Help! Does 2 years after high school = transfer?

Applying to College
1

So after being a lurker for a long time I decided to make an account (woo hoo!).

My question is this:

I’m almost 20, I’ll be 21 by the time I’m accepted at a college for Fall 2016. I’ve been told that this won’t affect my admission process or how competitive I am, in anyone’s experience reading this, is this true?

Also it’s been 2 years since I’ve left high school, I’ve kept busy, but unfortunately I’ve taken 5 credits worth of some music courses at a community college, making me a transfer student at some colleges (such as Princeton or University of Chicago), however I know some other colleges only count you as a Transfer if you have enrolled more at least half-time at a college as a degree seeking student. 5 credits in one semester is definitely not enough to satisfy that criteria. I’ve tried contacting many of the college admissions through email with this same question but only some have answered, and out of those only some have given me new information that I haven’t already read on the sometimes vaguely worded FAQ. Would Harvard still consider me a freshman applicant? Even 2 years out of high school, and 5 credits of college music courses?

Also if you don’t know about Harvard, what about these

Stanford
Harvard
UCSD
Brown
Rice
UCLA
Colombia

Thank to anyone who took the time to read everything!

2

Google is a wondrous thing. https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/transferring-harvard-college/transfer-eligibility Try the rest. I used “harvard number of credits considered transfer student”

3

They will all say on the admissions web page for transfers and if it isn’t clear, only the college can tell you as you already found with the other schools.

4

I was going to say it is probably worth asking because you are still going to be freshman in standing. Some uni’s actually have a minimum to apply as a transfer. But you know those are viable colleges only for exceptional students or someone with some extraordinary talent or circumstance. I know one gap year is not a problem at all. Don’t know beyond that. But I am sure they will want to know what you were doing during that time. It is good to have some direction or activity to report.