<p>I would like to have a few questions:
1) What makes you stand out from the pack, academic wise and/or extracurricular wise?
2) Did you take interesting but demanding classes or interesting but easy?
3) What type of university are you applying to?
4) Advice (or anything else)</p>
<p>With all due respect, I think the chances of a Harvard transfer student reading your post are pretty slim. They’re a rare breed.</p>
<p>So true; only 15 transfer students accepted last year: [The</a> Real 1%: Harvard Admits 15 Transfer Students | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/6/21/transfer-admissions-one-percent/]The”>The Real 1%: Harvard Admits 15 Transfer Students | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>I am one of those rare former transfer students. Another regular poster or two are also former transfers. However, to be honest, I don’t have any practical advice for you that’s much different from info you can find elsewhere online. It’s not as bad as winning the lottery, but the odds are not that great. </p>
<p>P.S. I’m not sure what you mean in question 3. Do you mean 'why type of university are you transferring/applying from?</p>
<p>Wow…there are fewer Harvard transfer students over the last 50 years than there were Titanic survivors.
(Just guessing, but I bet I’m not too far off )</p>
<p>@danstearns. Ha. You might be underestimating the number of transfer students a bit, but I can’t be sure without concrete figures. Wiki says there were about 710 passengers rescued off the RMS Titanic. If you average say 25 transfer students per year over the past 50 years, that comes out to be around 1,250 students, a bit less than double your estimate. (I would however, certainly bet that the total number of passengers on the Titanic outnumber transfers in the past 50 years) </p>
<p>Around 70 transfer students entered in my year, one of the high water marks in transfer numbers. The year following the numbers were reduced to around 40, and then the year after that, the program was suspended for 2-3 years before resuming a few years ago. I think the number accepted each year is now pretty steady, around 12-15 each cycle. </p>
<p>[Another fun fact: The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, the centerpiece and gem of the Harvard library system, is named after a college alum and a victim/passenger on the Titanic.]</p>