choice as far back as a year ago, she said she didn’t feel the regret as much about MSU (other than the $$)

7

Congrats to your D on having such great options. It is not unusual to feel some remorse in turning down schools that are great options. But at this point I’d send her off to WPI and assume she will have a happy 4 years there. It is time to focus on the future and stop looking backwards.

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My D had to transfer after freshman year. Several schools that had accepted her the year prior accepted her as a transfer and awarded her the same original merit ($30k). We just called the schools and asked. They were not as highly ranked as WPI (I’m not familiar with Michigan State), and she was transferring from a higher ranked school to a lower ranked school, so YMMV.

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9

The answer is…it depends.

In 2006, our daughter received a sizable merit award from University of South Carolina which was her second choice. She chose a different college, but wrote admissions a very nice letter saying how hard her decision was. She got a amazing letter back saying that if she changed her mind the following year, she would be welcomed at the university with the merit aid offer also. She had to notify them by March 1 or something like that.

It was such a thoughtful offer. Our kid didn’t transfer but the offer was there for her if she had wanted to.

I doubt this is done uniformly there, and it might not be done at all anymore!

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10

I would be surprised if MSU would match the scholarship offered freshman year. I say this because I worked in financial aid at another Michigan college, and our aid policies were dictated by the board of governors. However, if you are OOS, they might do it if the overall amount they will receive from your child is at least as much as they would receive from an in state student. Or if the major has its own departmental scholarships to award. In other words, probably not … but maybe. If your D decides transferring is what she wants to do, she should definitely contact admissions and the department to see what she might be able to get in terms of scholarships.