<p>Hi - since I'm not entirely sure about my college choice, I'm just 'doing my homework' on transfering (hopefully it won't come to that, but it's good to be prepared). I've noticed that many transfer rates are very very low. For some, like Middlebury and Yale, it seems that they just don't really embrace transfers, as they accept ~3% of all whom apply. However, there are other schools whose transfer acceptance rate drops about 5 to 10 percent from its original acceptance rate. UChicago says the admissions process doesn't change. So, WHY do transfer acceptance rates drop from original freshman acceptance rates? Is it because kids who were rejected when they were applying as seniors in HS are trying again? What causes this decrease?</p>
<p>because kids don't leave... if however many kids apply for the however many spots at yale, it's calculated that... 9% get in (not sure whatever the real number is)
so let's say you have a freshman class of 1400 (again, not real #s, but close i think)
10 kids leave
you have 10 spots, an 400 kids apply as transfers --> 2-3% acceptance</p>
<p>basically you have more kids applying for fewer spots than during the freshmen application process</p>
<p>again, i don't want to get attacked for not having it completely right... but i'm pretty sure that is the general idea</p>
<p>The acceptance rate is derived from offers of admission versus apps, right? Neither of these variables can be pre-determined. Maybe there's a general number that opens up each year -- say 15. But what if one year there's only 8, or another 60? The openings are determined by vagaries in the current student body. The no. of applicants is determined by... take your guess.</p>
<p>Basically, I don't think there's any benefit to trying to determine "rates" for this extremely variable set of factors</p>
<p>Fair enough - I've just noticed that some schools - like Northwestern, accept around 22 percent of transfers while places like Yale accept nearly no one. I guess it has to do with how schools define their freshman admissions policies.</p>
<p>some schools, like Notre Dame, keep their transfer rate relatively constant by leaving spots open for transfers in every class..that is why their acceptance rate is always in the low 30% range for transfers. As for U Chicago, it could be worse..I just got in there as a transfer and my stats were not unbelievable</p>
<p>Okay - that's good to know... thanks.</p>