I was admitted to UPenn but instead went to UCLA for Freshman year.
Would UPenn accept me as a transfer student for my Sophomore year?
You will only know if you apply. But I’m guessing there is a good reason you chose to attend UCLA.
In general, it is a terrible idea to start college with plans to transfer – that mindset can stand in the way of building relationships with fellow students and professors, getting involved on campus etc. I’d start UCLA with the intent of staying four years even if you do decide to put in a transfer application.
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Did you complete a year at UCLA? Are you going back there this fall?
I believe Penn only takes Fall transfers so if you didn’t apply for this Fall, you will have to apply for next fall.
Penn certainly might accept you as a transfer, so put in an app and see.
If you have already completed your freshman year…and didn’t apply to Penn to transfer this fall, I believe it’s too late to do so. Or do you plan to take a year off.
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Transferring into the University of Pennsylvania as a sophomore is at best going to a reach.
Whether it is difficult and unlikely versus impossible in your case might depend upon information that you have not yet provided.
Whether it is a good idea, a bad idea, or somewhere in the middle is also likely to depend upon information that you have not yet provided. Certainly both the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA are very good universities. Congratulations on acceptance to both of these excellent schools.
Have you already completed a year at UCLA, or are you planning on starting there in September? What is your reason for thinking of transferring to Penn?
In general to transfer into a very highly ranked private university in the USA usually requires a good academic reason to want to transfer. Given how very strong UCLA is for a very wide range of majors it is hard to me to guess what this good academic reason might be in your case. Can you explain this?
Why did you choose to attend UCLA? Is this reason still valid?
In contrast to the difficulty of transferring as an undergraduate student into a highly ranked private university in the USA, completing your bachelor’s at one university and getting a graduate degree (such as a master’s degree) at a different university is very common, and is certainly a realistic option to consider at some point in the future. Doing very well at UCLA and getting good research / internship / coop / work experience would be helpful if at some point this becomes a goal.
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Sounds like you have completed your freshman year of college. If you want to transfer to a college such as UPenn, you will need to wait for the application for Fall of 2024. In other word, next March, in 2024.
So you will essentially need to take a gap year, or stay at UCLA and get very high grades and great professor recs in sophomore year. You could try community college for this coming year too, but it might not be great for your application to have 1 year at UCLA and 1 year at community college, unless it was a cost issue.
Why Penn? What about the financial aid aspects? Can you afford it? Do you have reason to believe it will be more affordable?
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I would suggest you not transfer twice. If you really don’t want to stay at UCLA, withdraw, and take a gap year. Do something very productive during that year, and apply to some schools to transfer to as of fall 2024. Note…I said schools…not just one.
@Gumbymom does UCLA give students leave of absences.
In my opinion, transferring to a community college and then transferring again to try to get into Penn…isn’t a good idea. Unless you can’t afford to attend UCLA any longer.
Take a deep dive into why you want to leave UCLA. As noted above, a school like UPenn will want an academic reason why you wish to transfer there. What will that be?
@thumper1
UCLA grants 1 term leave of absences. Anything longer would require an application for readmission. Here is the information:
https://registrar.ucla.edu/registration-classes/absences-and-readmission
I didn’t want to take Covid vaccine. UCLA would accept my religious exception request but UPenn seemed? maybe yes maybe no? I didn’t want to take a chance and end up not going to any school.
Yes, I have completed first year and going there next but would prefer to go to Penn
Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I love UCLA. My first year was
so much fun, great roommates, great food … I could easily stay there till I complete my PhD. However, Penn was where I always wanted to go since my parents are both Penn graduates (they met there and got married :). Then Covid B.S. happened and I didn’t want to take the vaccine.
Also UCLA is near Laguna Niguel, where my family lives, its sunny, warm ocean, …
One great thing about Penn is students/Professor ratio. Some of my classes at UCLA were near 200 students in one class. I don’t think I end up transferring since I love to be near my family but wanted to know if it’s possible, if one wanted to do such a thing. Thanks again!
I think that I had 500 students in a class as a freshman at MIT, and that is a school where the entire freshman class was not all that much more than 1,000 students (I think that it is about 1300 now). Generally speaking upper year classes are likely to be smaller.
UCLA is a very good university.
I am thinking “master’s degree”. Whether this makes sense or not is likely to depend upon your major. It appears that you are in-state at UCLA, which suggests that over four years you might be saving enough $$ to pay for a master’s degree (unless you were offered very good need based aid at Penn).
Life is unpredictable. Sometimes you do the right thing for the wrong reason and it works out well. Sometimes something goes wrong, puts you in an awkward position, and you luck out (meet the right person, find the right job, …). I cannot comment on whether not wanting a vaccination is the right reason, but you appear to have ended up at a very good university where you are liking it and doing well. Being close to home can be helpful, and is likely to matter more for your bachelor’s degree compared to a graduate degree.
It sounds like you are doing very well at a great university that you like, and that is highly respected by both employers and graduate programs.
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Eligibility Guidelines | Penn Admissions lists transfer eligibility at UPenn. Transfer as a sophomore or minimum-credit junior is possible, but business and engineering only allow sophomore transfer.
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I agree! And you also had a great first year there. Very often upper level courses in your major are smaller in size than the ones you are required to take as a freshman.
There are students who would be thrilled to be in your shoes. Congratulations on attending and loving and doing well at a great university.
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You’re obviously getting good grades at UCLA, otherwise you wouldn’t be considering a transfer. If you enjoy UCLA and you’re doing well, don’t try to fix what isn’t broken. That’s how things get actually get broken in the first place. If you’re uncomfortable taking the vaccine, and the school you’re in gives you exemption, it’s probably a good idea to go with that. Not all schools are so vaccine friendly, and the last thing you want is to put in a position where you feel like you have to compromise your morals. That’s not a position you want to be in, because it’s always a losing battle.
The irony is that UPenn no longer requires a covid vaccine for students, while UCLA does (hopefully OP only has to apply for the religious exemption once). I’m not saying that OP should transfer because there’s too much info we don’t have…GPA, desired major, cost considerations, etc.
I believe Penn no longer requires the covid vaccine. The policy has been updated.
Since you seem happy and successful at UCLA (a widely respected university) I’d suggest you continue there and apply to Penn for a transfer junior year if you like (as long as you are not in a disciple that only accepts sophomore transfers). Or consider Penn for grad school if applicable.
Unsolicited comment - keep in mind that transferring isn’t always easy. Many friendships are formed freshman year when everyone is new to the school, most students will be in routines while many things will be new for you, you need to see if appropriate housing is guaranteed for transfer students etc. A transfer can be worthwhile in some situations but be sure to understand the potential pitfalls as well. The grass isn’t always greener…
ETA…meant to reply to thread…
UCLA “requires” the latest vaccine, but allows giving a declination form (“A medical, disability or religious exception is not needed for the COVID-19 bivalent vaccine. If you need to opt out of the COVID-19 bivalent vaccine, simply submit a declination on The Ashe Center Patient Portal by clicking on the Medical Clearance tab. The declination option is at the bottom of the screen.”).
Thank you to all!
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If you’re happy at UCLA, you really should stay there. Penn has many huge lecture classes at the intro level. The weather might be a shock to you. If you’re in-state, Penn will cost you about 3x as much as UCLA. I think you’re just enticed by the fact that your parents went to Penn, some kind of romantic, idealized version of it as a promised land. Sure, it’s a great school, but under the circumstances, even had your vaccine refusal not been an issue, UCLA was the far better value for you. Also, you’ll have a harder time meeting people there, since you’re not starting there as a freshman. Just be happy at UCLA.
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